Help Adjusting Hayes Brakes

Quoted message said:

I have a Hayes Mechanical-Hydraulic hybrid brake on my Lefy fork, and it needs adjustment (can't
lock up the wheel anymore...). Does anyone have a link to a procedure or a file they can send me?
Hayes's website doesn't seem to cover this model brake...

Thanks, Arcsound

Is it Mechanical or Hydrolic?

If it's mechanical, it's... the pads have worn to the point where the caliper can't close enough any
more; the stationary pad needs to be adjusted in a little (allen wrench in the adjuster and turn it
clockwise -- it's sensitive, usually doesn't take much); it could be that the cable needs to be
tightened -- either take up some slack at the brake lever adjsuter or by loosen the cable clamp
screw at the caliper and pull a little more cable through. AND, finally, it could be that you got
oil or grease contamination on the pads and rotors. The best cure for this is mud... get some fine
mud without stones, put it on the rotor and ride. Repeat until you have brakes again. If you don't
have any mud handy, make some with a little water from you hydration pak and some trail dirt. If you
can't repeat enough, it's either something else or the pads are trashed and have too much oil soaked
into them and need to be replaced.

David

Monique Y. Herman said:

So, what do you folks think about policies that restrict bikes to certain days, etc? In this
particular case, bikers can use the trail 5 days a week, and one of those days is on the weekend.

Sounds awfully inconvenient, but trails that are in populated areas have a lot of this type of
contention. I saw it a lot when I lived in Dallas. There is virtually no singletrack in Portland OR,
and I can kind of understand (though its inconvenient to have to drive out of town to ride).

We have a huge park in town with ~50 miles of fireroad and hiker-only singletrack. This gives the
bikers a place to exercise during the week, and the hikers can get their kicks without having to
travel farther afield (though most of them use the fireroad anyway so they can walk side-by-side).

Horses will always be a problem; they're huge and skittish, and they destroy trails.

--
-BB- To reply to me, drop the attitude (from my e-mail address, at least)

Quoted message said:

Thanks for the feedback. I like the rejuvination trick using mud! This brake is a combo
hydraulic-mechanical; it has a cable to the stator, from there the action is hydraulic. There are
no mechanical adjustments I can see to set the rotor-pad gap. I can only imagine that all
adjustment is done by varying the oil the internal quantity of hydraulic fluid, but I need to
know 1) what equipment I need to perform this adjustment and 2) a procedure. Unfortunately, the
expected source for this information, the Hayes website, has no information on this particular
brake that I could find. Looks like they only support their current models, which would be sad,
if true.

David Kunz said:

Quoted message said:

I have a Hayes Mechanical-Hydraulic hybrid brake on my Lefy fork, and it needs adjustment (can't
lock up the wheel anymore...). Does anyone have a link to a procedure or a file they can send me?
Hayes's website doesn't seem to cover this model brake...

Thanks, Arcsound

Is it Mechanical or Hydrolic?

If it's mechanical, it's... the pads have worn to the point where the caliper can't close enough
any more; the stationary pad needs to be adjusted in a little (allen wrench in the adjuster and
turn it clockwise -- it's sensitive, usually doesn't take much); it could be that the cable needs
to be tightened -- either take up some slack at the brake lever adjsuter or by loosen the cable
clamp screw at the caliper and pull a little more cable through. AND, finally, it could be that
you got oil or grease contamination on the pads and rotors. The best cure for this is mud... get
some fine mud without stones, put it on the rotor and ride. Repeat until you have brakes again. If
you don't have any mud handy, make some with a little water from you hydration pak and some trail
dirt. If you can't repeat enough, it's either something else or the pads are trashed and have too
much oil soaked into them and need to be replaced.

David

That's a brake that I've never heard of -- maybe someone else has? The static adjuster for the
mechanicals is a disc with a hex hole in the center on the wheel side of the caliper. But, if it's
not on their web site -- a phone number should be 🙂.

David