Noisy V Brakes

John & Karen said:

I've got a new bike from Halfords and the V brakes are very noisy and give a howling sound. They
are effective however.

What is causing this noise and how can it be stopped ?

Things that can cause squealing V brakes are rumoured to be legion. I have heard: Dirty rims Pad
contamination Not having the brake shoes 'toed in' a tad Insufficient rigidity or too much play in
various parts of the brakes construction Having Shimano LX or XT 'parallel push' V brakes at all

So, sorting out the above problems more or less in order _may_ leave you with non-squealing brakes.
Clean 'em is the obvious solution for dirty rims/pads. I use a degreaser solution and kitchen towel
for this, others use allsorts (cue Bassetts joke). Adding rigidity is usually achieved by a 'brake
booster' plate, but in my opinion, these are as expensive as a set of decent V brake calipers
online. One I haven't seen mentioned is filing the leading edge of the brake blocks off at 45
degrees by about a couple of mm.

If that lot fails to work, do a search for brakes at: sheldonbrown.comsheldonbrown.comOpen ↗ or wait for the
rest of the crowd normally resident here to get back from their weekend away in York.

If you do stop them squealing, make sure you have a bell.

--
Jim Price

jimprice.dsl.pipex.comjimprice.dsl.pipex.comOpen ↗

Conscientious objection is hard work in an economic war.

Aye!.

"John & Karen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've got a new bike from Halfords and the V brakes are very noisy and give

a

Quoted message said:

howling sound. They are effective however.

What is causing this noise and how can it be stopped ?

This is from an earlier thread: "Adjusting v-brakes"

I find an easy way to set new pads is to unhook the cable and springs, the arms are now free. With
the new pads fitted but left loose I then press the arm so the pad engages the rim, you can then
tweak the pad so it's face is presented flat to the rim, the ball & socket thingie allows the pad
to articulate into position. Place a bit of thin card under the trailing edge of the pad between it
and the rim before tightening, this helps prevent brake squeal.

Note the bit about using thin card under the trailing edge, this sets the pads with an amount of
toe-in so when applied they are pulled forward and the full face of the pad bears on the rim. If
they are initially set flat or toed out when applied the pad is pulled forward until its' face is
no longer flat against the rim, the pads then lose grip as their surface area is reduced and spring
back, this happens at high speed creating the high frequency squeal that warns peds of your
approach :-)

parktool.comhowfix linearbrakes.shtmlOpen ↗ for more help.

Pete

I used to hate the squeaking brakes, now I use them as my horn. My bike was serviced at Edi Bikes
last week and let me tell you, these breaks are LOUD. They are also very efficient for stopping 🙂

Thanks,

Gary.

In article said:

What is causing this noise and how can it be stopped ?

Try adjusting them for a small amount of toe-in, clean the rims with nail varnish remover, acetone
or similar and lightly buff the running side of the block with emery paper. As a second last
resort try a different type of block and as an absolute last resort buy some cotton wool to stuff
in your ears:-)

--
A T (Sandy) Morton on the Bicycle Island In the Global Village sandymillport.fsnet.co.uksandymillport.fsnet.co.ukOpen ↗

Worth remembering that, in the excellent advice that you've received here, 'trailing' and 'leading'
edges of the brake blocks are with respect to the direction of rim movement, i.e. the trailing edge
is that towards the front of the bike, and the leading edge towards the rear (assuming that you
spend most of your time cycling forwards). Confusion here could lead to compounding the problem
(from experience!).

"John & Karen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've got a new bike from Halfords and the V brakes are very noisy and give

a

Quoted message said:

howling sound. They are effective however.

What is causing this noise and how can it be stopped ?

Thanks

John

"Lionel Scales" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Worth remembering that, in the excellent advice that you've received here, 'trailing' and
'leading' edges of the brake blocks are with respect to the direction of rim movement, i.e. the
trailing edge is that towards the

front

Quoted message said:

of the bike, and the leading edge towards the rear (assuming that you

spend

Quoted message said:

most of your time cycling forwards). Confusion here could lead to compounding the problem (from
experience!).

Guilty m'lud 🙂 I've taken the trailing edge in relation to the bikes (normal) direction, not the
wheels. OPs please note.

Pete

Surely(and no Shirley jokes) you've got it the wrong way round, the leading edge is towards the
front of the bike and the blocks should be toed in.

John R

"Lionel Scales" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Worth remembering that, in the excellent advice that you've received here, 'trailing' and
'leading' edges of the brake blocks are with respect to the direction of rim movement, i.e. the
trailing edge is that towards the

front

Quoted message said:

of the bike, and the leading edge towards the rear (assuming that you

spend

Quoted message said:

most of your time cycling forwards). Confusion here could lead to compounding the problem (from
experience!).

