B
Borrall Wonnell
Guest
Setup:
Front brake is centered, with a reasonable gap between pad and rim. By
"reasonable gap", I'd say you could fit two quarters in there...pulling
the brake lever doesn't give you instant braking power.
Trail Symptom / Quick Fix:
When riding, the pad sometimes audibly brushes against the rim,
particularly when turning in one direction. Brakes appear to be
off-center when riding. Adjusting the centering did not 100% fix the
problem. Had to increase the gap, resulting in a very weak front
brake.
Investigation:
When compressing the fork, the brake arm with the cable fixing bolt is
being pulled towards the rim. At first glance, this looks very
strange. When under compression, the brake cable housing has a tighter
bend radius. Would this increase the effective length of the housing
enough to pull the left brake arm significantly towards the rim? If
so, shouldn't this also pull the right brake arm?
I checked the pivots and everything seems smooth. In the end I went
for compromise...I increased the fork pre-load to maximum to minimize
the amount of sag when just sitting on the bike, and as a result I was
able to reduce the pad-rim gap enough to provide acceptable braking
power without any rubbing. Still not close to an ideal setup.
Has anyone else experienced this? Of the three other MTB's I've used,
this is the first time I've seen this particular problem. The V-Brakes
in question are some Tektro stuff on a $500 hardtail.
Cheers,
Dave
Front brake is centered, with a reasonable gap between pad and rim. By
"reasonable gap", I'd say you could fit two quarters in there...pulling
the brake lever doesn't give you instant braking power.
Trail Symptom / Quick Fix:
When riding, the pad sometimes audibly brushes against the rim,
particularly when turning in one direction. Brakes appear to be
off-center when riding. Adjusting the centering did not 100% fix the
problem. Had to increase the gap, resulting in a very weak front
brake.
Investigation:
When compressing the fork, the brake arm with the cable fixing bolt is
being pulled towards the rim. At first glance, this looks very
strange. When under compression, the brake cable housing has a tighter
bend radius. Would this increase the effective length of the housing
enough to pull the left brake arm significantly towards the rim? If
so, shouldn't this also pull the right brake arm?
I checked the pivots and everything seems smooth. In the end I went
for compromise...I increased the fork pre-load to maximum to minimize
the amount of sag when just sitting on the bike, and as a result I was
able to reduce the pad-rim gap enough to provide acceptable braking
power without any rubbing. Still not close to an ideal setup.
Has anyone else experienced this? Of the three other MTB's I've used,
this is the first time I've seen this particular problem. The V-Brakes
in question are some Tektro stuff on a $500 hardtail.
Cheers,
Dave