Bicycle Mechanics - Disc Brake Question!

Hi there,

Ive just recently bought myself a set of avid juicy seven disc brakes with rotars and fitting to fit onto my santa cruz superlight. As ive always used v-brakes im not very eexperienced with setting discs up.

How do i adjust the gap between the pads, at the moment i cant even get the front wheel on as the wont fit into the caliper due to the gap between the pads being so small, on the rear wheel ive managed to get the disc into the caliper but its rubbing and needs adjusted somehow.

any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers
Cameron

take a flat blade screwdriver and just spread the pads back apart. if you grab the brake lever with the wheel out of the caliper it will push the pistons out and they wont come back on their own. after you do that just make sure the caliper is aligned on both brakes.

to do that loosen the 5mm mounting bolts and with the wheel still on squeeze the brakes a few times then hold the lever in and tighten the mounting bolts again.

If you use a big enough flat screwdriver, you won't have to wiggle it and end up marring the pads. Just shove it straight in and the taper will push the pads apart.

OK ive managed to get the discs running through the calipers but it seems to be a very tight fit and the wheels dont run freely when i spin them due to it being such a tight fit between the pads and the disc. Would these free up after a couple of bike runs? is this normal for disc brakes to be as tight when newly installed?

Thanks

I've got the same problem with the Avid Juicy 3s. The rotor on my back tire tends to rub on the brake pads. Being a newbie with disc brakes, I talked to my LBS about it and they have they've always been able to fix the problem, but after a long ride, the rotor starts rubbing on the pads again. I've been told it's a trade off with Avid hydraulic brakes. I wonder if the same problem exists with Shimano hydralic brakes.