"John & Karen" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I've got a new bike from Halfords and the V brakes are very noisy and

give

Quoted message said:

a

Quoted message said:

howling sound. They are effective however.

What is causing this noise and how can it be stopped ?

Thanks

John

"John Redman" <[email hidden]> wrote: ( Surely(and no Shirley jokes) you've got it
the wrong way round, the leading ) edge is towards the front of the bike and the blocks should
be toed in.

That, Shirley, is exactly the sort of mystification that makes it difficult for novices to
understand. You can only remember, with confidence, which way round to do thing like that by
understanding why you're doing it; and whilst it's easy to see why you should toe-out a brake block
to stop it squealing it can be exceedingly difficult to see why everyone else calls it toeing in.

"Geraint Jones" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"John Redman" <[email hidden]> wrote: ( Surely(and no Shirley jokes) you've got it the
wrong way round, the

leading

Quoted message said:

) edge is towards the front of the bike and the blocks should be toed

in.

Quoted message said:

That, Shirley, is exactly the sort of mystification that makes it

difficult

Quoted message said:

for novices to understand. You can only remember, with confidence,

which way

Quoted message said:

round to do thing like that by understanding why you're doing it; and

whilst

Quoted message said:

it's easy to see why you should toe-out a brake block to stop it

squealing

Quoted message said:

it can be exceedingly difficult to see why everyone else calls it

toeing in.

Its the leading edge of the brake pad which must hit the rim first when braking. So starting from a
point when the pad is parallel to the rim the trailing edge is moved out the one mm or so distance.
You may have moved the back end out but the front end is now toed in. Mike

Mike "Taywood" <[email hidden]> wrote: ( "Geraint Jones"
<[email hidden]> wrote ) in message
"]news:[email hidden]... ( > "John Redman" <[email hidden]> wrote: ) > (
Surely(and no Shirley jokes) you've got it the wrong way round, the leading ( > ) edge is towards
the front of the bike and the blocks should be toed in. ) > ( > That, Shirley, is exactly the sort
of mystification that makes it difficult ) > for novices to understand. You can only remember, with
confidence, which way ( > round to do thing like that by understanding why you're doing it; and
whilst ) > it's easy to see why you should toe-out a brake block to stop it squealing ( > it can be
exceedingly difficult to see why everyone else calls it toeing in. ) ( Its the leading edge of the
brake pad which must hit the rim first when ) braking. So starting from a point when the pad is
parallel to the rim ( the trailing edge is moved out the one mm or so distance. ) You may have moved
the back end out but the front end is now toed in.

That is exactly what I mean by mystification. Thank you. First of all you have to get me to agree to
call what is obviously the back of the block its leading edge just because it is nearer to the front
of the bike. And then you have to put the metaphorical person whose toes these are that are turned
inwards facing forwards, instead of being backwards (and upside down) as any sane person would be
when trying to see the waves in the surface of the block that give rise to the squeal. It's weird.

The obvious way up for the metaphorical person to be is with his head at the centre of the wheel and
legs pointing radially outwards, and running along the inside surface of the rim to cancel out the
rotation of the wheel (and keep his feet where the blocks are). That way round it's obvious that he
needs to grip the rim with his heels to prevent his shoes from squealing. And no, it doesn't matter
if we put him (or indeed her) the right way up on the outside of the rim, although he may well bump
his head on the inside of the tyre.

What would you call this adjustment on the back wheel of a bike that has the brakes mounted on the
chain stay? In that case both "ends" of the brake block are equally far from the front of the bike.

Just as an attempt to clear up all these posts, put the piece of card (I use about 1mm thick, but
that is thicker than most people use I think) under the brake block on the end closest to the rear
of the bike.

This lets the end of the brake block closest to the front of the bike hit first and as the top of
rim is travelling forward it will pull the other end
in.

The words Trailing edge and Leading edge deliberatly left out :o)

--
David Brown :o) kitemap.co.ukkitemap.co.ukOpen ↗

"Geraint Jones" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Mike "Taywood" <[email hidden]> wrote: ( "Geraint Jones"
<[email hidden]> wrote ) in message
"]news:[email hidden]... ( > "John Redman" <[email hidden]> wrote:

<snipped volumes>

Wish I 'ant said nowt (as they say round these parts) about edges 'n' toes
:-(

Pete

My V-brakes (Shimano M-system Acera from memory) squeal and no amount of toeing-in or using my
preferred KoolStop pads will stop the noise (though it used to). I've noticed the levers are a bit
loose in the bushes (and tightening the bolt won't change this) and suspect worn bushes after four
years. Anyone had a similar experience/advice before I change the brakes? Thanks