Clipped_in

Ok, I'm not too smart so help me out here. I see a lot of people riding around with their brakes in the open position (see image). I was on a ride with a co-worker yesterday who flatted. After the flat was changed I attempted to close the lever--no go. I asked him if he had brakes and he said they were fine. What am I missing?

CharlyAlfaRomeo

Looks like the brakes were set up with the lever in the open position. The brakes should work fine and as long as he can get the wheel in with the tire pumped up it doesn't make a difference.

Bob Dopolina 

Open is incorrect.

megalowmatt

How the heck would you remove the tire while inflated if it's adjusted in the open position like that?

CharlyAlfaRomeo

The newer style of aero rims are usually as wide as the tire that goes on them.

buffalowings

You wait until it's flat

Homebrew01

Correct

RollCNY

I see no reason for "a lot of people" to do it, but I can see a reason for a certain subset of people to do it. If you have Campagnolo or stand alone brake levers, the brake release is at your fingertips, and not on the brake itself. Therefore (and I have personally done this when I was feeling lazy), if you wish to swap between 19 mm and 23 mm rims, you can use the lever at the brake closed for narrow, and open for wide. And honestly, once you get used to the release being at the hoods, the release on the brake itself becomes annoying. If you change a tube and forget to close the release, you have no loss of braking, and can correct it without missing a beat.

But again, very small subset.

Clipped_in

Ok, well then... You all have confirmed my suspicion--that there are a lot of people (around here at least) that are simply clueless about brake QR levers and proper adjustment.

Looigi

If your rims are wide enough compared to the tire such that the brake QR isn't needed, adjusting brakes properly with the QR open eliminates the possibility of having insufficient braking from forgetting to close it.

Some pros ride with the rear QR open to eliminate the possibility of brake rub from wheel and frame flex and close it when needed.

I run with a lot of pad clearance and don't need to use the QR with my wheels/tires but have leave them closed anyway.

canam73

The bike in the pic appears to have carbon tubulars. If they are like mine, the brake track is essentially equal in width to the tire (both spec'd at 23mm).

Psimet2001 

Meh...

Yes the brakes were set incorrectly for that specific wheelset, but now with mixes of wide and narrow rims on a lot of people's setups I find we run closed on their narrow rims (usually training rims) and open on their race (wide) rims. Tends to work well.

Yeah the wide rim thing has made the balloon tire clearance with the pads bit a bit of a historical footnote.

FWIW - the brake operates fine in both positions.

Clipped_in

Ok, that sounds reasonable.

Same with my aluminum clinchers - 24mm (actual) tire and brake track.

WhyFi

If you had some 23Cs on 23mm rims, you could probably get it on and off. It's probably more likely that they 19mm rims and just have a lot lever travel before pads hit the rims and then they wonder why they don't stop too well even with the lever bottomed out.

Clipped_in

Sure.

canam73

Unless the caliper is skewed to the other side, the bike in the picture does not appear to have much travel.

WhyFi

Yeah, I was speaking in general terms w/r/t his statement that a lot of people in his area ride like that, not to this specific instance.

megalowmatt

I can see with narrow rims/tires that would be OK. I'm riding gp4000s 25c which are fairly wide tires and it's tight pulling the tire fully inflated with the lever open.

PatrickGSR94

I have accidentally left my brake QR levers open several times. Doesn't affect my braking ability at all. The brake lever itself just moves slightly more toward the handlebar drop when I squeeze the lever. It's no big deal, really.

Looigi

With the QR open, my brake levers bottom out on the bars before reaching full braking strength. Setup: Red levers adjusted full forward, Red calipers, Jagwire compressionless brake housings, 23mm rims, 2mm clearance between track and pad on each side with QR closed.

brian416

This is why half the time my brake thingys are halfway open.

JReade

Set them up with the QR open, then flip them down for a parking brake!

PatrickGSR94

Shoot I wish my MTB with V-brakes had brakes with a QR lever that could be set up that way. Would help a ton when attaching my kid's trailer.

RPK79

+1

I've also flipped up my rear brake lever when the pad kept rubbing and I didn't feel like fixing it at the time, forgot about it, and it was like that for a couple weeks.

caloso

When I was a Cat 5, for crits I would leave my front brake caliper open so that I wouldn't be able to accidentally lock up my front wheel if I grabbed the lever too hard.