Adjusting brake levers help please

on 'some' brake levers it's possible but in the great world of
'yooz gt's what you pays for' I doubt this paricular bike will have the relevant
small allen bolt or screw for the adjustment

Tim Green said:

Ok my question is, is it possible to make the brake lever reach closer, as
my girlfriend has tiny hands, and cannot reach comfortably to the brake
levers.

On a K-mart bike the levers may not offer this option. Look for a small
adjustment screw either near where the cable comes out of the lever, or
behind the lever blade, looking at the pivot. Wind this in and the reach
should be reduced.
--
Dave Hughes | [email hidden]
Random miscellany, as opposed to that other kind of miscellany
- Patrick Shaughnessy

Tim Green said:

Hi all, I just brought my girlfriend a secondhand elcheapo Kmart put
together mountain bike.

Its in great nick, like new.
Ok my question is, is it possible to make the brake lever reach closer, as
my girlfriend has tiny hands, and cannot reach comfortably to the brake
levers.

If it can be done, can you please give me simple step by step instructions
on as how to adjust them.

Thanks so much.

Greetings.
The distance of brake levers from handle-bars is generally fixed by
design of bike in the first place. The brakes will pull further in as
the pads wear down.
The brake lever travel can be adjusted as they wear, but the levers
themselves remain in the same position. I have this problem as well, the
ergonomics people seem to assume one size fits all.
Regards,
Ray.

"Tim Green" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Hi all, I just brought my girlfriend a secondhand elcheapo Kmart put
together mountain bike.

Its in great nick, like new.
Ok my question is, is it possible to make the brake lever reach closer, as
my girlfriend has tiny hands, and cannot reach comfortably to the brake
levers.

If it can be done, can you please give me simple step by step instructions
on as how to adjust them.

Thanks so much.

just to prove i have to much time on my hands, here is a pic of the brake
lever reach adjustment on my MTB
http://members.optusnet.com.au/ashtar123/

doing it up moves the lever back, but you might have to back off the cable
adjustment if you want it to move a long way.

(I've toyed with the idea of making something so i can lock the lever back
easily as a sort of lock on handbrake........ i don't think anyone would
steal my bike if they had to carry it far)

Stu

if there anyone out there with quick fire levers that wont shift right? i've
had to fix a couple and its pretty easy (if they all stuff up the same way
and are the same inside)

stu said:

(I've toyed with the idea of making something so i can lock the lever
back easily as a sort of lock on handbrake........ i don't think anyone
would steal my bike if they had to carry it far)

It's called a zip tie. Or a bandanna.

Quoted message said:

if there anyone out there with quick fire levers that wont shift right?
i've had to fix a couple and its pretty easy (if they all stuff up the
same way and are the same inside)

Depends. The most common failure I've found is that one of the ratchet
pawl springs is loose, so one or the other lever won't engage properly.
Fix is to pull the spring back a bit, so it's got more tension. Option 2
is the shifter full of [censored] that just won't do anything, and liberal doses
of WD-40 or similar seem to fix that pretty well.

--
Dave Hughes | [email hidden]
"If you're bored, find something and break it" Jamie Rapson - 1996

"Random Data" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

stu said:

(I've toyed with the idea of making something so i can lock the lever
back easily as a sort of lock on handbrake........ i don't think anyone
would steal my bike if they had to carry it far)

It's called a zip tie. Or a bandanna.

but you wouldnt have to be a master criminal to get that off

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

if there anyone out there with quick fire levers that wont shift right?
i've had to fix a couple and its pretty easy (if they all stuff up the
same way and are the same inside)

Depends. The most common failure I've found is that one of the ratchet
pawl springs is loose, so one or the other lever won't engage properly.
Fix is to pull the spring back a bit, so it's got more tension. Option 2
is the shifter full of [censored] that just won't do anything, and liberal doses
of WD-40 or similar seem to fix that pretty well.

the ones i have seen the ratchet pawl* cocks up on and angle and wont engage
the plate, just needs a .5mm washer in the right place.

Tim Green said:

Hi all, I just brought my girlfriend a secondhand elcheapo Kmart put
together mountain bike.

<Snip>

Shame on you! Don't you love her? Girls don't want Kmart specials, they
want carbon - either as diamonds or as CF bikes!

