Duncan Hall

Properly cleaned my bike for the first time yesterday - did a seriously mucky ride last week! Anyway, I removed, cleaned and reinstalled my brake cables, but I don't know how to set up V brakes. I had a go, but could only get one of the two arms to move. I am sure you must hold them both closed, pull the cable through, tighten the nut a little and then let one of them back off from the rim a little, before tightening the nut up completely and letting go the other arm, but I am not sure

Any help would be welcome.

Cheers

Duncan

Hunter

Well some may have a differnt view here but here goes. The most important thing is proper toe in. What you can do is take a match book cover and fold it in half. Place it on the very back last say 3m of the pad and tighten the pad down. Now what I like to do is when running the cable, pull it all the way through, and then take the end of the noodle and set it on the inside of the carrier bracket to where it is suspended, then tighten up the cable. This allows you to be able to disengage the brake for removing the wheel easier.

moabrider47

Duncan - I'm assuming that the V-brake calipers were not taken off the fork. When setting the V-brakes up properly, you should hold both calipers firmly against the rim. I have found that this is most easily done with a Park 3rd or 4th hand tool, although you can do it by hand without too much trouble. The tools just free up your hands. While the calipers are being firmly held against the rim, pull the cable all of the way through and tighten the bolt that holds the cable on top of one of the caliper. Then, gently let out a little cable at a time until there is some space between the brake pads and the rim. If the brakes are not centered, it may appear that there is more clearance on one side then another side. Once you have done this, use the small adjusting screws(should be on the bottom of the calipers, probably facing outwards) to cetner the calipers. By turing the screw clockwise, you make that caliper move father from the rim. When moving the screw counterclockwise, you are moving the caliper closer to the rim. Make quarter or half turns of each screw at a time so as not to way overtighten or loosen a screw on a certain caliper. For example, when you tighten one screw clockwise, the other screw should be turned counterclockwise the same amount. Eventually, enough of this turning and checking will make the brake pads appear to be equal amounts of space from the sides of the rim. Then, you can pull some cable through the screw on the top of the brake caliper and tighten it. If you can get the brake pads pretty close to the rim, you can make them ever so slightly closer by using the barrel adjusters on the brake lever. I make the pads pretty mcuh as close as I can without rubbing, so only a little space is visible between each brake and the rim. You can adjust the space between the pads and the rim based on how true you wheel is and how sudden and strong you want your braking to be. Also, make sure the pads are toed-in. If I made this too confusing, there are many internet and book sources that have pictures and probably word it a little better. Good luck with the brakes. How I explained what you were wondering.

Duncan Hall

Hi, thanks for your replies. I think I will now be able to have a go at this.
Have to be honest and say I am not totally sure what is meant by toe-in, except that it describes the angle of attack of pad to rim, either in terms of making good contact with the rim over the whole surface, or the front making contact with the pad first, the rear slightly angled outwards.

Am I right in this assumption?

Thanks

Duncan

Richard D

Yep, that's a pretty good description. Some pads seem to benefit from it more than others.

Richard