The Limpet story

[Dazza]

Cable stoppers are just a little part that do an important and vital job.
As I work at the bench ideas float in and out of my cranium, and these ideas are from my perspective, my opinions and observations and others may be taken aback but “those slotted barrel cable stoppers are fugly, one sees the same looking part on supermarket cheapos, and I reckon they belong on them, they just don’t look correct on a fine bespoke bicycle”.
My aesthetic pleasure was being offended. No apologies for being harsh, tell it as it is for me say I
Yeah, they work, and they are super cheap to buy. But I tormented my self with thoughts of “how to do it better and look better”. I have been using stainless steel diver’s helmet style cable stoppers that I have CNC machined. They work, but still I am not satisfied. Any mechanico who has been around bikes for a while knows of people who perspire battery acid resulting in the brake cable casing frozen in the stopper, the paint work being destroyed as the rust starts at these moisture collection points, thus I strongly believe cable stoppers are best made from stainless steel, thus removing these problems. A fine hand made bespoke bicycle frame in the 21 st Century should have all the finer details. I could not care less about saving a few $ or 5 grams in the build, for me it is about making the best product and improving what I offer from my workshop for the client’s hard earned dollars. I am not a fan of internal rear brake cable, unless it is done properly with a sealed tube and terminating cable casing at the entry and exit points from the top tube. However, that is another subject for another day.
So external under the top tube has been my standard since I saw them on the Raleigh team bikes circa 1980 and I feel it works the best.
I cracked, do some thing about my torment. Onto the key board and some ideas are formed in the 3D CAD program.
a. I wanted surface area and a round shore line, to remove stress from .40mm tubes {I have seen a couple of Italian made frames with .35 and .40mm top tubes fail next to cable stoppers}
b. I wanted ease of brazing, so a preload filler slot to be included.
c. Direct fitting of the brake outer casing with out silly ferrules
d. The gear outer casing ferrule to fit nicely into the CS stopper
e. Smooth rounded appearance so the stopper looks like it belongs being attached to the tube, not like a plonked on after thought.
f. Must be stainless steel so removing corrosion issues due to perspiration or collection of road grime.
g. No extra hassle time added to the construction process
Note. I see no need for a slot in a road bike cable stopper because if the cabling is done correctly during assembly such as lubrication with “Slick Honey” or such like then one has no need to touch a cable until replacement is due.
Next
Some rapid prototypes made, which I had in my pocket at NAHBS.
I pause
I think
Meanwhile Mary Ann commented that they look like “Limpets”.
From then on the name stuck with us.
Then I pressed the button and got the Limpet tools made.
One for a 31.7mm top tube brake cable stopper
One for a 28.6mm top tube brake cable stopper
{there is no 25.4mm as we are now well into the 21 st Century}
One for a chainstay cable stopper, 15.5 mm diameter and also tapered to fit the chainstay shape snugly.
The first sample Limpets arrived early this week and I did some test runs.
The pictures tell the story.
My first production batch of Limpets is on order and I am eager to incorporate them into my frame work.
Any questions?
Any comments?