Tam

Tamyka Bell said:

Tim Green said:

Hi all, I just brought my girlfriend a secondhand elcheapo Kmart put
together mountain bike.

<Snip>

Shame on you! Don't you love her? Girls don't want Kmart specials, they
want carbon - either as diamonds or as CF bikes!

Now there's one for the quote file.
--
Cheers | ~~ __@
Euan | ~~ _-\<,
Melbourne, Australia | ~ (*)/ (*)

stu said:

but you wouldnt have to be a master criminal to get that off

Your average bike thief isn't a master criminal. They can get through
locks very quickly, or just chuck the bike into their van. Lock your bike
to something solid with a decent lock, or stay with it. A handbrake is
useful to leave the bike propped up on sloping ground, but that's about it.

--
Dave Hughes | [email hidden]
"The problem with people whose minds are in the gutter is that they keep
blocking my periscope."

On 2006-01-23, Random Data (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

stu said:

but you wouldnt have to be a master criminal to get that off

Your average bike thief isn't a master criminal. They can get through
locks very quickly, or just chuck the bike into their van. Lock your bike
to something solid with a decent lock, or stay with it. A handbrake is
useful to leave the bike propped up on sloping ground, but that's about it.

The one time I used the handbrake for this purpose was when I came
back from a BR, urgently needed to do the shopping (um, whoops, in my
daze home tonight, I rode right past the shops. I /won't/ be going
back to get the stuff I need), and had no lock.

The purpose of doing a handbraky in this situation, combined with
putting the bike inside the supermarket, was so that any removal would
entail the theif picking up the bike from inside the shop, and moving
it out to their car. I would hope that:
1) Picking up a bike instead of wheeling it would just be /too/
suspicious for most people not to act.
2) Security cameras might at least give me half a chance of recovery.

--
TimC
NOT A CHANCE! I know for a *fact* the kittens aren't frightened
by temporal anomalies. Clock watching simply ain't their bag.
John Schmidt in ARK

TimC said:

The one time I used the handbrake for this purpose was when I came back
from a BR, urgently needed to do the shopping (um, whoops, in my daze
home tonight, I rode right past the shops. I /won't/ be going back to
get the stuff I need), and had no lock.

Yeah, but you knew you were taking a bigger risk than with a real lock,
which you normally use. You can get away with leaving your front door
unlocked as well, most of the time.

--
Dave Hughes | [email hidden]
Like most computer techie people, I'll happily spend 6 hours trying to
figure out how to do a 3 hour job in 10 minutes. --Rev. James Cort

On 2006-01-23, Random Data (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

TimC said:

The one time I used the handbrake for this purpose was when I came back
from a BR, urgently needed to do the shopping (um, whoops, in my daze
home tonight, I rode right past the shops. I /won't/ be going back to
get the stuff I need), and had no lock.

Yeah, but you knew you were taking a bigger risk than with a real lock,
which you normally use. You can get away with leaving your front door
unlocked as well, most of the time.

So does anyone else have those days when you arrive home to find the
front door as open as it could be? I used to do it to the side door
all the time, but don't keep that open anymore, because the cats keep
outwitting me and always find a way to open the screen door, no matter
how bolted down it is (hmmm, I think I have outsmarted /them/ for the
past week. When will they discover the new "latch"?).

--
TimC
"I give up," said Pierre de Fermat's friend. "How DO you keep a
mathematician busy for 350 years?"

TimC said:

On 2006-01-23, Random Data (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

TimC said:

The one time I used the handbrake for this purpose was when I came back
from a BR, urgently needed to do the shopping (um, whoops, in my daze
home tonight, I rode right past the shops. I /won't/ be going back to
get the stuff I need), and had no lock.

Yeah, but you knew you were taking a bigger risk than with a real lock,
which you normally use. You can get away with leaving your front door
unlocked as well, most of the time.

So does anyone else have those days when you arrive home to find the
front door as open as it could be? I used to do it to the side door
all the time, but don't keep that open anymore, because the cats keep
outwitting me and always find a way to open the screen door, no matter
how bolted down it is (hmmm, I think I have outsmarted /them/ for the
past week. When will they discover the new "latch"?).

Yeah I do. But then I give myself a good kicking. TIll I beg myself to
stop and promise not to do it anymore. Then I kick myself once more to
make sure I get the message.

Stops me doing it for a year or so.

I am avaliable for hired kickings Tim

Dave