maintenance tip for numpties (like me)

Peter Clinch said:

Brake cables degrade over time.

It's not exactly Big News, but having been using the hydraulics on the
'bent it occurred to me that the Brom's brakes had actually got so bad
as to be verging on downright dangerous. So bad, in fact, they threw up
a Round Tuit and I ordered a fresh set of cables and pads from Bikefix,
and thinking I might as well do the job properly since it was so overdue
I got a dual pivot caliper for the back.

Having fitted it all, what a difference! Now the Brom has New!
Improved! "slowing down when brakes applied" effect. The back brake
actually does something aside from exercise my hands. Should have done
it a /long/ time ago. The thing about the degrading is it happened
gradually and I got used to it, so I didn't really notice (or rather,
consciously appreciate) how far it had gone. Very silly.

Pete.

I keep thinking of doing the same to mine .... it was descending Holme
Moss (after riding up to the transmitter station for work) that I
noticed the change in braking performance from the consistency of Edam
through to Cheddar then to Brie by the bottom of the hill.

Peter Clinch said:

Brake cables degrade over time.

It's not exactly Big News, but having been using the hydraulics on
the 'bent it occurred to me that the Brom's brakes had actually got
so bad as to be verging on downright dangerous. So bad, in fact,
they threw up a Round Tuit and I ordered a fresh set of cables and
pads from Bikefix, and thinking I might as well do the job properly
since it was so overdue I got a dual pivot caliper for the back.

Having fitted it all, what a difference!

It too is in my heap of Things to Do.
The recent wet weather has put more emphasis on the Brommie's poor
braking.

What brake blocks did you get?

John B

John B said:

What brake blocks did you get?

The "official" Brompton ones on Bikefix's Brommie spares list,
whatever they are. They seem to be okay, but it's difficult to
assess objectively how they're doing because changing the cables
has so transformed the effort I can usefully get to them. Plus
(unusually, these days) it hasn't rained yet since I changed them.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

Having fitted it all, what a difference! Now the Brom has New!
Improved! "slowing down when brakes applied" effect. The back
brake actually does something aside from exercise my hands.

I'll have to give it a go on my mountain bike - the rear gear cable
has snapped twice but I don't think I've replaced any of the other
cables. New pads haven't improved things that much (although they
were pretty worn so needed replacing anyway) so maybe the cable has
turned into a bit of a spring.

peter

naked_draughtsman said:

I'll have to give it a go on my mountain bike - the rear gear cable
has snapped twice but I don't think I've replaced any of the other
cables. New pads haven't improved things that much (although they
were pretty worn so needed replacing anyway) so maybe the cable has
turned into a bit of a spring.

The inner cable is a steel cable and shouldn't actually get elastic
or anything like that, but what /does/ happen is crunge tends to
build up inside the outer, possibly dragging more on crunge
building up on the inner, and you just end up with a lot of effort
being expended overcoming friction within the cable system.

With my Brom the primary problem in the back was friction in the
outer cable (the inner was in remarkably good shape) and at the
front a slight kink in the inner. I replaced both inners and
outers at both ends and both repsoniveness and absolute stopping
power are hugely better.

Look to replacing both inner and outer cables for a complete job.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 11:14:22 +0100, Peter Clinch
<[email hidden]> said in
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Having fitted it all, what a difference! Now the Brom has New!
Improved! "slowing down when brakes applied" effect.

Mine didn't even have that when it was new!

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Just zis Guy said:

On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 11:14:22 +0100, Peter Clinch
<[email hidden]> said in
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

Having fitted it all, what a difference! Now the Brom has New!
Improved! "slowing down when brakes applied" effect.

Mine didn't even have that when it was new!

Clearly you got fobbed off with a Mk 2... ;-/

A pal has recently fitted a Sturmey hub brake to the front of his, which
he says makes life a good deal less exciting in the rain.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:32:01 +0100, Peter Clinch
<[email hidden]> said in
<[email hidden]>:

Quoted message said:

A pal has recently fitted a Sturmey hub brake to the front of his, which
he says makes life a good deal less exciting in the rain.

Ah, but I have the Awesome Power of SON in my front hub.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

85% of helmet statistics are made up, 69% of them at CHS, Puget Sound

Just zis Guy said:

Ah, but I have the Awesome Power of SON in my front hub.

Replace with a 50s vintage Sturmey and turn the lights on to slow down! ;-)

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/