Squeaky Brakes on 5-speed

Brian said:

I just purchased a 5-speed aluminum frame bike from Wal-Mart.

Uh oh. I was going to say take it back for adjustments, but they don't
do repairs or any other customer support.

Quoted message said:

Recently, I have noticed that the rear brakes squeal when they come in
contact with the rear wheel. The sound seems to come from the rubber
brakes that press together onto the rim to cause the bike to come to a
stop. Is there any way to combat this? Maybe oil on the rim? Thanks.

Brakes work by converting the kinetic energy of bike and rider into
heat, produced by friction of the rubber brake pads against the rim. If
you introduce a lubricant such as oil into that interface, you will have
lost your brakes. Not good.

To get rid of the squealing, try to clean the rim and brake pads. Make
sure the brake is properly assembled to reduce vibration of its parts.
Sometimes it helps to angle the pad slightly to the rim, with the front
edge a bit closer to the rim.

If you aren't up for doing minor adjustments such as these, take it to a
real bike shop which does repairs.

A now a brief scold: the cheaper price you paid at Wal-Mart bought you a
really crummy bike. A slightly higher price at a real bike shop would
be a far better value in design, materials and after-the-sale support.
Plus you wouldn't be helping the continued existence of a slave-labor
economy.

Ted

--
Ted Bennett

Hey,

I'd wait couple of days of frequent use before doing anything.
New brakes sometimes come with a bit of a coating of the rubber itself
it's a bit glassy from the storage conditions/ whatever, cheap brake
pads will definitely have this problem in the beginning.
Some use should wear that layer off and that should solve the problem.

Other than that maybe it would a possibility to take them off and
sandpaper *lightly* that layer.

Pablo

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I just purchased a 5-speed aluminum frame bike from Wal-Mart.

Quoted message said:

Recently, I have noticed that the rear brakes squeal when they come in
contact with the rear wheel. The sound seems to come from the rubber
brakes that press together onto the rim to cause the bike to come to a
stop. Is there any way to combat this? Maybe oil on the rim? Thanks.

Brakes work by converting the kinetic energy of bike and rider into
heat, produced by friction of the rubber brake pads against the rim. If
you introduce a lubricant such as oil into that interface, you will have
lost your brakes. Not good.

To get rid of the squealing, try to clean the rim and brake pads. Make
sure the brake is properly assembled to reduce vibration of its parts.
Sometimes it helps to angle the pad slightly to the rim, with the front
edge a bit closer to the rim.

If you aren't up for doing minor adjustments such as these, take it to a
real bike shop which does repairs.

A now a brief scold: the cheaper price you paid at Wal-Mart bought you a
really crummy bike. A slightly higher price at a real bike shop would
be a far better value in design, materials and after-the-sale support.
Plus you wouldn't be helping the continued existence of a slave-labor
economy.

Ted

--
Ted Bennett

Brian said:

I just purchased a 5-speed aluminum frame bike from Wal-Mart.
Recently, I have noticed that the rear brakes squeal when they come in
contact with the rear wheel. The sound seems to come from the rubber
brakes that press together onto the rim to cause the bike to come to a
stop. Is there any way to combat this? Maybe oil on the rim? Thanks.

Yes. Wal-Mart even makes a special oil to reduce squealing of the
brakes on the cheap "bikes" they sell.

Greg

--
The ticketbastard Tax Tracker:
http://www.ticketmastersucks.org/tracker.html

G.T. said:

Brian said:

I just purchased a 5-speed aluminum frame bike from Wal-Mart.
Recently, I have noticed that the rear brakes squeal when they come in
contact with the rear wheel. The sound seems to come from the rubber
brakes that press together onto the rim to cause the bike to come to a
stop. Is there any way to combat this? Maybe oil on the rim? Thanks.

Yes. Wal-Mart even makes a special oil to reduce squealing of the
brakes on the cheap "bikes" they sell.

Greg

--
The ticketbastard Tax Tracker:http://www.ticketmastersucks.org/tracker.html

Ok, I cleaned the rim last night and rode my bike to work this
morning.. still squeals pretty bad. I can feel it vibrating through
the frame. I'm going to try and use sandpaper tonight. The front
brakes do not do this.

Brian said:

Ok, I cleaned the rim last night and rode my bike to work this
morning.. still squeals pretty bad. I can feel it vibrating through
the frame. I'm going to try and use sandpaper tonight. The front
brakes do not do this.

You might try using sandpaper on the brake pads, too. Ideally, you
want the front part of the pad to contact the rim first (toe in), and
you want the pad to contact the center of the rim's braking surface.
Do you know what type of brakes you have (road type calipers,
cantilevers, etc.)?

See:
http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_bo-z.html#brake
and
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/brake-squeal.html

Art Harris

Art Harris said:

Brian said:

Ok, I cleaned the rim last night and rode my bike to work this
morning.. still squeals pretty bad. I can feel it vibrating through
the frame. I'm going to try and use sandpaper tonight. The front
brakes do not do this.

You might try using sandpaper on the brake pads, too. Ideally, you
want the front part of the pad to contact the rim first (toe in), and
you want the pad to contact the center of the rim's braking surface.
Do you know what type of brakes you have (road type calipers,
cantilevers, etc.)?

See:http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_bo-z.html#brake
andhttp://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/brake-squeal.html

Art Harris

To be honest, I'm not completely sure.. but to put it in context of a
car, it looks like regular brake pad calipers. I only see one center
screw. So i'm not sure how to adjust the front angle.