This was one of my own DIY project. Our little girl’s puscchair is over two years old and the brake started to misbehave on it.
It’s a Joie Versatrax but I know for a fact that a lot of other makes are using similar braking system. On these prams, there is only one brake lever on one of the wheels and the brake on the other wheel is activated via a steel cable, similarly to a pushbike. Now this cable has snapped, so the pram was only braking on one side.
When I had 15 minutes to spare (not so often recently) I took the brakes apart and checked what was the situation. As I guessed, the brake cable has snapped. No biggie – I thought – I just order a spare one from Amazon. Well, you can’t. There are none on Amazon or any other online retailer. I find one on an American website but I didn’t fancy paying £26 plus shipping for a cable that might not even work. So if you find something yourself, please send me a link for spares.
When I checked and measured the original cable, I figured that a pushbike gear shift cable has nearly the same size end, so in theory, that should fit snug into the brake fitting. The challenge was the other end of the cable. I had to cut the cable to size and then “make” a cable end the same size and shape.
So I ordered a pair of gear shift cables and a couple of cable end caps for brake cables. These are just thin aluminium tubes going around the brake cable end, protecting your legs getting scratched from the frailing steel cable. But because these end caps are quite soft, I could cut them and bend them to the size and shape I needed to.
Once I had everything, I got to work. Luckily the gear shift cable end fitted perfectly to the pushchair, so I didn’t have to worry about that end. I assembled the brake on that side, got the cable through the tube on the bottom of the pram and started to work on the other end of the cable. I measured and cut down the wire to size and then I started on the cable end cap. Luckily, all I had to do is put the end cap on the cable, flatten it down and fold it in half. This way the cable won’t slip out from the end cap and it fits perfectly for the pram’s brake system.
I assembled everything back together and it was time to test the brakes. Miraculously, it was working. Lever down, both brakes engaged, lever up, both brakes disengaged. Tidy away and it was all finished. Proud daddy moment 🙂
UPDATE: a few people asked what part I used exactly. I can’t put a link on here or in the comments. Open amazon and look for: 2.1 m bicycle gear shift cable with cable end crimps
I hope this helps guys and good luck for the repairs! 🙂
Screw it! 
Hello! Great job! We have the same pushchair and it won’t lock at all. Unable to press down the leveler, can’t even force it. Have you came across this? Also what is that little handle above the right wheel? Is it linked to the brake? The manual doesn’t show it. Many thanks.
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Hi Nono, sorry I just saw your comment haven’t been replied to yet. If the brake lever can’t be pushed down, I would take the brake apart (only two screws if I remember correctly). I think something got stuck in the way for the lever. Maybe cable end snapped off and blocking the way for the lever? But it is really just guessing. I don’t really know about that other lever you mentioned, at least not without a photo. Many thanks!
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Hi, great way of explaining!
Mine is a Joie Crosster and is got stuck one of the pines , so tried with silicon spray, oil I taught it might be stuck ,however I think is something broken inside.I wasn’t able to remove the cover so I can have a look inside.Any tips how can be removed so I can have acces to the brake system ? Thank you
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Hi sorry or the long wait for a reply. My approach with these things is that I need to understand how a thing works and after that (maybe) I can fix it. The brake housing is normally just held together with one or two screws, go ahead and take them out. If you are not too confident, make sure you make lots of before photos so you know how things have to go back together. Once the housing is off, again, lots of photos how things are connected. As you are taking it more and more apart, you will learn how it operates and what needs fixing. If a plastic part is snapped, there is not a lot you can do unless you have a 3D printer. Or if you are lucky someone made this part and maybe uploaded a plan on thingiverse.com. But mostly the cable is snapped which can be repaired. I didn’t find a replacement part online so you sort of need to be creative and use bicycle brake cable parts to repair it. I did our pushchair over half a year now, still works fine. Good luck for your project!
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Hi, This is exactly the issue I have with our Joie stroller! Would it be possible to send the link of exactly what you bought?
Thanks in advance, great post!
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Hi Keith, I hope this helps
it’s a set of gear cables and crimp ends together. Good luck!
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Sorry, the link doesn’t seem to work. Try this, open amazon and search for: 2.1 m bicycle gear shift cable with cable end crimps. I hope this works!
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Thank you for the detailed analysis! I have the same problem of a snapped cable. I replaced the cable following your instructions but apparently I didn’t bend the tail end well enough. So when I pushed the brake, the tail end detached from the cable. Any chance you could show how you “flattened and folded” the tail end?
Many thanks!
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Hi, when bending the cable, I just used a plier and literally bent it backwards in half. Sorry, this was a long time now, I dont have any more photos of it. It’s a bit of a try and error process. If you folded the cap one way and it didn’t work, try folding differently. I hope this helps and good luck for your project!
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Thanks for posting! You saved another pram from the scrappy!
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hello,
i have a same problem with my brake but the pin that holds the brake has been misplaced now I cannot find where to out it back. Can you help me here
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Hey! Sorry, if a part is missing it will be a bit trickier to fix it. Not sure where you could get a replacement as when I was looking, neither Amazon nor Ebay sold things like this. If you remember what shape and size it was (roughly) look around in the house to see what you could use as a replacement? Sorry, I’m just guessing here, but I hope you’ll find a solution. Thanks for your comment anyways!
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I was desperately trying to buy original spare parts without success.
First I was thinking about buying some nipple screws but after reading your blog post I just used a standard shimano brake cable and end caps and gave it a try. Works like a charm for now but I’m not sure how long it that aluminium cap will last.
Thank you so much for the inspiration.
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Hey! Thanks for the read and the like! I was the same as you, wanted to replace it with some original parts, but I couldn’t find anything.
My repair lasted at least 2 years. This is when we sold the pushchair (of course we mentioned the mended breaks), so let’s hope your repair will survive a good while as well!
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