Bicycle Mechanics - basic question- front tire alignment

I have a Trek Pilot 1.0 and my front brake is rubbing on the wheel. I'm sure it's just a simple matter of tightening up, I'm not sure how/where to tighten the mechanism itself, or if it's something I should have looked at in a shop?
Clearly I know little about my bike. Any help is greatly appreciated!

I'm not familiar with that exact bike but there is probably an adjusting screw on the cable housing and turning it in one direction will lesson the tension and open the caliper a bit.

I did that, and it did indeed open it, but the right brake pad is still sitting right on the rim. It seems like I should be tightening the entire unit to the frame itself, but I'm not sure if I'm about to over-adjust something, or if I should be looking where my wheel is more than where the braking unit it.

I did that, and it did indeed open it, but the right brake pad is still sitting right on the rim. It seems like I should be tightening the entire unit to the frame itself, but I'm not sure if I'm about to over-adjust something, or if I should be looking where my wheel is more than where the braking unit it.

I suggest you bring this into a shop and show them the problem given your current lack of knowledge.

then you need to align the unit (rotate left or right). folks here can help you with that. can you post a picture of the unit so we can see what it looks like? you might have to loosen a nut align the unit and then tighten that nut again (where it attaches to the frame)

Check out the self help section on brakes at www.parktool.com/repair (http://www.parktool.com/repair) . Hover your mouse over the brake caliper on the bike and click. Find your type of brakes in the next page and then read and learn.

You're welcome.... :D

+1 - Several steps involved, easier to follow a guide like the Park site than one-by-one posts. Wheel needs to be centered between fork blades before you start anything of course.

The subject line refers to "tire alignment". Is the wheel rim centered in the fork? It should be.

Lots of bikes are running around with front wheels that are dished slightly off so they don't run exactly centered. But that's a good point. If the front was out a little and then it was installed flopped the other way then the pads would certainly rub then. Flipping the wheel around may just solve the issue... or at least return things to their original "compensated" arrangement :D

Another thought if the centering adjustment doesn't do the trick is that one arm of the brakes may have a broken return spring or the pin that the the return spring sits on is broken off or merely that the arm of the return spring slipped off the pin. Compare one side to the other to see if everything is the same. If not then fix whatever is the cause on the side that is busted or misplaced.