Shimano Deore DX brake lever question?

[PiledHigher]

Have these levers on a loaner mountain bike with V brakes, they have a
H L adjust on the brake levers, one is set high, the other low, trying
to understand the reason for these adjusters and how they should be
set up?

 

[Dave]

On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:07:43 -0700, PiledHigher wrote:

> Have these levers on a loaner mountain bike with V brakes, they have a
> H L adjust on the brake levers, one is set high, the other low, trying
> to understand the reason for these adjusters and how they should be
> set up?

That's going back a way: the bike must be around 10 years old.

Anyway, the H lever pulls more cable for a given lever pull, so works
better with V brakes. However, there's a lower mechanical advantage as a
result, so if you've got canti's you're better off with the L setting. Of
course, if you set up your brakes right and like silly amounts of power,
Vs with the L setting works rather nicely.

Sounds like the owner has a preferred feel for the brakes, and configured
them that way, or did it by accident without realising.

--
Dave Hughes | [email protected]
We are, in fact, at the cutting edge of cocking about
- Richard Hammond, Top Gear

 

[Plodder]

I have similar levers on my venerable GT Zaskar. I have the front set on L
to give me more modulation and the rear set on H. In theory the H can make
Vbrakes pretty grabby but I've set it that way because the Zaskar frame was
built for canti brakes and the cable route for Vs makes the rear release a
little slowly - I've never managed to fix that despite many different cable
types and configurations and several brakes. Works well for me...

Cheers,

Frank


"PiledHigher" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Have these levers on a loaner mountain bike with V brakes, they have a
> H L adjust on the brake levers, one is set high, the other low, trying
> to understand the reason for these adjusters and how they should be
> set up?
>

 

[PiledHigher]

On Aug 1, 3:22 pm, "Dave" <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 17:07:43 -0700, PiledHigher wrote:
> > Have these levers on a loaner mountain bike with V brakes, they have a
> > H L adjust on the brake levers, one is set high, the other low, trying
> > to understand the reason for these adjusters and how they should be
> > set up?
>
> That's going back a way: the bike must be around 10 years old.
>
> Anyway, the H lever pulls more cable for a given lever pull, so works
> better with V brakes. However, there's a lower mechanical advantage as a
> result, so if you've got canti's you're better off with the L setting. Of
> course, if you set up your brakes right and like silly amounts of power,
> Vs with the L setting works rather nicely.
>
> Sounds like the owner has a preferred feel for the brakes, and configured
> them that way, or did it by accident without realising.
>
> --
> Dave Hughes | [email protected]
> We are, in fact, at the cutting edge of cocking about
> - Richard Hammond, Top Gear

I would err to the side of by accident, this bike is in immaculate
condition despite being that old, already had to swap out a stem that
had a stripped thread so mechanics may not be a strong point.

I'll put them to H on both sides and see how they feel.

Thought the answer would be to do with the differnt mechanical
advantage but wasn't sure which way I was likely to need to go.