Guest KrazyK|D Posted April 7, 2003 Report Share Posted April 7, 2003 Some people seem to be having problems with v-brakes so i thought... :-" First of all,make sure the pads hit the rim perfectly, all the surface at once.The pad shouldn`t be rubbing agains the tire.( DOH! :D ). Second thing,make sure that both pads hit the rim at once.Spend lots of time adjusting them,it pays off ,resulting in a nice rigid feel at the lever ,no squishy thingz :D Experiment with the washers on the pad`s supporting screws so that when the pads hit the rim,the brake`s arms are parallel to the braking surface on the rim.this really ads to power and rigidity. Lube the cables and the coating...use just a BIT (i sayd BIT ) of WD-40,apply it inside the coating.The brake will now pull easyly. Hope this helps someone,excuze the poor english :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest planetx_street Posted April 7, 2003 Report Share Posted April 7, 2003 And if your brake goes a bit dodgey every now and then, just get damp cloth and rub water around the rim. Now proceed to ride for 30 seconds with the brake half on. Now start using the brake properly and - voila, bitey again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Onzaboymark Posted April 7, 2003 Report Share Posted April 7, 2003 This is from another thread, so it makes little sense...but the basics are there! "News pads are going to be not great at first, due to the Manky Crap™ you get from when they're moulded. Sand 'them, rub 'them on a brick, or just ride them in. You HAVE to bed them in, otherwise you'll just get more sponge than my bath room. Make sure the 'Arch' is sorted, because that might be your problem. Try taking your brake cable out, putting some lube (preferably grease of some kind, not just spray lube) on it, feeding it back through your cables and see if that helps. Getting a bit of grit/shit/mud in the system really can ruin a brake. It happened to me, anyway. Also, make sure you've got a smooth curve with the brake cable. If it's not, it's going to not feel great and the cable inners and outers will wear away faster than you can shake a lambs tail. Mixing metaphors, it's great...anyway, yeah, try doing them. It sounds a lot, but it's really not that much. Just really have a look at it. Check the springs. Try changing the spring rate so that they spring back more. This can give a more "defined" (best word I could think of) feel to the brake, it'll have a more positive feel. Also, check you haven't snapped off the little sticky bit from the spring that plugs into the hole on the frame. Make sure the arms are positioned correctly. If you imagine a vertical line going through the mid-point between the two arms. The arms should be at the same angle as each other from that line. The further out they are, the more leverage you should, theoretically, get. However, more tension on springs = shorter lifespan. If you've got some money cluttering your pockets, you could always get some Muck-Off and clean your rims with that. It works a treat. If you get a teeny weeny bit of lube, oil or any other slippery substance on your rims, it will mess them up, even if you get new pads (obviously...). You could get a fine sandpaper and just do a quite sand which should get rid of it, but if you get Muck-Off you can clean the rest of your bike. Two birds; one stone. If you can be bothered, get some tar and make your rims black. Or grind them. Really, theoretically (again...), you shouldn't really need some, but it DOES save time and effort. Something I tend to lack... Well, PM for more if you read this far." Mark. PART 2 -------------------------- Try not to do the now-normal system of just having one long outer cable, as found on bikes running V's with Magura hosing things, as it makes the brake have so much spongyness because there's nowt for the outer cables to be pulled against, if you get me (just think about it!). It helps to get a decent set of cables, such as the FlakJackets. Don't toe-in your pads very much at all, and that should help. Run cartridge pads. Don't use Shimano V-brakes. Parralel Push. Hmm...how lovely :- Don't use crappy brakes like Tektro's, because as soon as you "start pushing the performance envelope" (i.e: take your bike out of the house) they're going to have more flex than a Russian gymnast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ToX Posted April 12, 2003 Report Share Posted April 12, 2003 If your brake doesn't work well , apply some tar and ride ... after some hours of riding , check the rim , the tar should be gone at all .... set up your pads so they hit the rim on all of it's surface and they take out all the tar ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Onzaboymark Posted April 13, 2003 Report Share Posted April 13, 2003 Well, that was fun :- Anyway, tar is pretty swish. I tried it yesterday and it's not bad, really. Just a couple of diagonal lines on your rims every spoke or one and a half spoke. It's surprisingly good. I've only got it on one side cos I don't really need that much extra power, but I can see it'd be gosh-darn good. Mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SiLeNt_BoB Posted April 16, 2003 Report Share Posted April 16, 2003 hahaha, your addicted to the beaty of tar, anyway, how about removing spongyness from a vee because i have found thats a big problem with vee's, might be usefull to include that here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mr_mod Posted May 11, 2003 Report Share Posted May 11, 2003 If you aint got a flexy lever, or some cheep brakes, and you still have spongyness, try to do this to remove spongyness you need a good set of cable, then If you still have spongyness , check if your frame mounts flex when braking, or if your brake just seems to be falling apart (paralel system clasical). If your mounts flex, get a booster. If it still flex. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest julian Posted May 28, 2003 Report Share Posted May 28, 2003 an LX rear brake works really well, standard pads too, just make sure the outer cables are really clean, use degreaser and shuv as much as pos soap in the outers! seriously it is really good to make the lever pull well easy, like hopes. parrellel oush works a treat, do the above and the brake will lock every time just p i s s out black s h i t e in the wet. (like any v's then) buy them, £25 bargin. xts and xtrs are really good to. the LX lever is the best ever. :D :- :D :D :D :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dirtbiker Posted June 8, 2003 Report Share Posted June 8, 2003 Tar with v's makes them work pretty well, i did it. Unfortunately it makes the loudest squeak (louder than hs-33s) ever! :- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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