wunderkind

My bike's brake although seem to grip, the lever pressed towards the drops already. Can you help a noobie road bike on how the adjust the brake tension? It uses the STI system.

thanks!

nahh

adjust it at the actual brake, not the STI lever.

roadfix

Turn out the cable stop (knurled knob) at the caliper (brake)

wunderkind

OK the brake I have is something like this.



Do you mean the top chrome part?

Steve530

Yes, the top chrome part. Turn it counter-clockwise (looking at it from the top, then turn the lower ring clockwise to snug it up.

dabac

If it's already screwed out you'll have to tighten the cable where it's clamped. Basically undo the nut, pull a cm or so of cable through and do the nut up again.
The brake in the pic seems to have a q/r for easier wheel removal, make sure you're familiar with how that works before trying anything.

Retro Grouch 

Don't over do it.

If your brake lever is bottoming, or nearly bottoming against the handlebar you will need to adjust the cable length as the other posters have indicated.

If you make it too tight, however, you won't be able to open your brake pads far enough to easily remove and replace your wheel.

operator

That's irrelevant. Having the QR open to clear the tyre doesn't mean anything about proper lever travel for brake actuation.

wunderkind

OK, so I think I got it adjusted properly. What I did...

- Loosen the cable stop.
- Hold down the caliper to be closer to the rim
- pull the cable tout
- retighten the cable stop nut

Now the brake lever travels about 1/4 of the way and the caliper snaps to the rim.

Let me know if what I did was correct. This is new to me as my previous bike had disc brakes.

Al1943

That should work provided that you can remove the wheel with the quick release loose.
There should be a barrel adjuster where the cable meets the caliper.

operator

That's correct.

By the way. You'll want the lever to bottom out just before it hits the bar and then a bit. The closer your hand is to fully closed the more modulation you have e.g very tight brakes = not as much control.

wunderkind

Hmm... you got a point there. I guess I'll adjust with it as time goes by. thanks!

Retro Grouch 

Incorrect.

operator

Yeah, how so?

So for a tire that will not clear a brake even with the QR open, you suggest loosening the brake so that the adjustment is loose?

Give me a freakin break. Proper lever travel adjustment has nothing to do, and should not have anything to do with the tyre clearing the brake when the QR is open. Not sure how you can even being to refute this.

Retro Grouch 

Try, if you can, to read my initial post with an open mind.

All I was saying is that, if you adjust your brake pads too close to the rim, even opening the quick release won't be enough to clear the tire. That, sir, is an obvious fact.

By the way, might your last sentence make sense in French?

DMF 

Also remember that as the pads wear the brake requires more travel at the lever. Are you sure your pads don't need replacing?

DannoXYZ 

That's right. A lot of people think they get better braking and faster actuation by having the pads as close to the rim as possible so they grab as soon as you pull the lever. But your hand doesn't have as much leverage that way and you may have to squeeze very hard to get decent braking power. The hand can apply a lot more force when it's more closed and having the brakes set so that you lock up the wheels just before the lever bottoms against bars will give you the most braking-power and modulation control.