mack_turtle

i sometimes catch my shoe on my noodle and it's driving me nuts. would one of those Problem Solver Travel Agents solve this problem? or just a smaller noodle? i am afraid of using a smaller noodle because of the amount of friction it might create in my brake, hence my leaning toward a Travel Agent.

here's what my noodle looks like now:

griftereck

Ive taken noodles to bits and shortened them before.
did it on a BMX cause it was hitting the cranks.

have you got the thin washers on the wheel side if the brake pads. The arms look far away from the tyre.

mack_turtle

yes, i have the thin washers closest to the rim. can can't make them go in any further and the brake is as close as it can be without rubbing. i have i Sun Rhyno lite rim, which is pretty wide. that might be part of the problem.

johnknappcc

I only have my wife's MTB to compare to, but I noticed two things:

1) That noodle does seem pretty darn big.
2) Your brakes aren't adjusted properly, they are too far out. You should be able to adjust them in a bit (I'm guesstimating here at around 5-10mm) and should at least reduce how far the noodle sticks out.

I don't have a great angle in this one, however, this is my wife's . . .

mack_turtle

if i put the brake arms any close to the rim, the pads will hit the rim. the thin washers are closest to the rim, so i can't do anything with that. is there anything else i can do to get my brake arms closer?

JanMM

Would a different angle noodle help? Choice of 90, 110, or 135 degree noodles:
https://www.bikeman.com/Linear_Pull_Brake_Noodles.html

Mondoman

I agree with everyone else that the brake arms look to be too far out. If you've got block-style brake pads, you can replace them with thin cartridge or certain non-cartridge pads to save probably 4-5mm at least on each side.

Have you checked your rear wheel for trueness? Truing up a wheel a bit out of true could gain you another few mm for the brakes.

Is it the housing or the noodle itself that is catching on your shoes? If the noodle itself, flexible noodles are available that you can bend to a custom angle rather than the 90 and 135 normally available.

How about running your brake cable down the middle of the top tube (or even on the right!), but still running the housing out toward the left? Looks like you've got plenty of room to avoid hitting the seat tube with your housing.

Eprobungs

You can bend them with your hands. Thats what I do.
Just be careful not to crimple them when bending and aviod a sharp bend.

mack_turtle

the wheel is true and the pads are as far in as they can go. good suggestion on the thinner-style brake pads though. i just bought new cartridges for these pads, so i will use them until they are dead and get something thinner next time.

i went to the bike shop and got a normal rear noodle on there. the one i had was actually a front noodle. i did not want to mess with cutting and bending it, so i found the right size noodle in a bin. i work there, so it was cheap. i will try moving that housing to the center hole too.

Michel Gagnon

Get thinner brake pads (the cartridge pads take more space than the solid ones, and around here, cartridges are actually more expensive) and install the thinner spherical washer close to the pads so the arms stick out less.

Then you may look for a 135° noodle, but you might also try to bend carefully your existing noodle. If you are careful about it, round it around a piece of pipe or something like that, you may be able to reshape it while keeping it round. It's risky, but the worst that may happen is that you will need to buy a new one.

dabac

Cambriabike carries this gadget. I'm not saying it's essential to happy riding, but I've been well pleased with mine. They're better sealed against dirt than the travel agents that I've seen.