Brake adjustment?

alison_b said:

After hunting down every 'how to' site there is, I'm none the wiser I'm afraid! I'm told that I can adjust the play of brake levers by turning something (people aren't so clear about what) to tighten (shorten?) the cables.

Well, after turning everything remotely attached to the brakes, the play is no shorter than it ever was - which is really too long to stop quickly.

The calipers themselves seem to be just fine - nicely placed, nice and close, etc.

Any suggestions gratefully received 😄

ali

alison,

take it into a Local Bike Shop, just ask them to have a quick look at the brakes, watch them and if you cant see something they are doing ask them to show you, thats what LBS are for.

if it is the brakes I think you are talking about there is a little barrel screw near where the cables goes into the brake lever, you should be able to winding it in, will tighten the cables.

but go for the LBS 🙂

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Quoted message said:

After hunting down every 'how to' site there is, I'm none the wiser I'm
afraid! I'm told that I can adjust the play of brake levers by turning
something (people aren't so clear about what) to tighten (shorten?) the
cables.

Well, after turning everything remotely attached to the brakes, the
play is no shorter than it ever was - which is really too long to stop
quickly.

The calipers themselves seem to be just fine - nicely placed, nice and
close, etc.

Did you work out what sort of brakes they are?

if its a road bike they are most likely one of the three pictured here
http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/sidepull.shtml

if its a MTB they are most likely one of these four
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/cantilever-adjustment.html

of course they could also be disks

once we know that maybe someone can help more

stu

alison_b said:

After hunting down every 'how to' site there is, I'm none the wiser I'm afraid! I'm told that I can adjust the play of brake levers by turning something (people aren't so clear about what) to tighten (shorten?) the cables.

Well, after turning everything remotely attached to the brakes, the play is no shorter than it ever was - which is really too long to stop quickly.

The calipers themselves seem to be just fine - nicely placed, nice and close, etc.

Any suggestions gratefully received 😄

ali

way more info needed. what kind of levers/brakes???

not a very hard thing to do but a bit different according to which one...

flyingdutch said:

way more info needed. what kind of levers/brakes???

not a very hard thing to do but a bit different according to which one...

They are on my OCR3 - Shimano Sora levers, and Tektro dual pivot brakes (according to the speccies!)

The LBS option and advice is well-received, but I can't get there today, and am hoping to fit in a ride before the ride for justice and work tomorrow. I have been riding it like this, and had been putting down slow stopping to adjusting back and forth from road bike to trusty commuter hybrid. It's not just my brakes that are a bit slow apparently! 😕

cheers,
Ali

alison_b said:

They are on my OCR3 - Shimano Sora levers, and Tektro dual pivot brakes (according to the speccies!)

The LBS option and advice is well-received, but I can't get there today, and am hoping to fit in a ride before the ride for justice and work tomorrow. I have been riding it like this, and had been putting down slow stopping to adjusting back and forth from road bike to trusty commuter hybrid. It's not just my brakes that are a bit slow apparently! 😕

cheers,
Ali

youre road calipers may indeed be slower/weaker than your hybrid which presumably uses some form of Vbrake.

You may also want to look at upgrading the pads cos on mid-lower-level bikes one of the areas they will skimp on is the 'unseen' areas like BB and brake pads, spokes, etc.
For short term adjustment try the barrel adjusters above (do tektro's have these?) or on the STI cable (the bit flying about i front of your face between your lever and brake)

flyingdutch said:

youre road calipers may indeed be slower/weaker than your hybrid which presumably uses some form of Vbrake.

You may also want to look at upgrading the pads cos on mid-lower-level bikes one of the areas they will skimp on is the 'unseen' areas like BB and brake pads, spokes, etc.
For short term adjustment try the barrel adjusters above (do tektro's have these?) or on the STI cable (the bit flying about i front of your face between your lever and brake)

Found it!! Thankyou... I'd been expecting it to be in the same spot as on the hybrid :o

Ditto the advice on the brake pads.

I'll do an extra 10kms for you tomorrow - hope the shoulder is healing well 🙂

cheers,
Ali