My Cannondale Quick hybrid is about a year old and has about 2000 miles on it. Any maintenance that should be done? What should you do periodically besides keeping the bike clean and lube the chain?

The only thing that isn't working OK right now is that there is too much play in my right brake. The lever has to be squeezed all the way down to brake. How would I adjust that?

Should be a barrel adjuster near the brake lever I think, no?

Should be a barrel adjuster someplace. Found this Park Tool website yesterday. Good stuff:

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-...ice-and-repair

I have the Cannondale Quick 5 and it is about the same age. I'll be paying attention to this thread.

What type of brakes? I see a Quick with disc brakes and a model with V brakes.

V brakes if silmilar to mine: There is a barrel adjuster near the handle bars where the cable exits the brake lever. Turn the cable, you can see the brake pads move toward the rim as it tightens.

If that does not tighten the brakes enough, you can loosen the screw that clamps the cable to the V brake and pull the cable through a bit. That also tightens the brakes. What I do before doing this is set the barrel adjuster to the loose postition so that as the brake wears, I can tighten via barrel. Meaning if you set the brake cable at the brakes without resetting the barrel adjuster, when you want to tighten the barrel later down the road, it will be at max and you will not bea ble to maek the adjustment the easy way.

As far as disc brakes, I haven't dealt with them so sorry, no advice there.

Be sure to loosen lock ring allowing barrel to move. Then retighten to hold in place when done.


v1 by mrbeanz1, on Flickr


v2 by mrbeanz1, on Flickr

It has v-brakes. The barrel adjuster is tight, can't be turned anymore. So I need to to loosen it and then pull the brake cable?

Anything else on the bike that needs to be done, even if there are no symptoms?

nice Beanz

I tried to find a picture of the brake levers but didn't. How about a picture of your brake lever where the cable comes out?

if disc brakes its pretty much the same, you could use the barrel nut adjustment which should be in the same spot on the lever as Mr. Beanz first image shows or as in his second image you could also adjust it by taking the slack out of the cable as it could have stretched over 2000 miles.

You may want to check the chain for stretch as well, it should measure 12 inches pin to pin, if its 1/8 off you are ok for now but it should be replaced, if it is more than 1/8 replace the chain.

wouldn't hurt to snug up any bolts that may have come loose either, start at the front and go back and just make sure nothing is loose.

otherwise cleaning and lubing should be good I think.

Really! He made it clear.

I'll try to get one in a bit.

Thanks. I am unclear on the chain issue. What is "pin to pin?"

Taken from Sheldon Brown's site.

The standard way to measure chain wear is with a ruler or steel tape measure. This can be done without removing the chain from the bicycle. The normal technique is to measure a one-foot length, placing an inch mark of the ruler at the side of one rivet, then looking at the corresponding rivet 12 complete links away. On a new, unworn chain, this rivet will also line up exactly with an inch mark. With a worn chain, the rivet will be past the inch mark. [For accurate measurement, the chain should be held under some tension -- either on the bicycle, or hanging. -- John Allen] This gives a direct measurement of the wear to the chain, and an indirect measurement of the wear to the sprockets:

• If the rivet is less than 1/16" past the mark, all is well.
• If the rivet is 1/16" past the mark, you should replace the chain, but the sprockets are probably undamaged.
• If the rivet is 1/8" past the mark, you have left it too long, and the sprockets (at least the favorite ones) will be too badly worn. If you replace a chain at the 1/8" point, without replacing the sprockets, it may run OK and not skip, but the worn sprockets will cause the new chain to wear much faster than it should, until it catches up with the wear state of the sprockets.
• If the rivet is past the 1/8" mark, a new chain will almost certainly skip on the worn sprockets, especially the smaller ones.

On the below image see where the 1 on the ruler is? that is the pin or rivet

Here is the brake, the second picture shows how far it goes in when I pull it:

Thank you. I'll do that when I am back where I have a ruler.

Shifters show it's an 8 speed (if I'm corrrect). After 2000 miles I'd bet you are safe with the chain.

Good idea to check it though.

Yes, it is an eight speed. I am good about keeping the chain clean and lubed.

It might look like a little too much play in the lever but BE SURE you don't set it too tight. V brakes are powerful and tight front can easily cause and endo (flip over the bars).

I actually set mine a little loose feeling. The night before I crashed I tightened the brakes on my MTB. I thought I feathered my front brake but set it too tight and flipped when it locked up. I was in the dirt so be careful cause the pavement will affect the grip even more.

Be sure after setting brakes tighter that you ride slowly for a while to get the feel of the new grip. My separated shoulder wished I had.

I have a chain (SRAM with the power link) that I put on early 2010 that measures 1/16 too long as I type, its less than 2k on that chain (perhaps right around 2k miles). The bike is also an 8 speed, true enough I have been between 300 and 350# in that time a lot of pulling my daughter around (up hills) in a bike trailer and on a trail a bike but with a clyde status I think that its something that should be checked more often than a lighter rider.

True, but I think GF as an Athena is a pretty low end Athena.

What happens if you're past the 1/8" mark and you don't replace the chain or the sprockets? I've got two recent craigslist acquisitions that are both past the 1/8" point, but the chains and sprockets seem to be in decent shape, and the bikes ride just fine - no skipping, etc.

I understand that if I replace the chain at this point, I will probably experience skipping, since I would be putting a new chain on worn sprockets. But is there any need to do anything at all?

Great - goldfinch has been demoted to "low end"

It's a good idea to peridically lube the things that move... pivot points on brakes, derailleurs etc. Replace brake pads if they're worn (which may be why your level moves so far) check your shift cables to see if they're worn or pulling too hard.

Nothing major.

Will do. Do you have a guesstimate as to how much cable to pull through?

The bike actually shifts a lot better than it did when new so no messing with that. The brake pads look fine. Being "low end" is a good thing in my case.

I'd say 1/8-1/4 of an inch depending on how soft/loose the braking is now. Try 1/8 first. Pretty easy to do once you get the handle on it.

By low end, I meant weight. Low end of the Athena scale.