Bicycle Mechanics - I think my brakes are trashed...

I was out doing drops and what not on the huffy today, and I found one that looked ok but had a short runoff after it. The short runoff was fine, but it meant that I had to get on the brakes as soon as I landed. I did this, and suddenly, my brakes got a lot of slack in them, and now there is tons of travel in the brake before the pad hits the rim.

These are cheap canti's...any hypothesises on what happened? Any help would be appreciated

Cable.............came.............loose?

Phatman,

Completely hypothesizing here, but is there any chance that you pulled some cable through the pinch-bolt somehow? (Are these V's?). Are all of the housings still in place in their housing stops?Are you using new brakes/levers/cable? You could have just set everything into place, but I don't think you would notice the amount of slack you talk about.

Just some things to look at that came off the top of my head. Hope something helps.

-Moab

Cable.............came.............loose?

I dont think so, the brakes still move, but when they touch the rim they just don't do anything.



Completely hypothesizing here, but is there any chance that you pulled some cable through the pinch-bolt somehow? (Are these V's?). Are all of the housings still in place in their housing stops?Are you using new brakes/levers/cable? You could have just set everything into place, but I don't think you would notice the amount of slack you talk about.

they are canti's, and they are pretty old. (before v-brakes were invented) Just so you know, they are bottom of the line shimano, on my bottom of the line huffy.

well if the brakes still pull in to the rim when you pull the lever but there is alot of slack then something slipped.

if I read your post correctly....


you pull the lever in and it moves alot closer to the grip than before but the brake pads still move toward the rim?

the pads just don't hit the rim w/ enough force to stop/slow you down?

if that is the case, something slipped or stretched. usually the cable.

you can use the barrel adjusters on your levers, if there are any.

it is the last thing your cable goes through before it goes into the lever. just twist the little thing out, away from the lever to remove slack from the cable.


but even better is to look at the brakes themselves. get whatever tool you need to loosen the cable and then pull it back through to remove slack.

you may need someone to help hold the brake pads to the rim while you do this.

if that doesn't help, let us know.

thanks, guys, I sort of fixed it. I found that the cable is really badly frayed. I just pulled it through some more to a spot where it wasn't so frayed. It's back to sort of normal. It squeals more then before, so I'll have to adjust the toe-in some more, but otherwise, I think that I just panicked.

Thanks for the help anyways!