V-brake mysteriously unhooking itself

"Phil, Squid-in-Training" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So I've been riding the MTB more often to class now, and on about 3 occasions, I have been having
this problem where the tension arm of my non-drive-side front v-brake unhooks itself and leaves
the right side to pull by itself. This may be due to going down stairs, but I'm not sure. Has
anyone else had this happen to them? I run my brake pull tension

fairly

Quoted message said:

low, so this could be the culprit...

Avid Single Digits on a Manitou Skareb.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Could be your brake arm is momentarily sticking..long enough to let the cable unhook? Possible. It
should not unhook unless the arm is somehow sticking, no matter how low the tension, unless your
cables are binding in some way.

Cheers,

Scott..

I've got some Avid Shortys, but they only do this when the tension screws on both sides are
screwed in almost all the way at high tension and the top of the spring is right near the holder
thing on the arm.

Squid-in-Training said:

So I've been riding the MTB more often to class now, and on about 3 occasions, I have been having
this problem where the tension arm of my non-drive-side front v-brake unhooks itself and leaves the
right side to pull by itself. This may be due to going down stairs, but I'm not sure. Has anyone
else had this happen to them? I run my brake pull tension fairly low, so this could be the
culprit...

Avid Single Digits on a Manitou Skareb.

Phil said:

So I've been riding the MTB more often to class now, and on about 3 occasions, I have been having
this problem where the tension arm of my non-drive-side front v-brake unhooks itself and leaves
the right side to pull by itself. This may be due to going down stairs, but I'm not sure. Has
anyone else had this happen to them? I run my brake pull tension fairly low, so this could be the
culprit...

Avid Single Digits on a Manitou Skareb.

I'm not sure I understand what happened. "tension arm. . . unhooks itself"? What's a tension arm? If
the cable unhooks, neither arm will move. If it's still connected both arms should brake. ??

--
Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971

"Phil, Squid-in-Training" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

So I've been riding the MTB more often to class now, and on about 3 occasions, I have been having
this problem where the tension arm of my non-drive-side front v-brake unhooks itself and leaves
the right side to pull by itself.

They are just jealous of the attention that disk brakes and quick releases hve been getting
recently :-)

James

Quoted message said:

I'm not sure I understand what happened. "tension arm. . . unhooks itself"? What's a tension arm?
If the cable unhooks, neither arm will move. If it's still connected both arms should brake.

/tension1.jpg"]http://plaza.ufl.edu/phillee/[censored]/tension1.jpg

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

"Phil, Squid-in-Training" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I'm not sure I understand what happened. "tension arm. . . unhooks itself"? What's a tension
arm? If the cable unhooks, neither arm will move. If it's still connected both arms should
brake.

/tension1.jpg"]http://plaza.ufl.edu/phillee/[censored]/tension1.jpg

There's your problem: it's too clean!

Bill "coating of dirt acts as protectant" S.

"Phil, Squid-in-Training" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

/tension1.jpg"]http://plaza.ufl.edu/phillee/[censored]/tension1.jpg

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

That's actually normally called the return spring. It really shouldn't come unhooked under any
conditions, but it's not the end of the world if it does. Perhaps if there is enough lateral
deflection of the wheel (perhaps while going down stairs..) it could push the brake arm away from
the rim enough momentarily to allow the spring to become unhooked. You could put a zip-tie around
the arm and spring above the post to keep it from moving off the post. Or just increase the spring
tension so that it doesn't go to zero if the brake arm is moved back further from the rim.

Cheers,

Scott..

Quoted message said:

That's actually normally called the return spring. It really shouldn't

come

Sounds like a plan - thanks for the return spring refernce.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Phil said:

Quoted message said:

I'm not sure I understand what happened. "tension arm. . . unhooks itself"? What's a tension arm?
If the cable unhooks, neither arm will move. If it's still connected both arms should brake.

/tension1.jpg"]http://plaza.ufl.edu/phillee/[censored]/tension1.jpg

Oh! Thanks. I would call that thing a "spring".

Just bend them both outward a bit so they always have a bit of tension against the peg. You can
do that by eye with both unhooked and then use the adjusting screw to balance them once
reconnected in situ.

--
Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Quoted message said:

There's your problem: it's too clean!

Well, the bike HAS seen better days...

/bitdirty1.jpg"]http://plaza.ufl.edu/phillee/[censored]/bitdirty1.jpg /bitdirty2.jpg"]http://plaza.ufl.edu/phillee/[censored]/bitdirty2.jpg
/bitdirty3.jpg"]http://plaza.ufl.edu/phillee/[censored]/bitdirty3.jpg

Needless to say, my rear rim went outta true, I had to unhook the rear brake and run front-only
during the race.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

"Phil, Squid-in-Training" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

There's your problem: it's too clean!

Well, the bike HAS seen better days...

/bitdirty1.jpg"]http://plaza.ufl.edu/phillee/[censored]/bitdirty1.jpg /bitdirty2.jpg"]http://plaza.ufl.edu/phillee/[censored]/bitdirty2.jpg
/bitdirty3.jpg"]http://plaza.ufl.edu/phillee/[censored]/bitdirty3.jpg

Looks like you went riding through a curry quarry!

Bill "better on chicken" S.