Cables

Cables, short for Bowden cables

In 1897, a patent was published by the Irish inventor Ernest Bowden, under the title "New or Improved Mechanism for Transmission of Power". What was so new about Mr. Bowden's invention? The traction cable, which served to transmit a force, was not tensioned and guided over pulleys, but ran along its entire length in a stiff tube, supported against the inner wall. Suddenly, lever movements could be transmitted literally around the corner without complicated redirection, and the fledgling bicycle and motorcycle industry gratefully took up Mr. Bowden's idea. Only hydraulic or electric transmission (brake, clutch, throttle) gradually made Bowden cables obsolete. But because Harley-Davidson has used cables in all designs for over a century, and there is still nothing simpler in terms of pure mechanics than a Bowden cable, we offer cables not only as original replacements, but also in different lengths for higher, wider and lower handlebars and even individual components for do-it-yourself cables.