bpapi2oo4

Hi all,
I'm currently putting together my single speed/fixed gear bike and I recently purchased a front Tektro brake online. The parts came in and look like this:

Now some of you may laugh at me and I apologize if this question is dumb but I have little experience at all with bike brakes and Im not really sure how to put this together. Can someone please give me some advice. Thanks so much

Faust1976

It would be difficult to explain without showing you first hand, do you know any bike savvy people that could spend 10 minuets to show you how? It's not that difficult, but that lever looks to be a cross lever which should be used as an in-line, secondary brake lever in addition to a standard road brake lever.

ryanlovesyou

There's no need to use both types of brake... an in-line brake will do you fine by itself. Check this out- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgnyGoKM2tM

Faust1976

I guess I'm nerdy like that. if it were my build, I would go with someting like this

omgmarclol

mount your caliper...stick the center bolt through the hole in the fork and tighten it with a hex key into the recessed nut. mount your lever to the bars. have the quick release open on the caliper. route the cable housing into the barrel aduster on the brake lever, put in a ferrule if doesn't fit into the barrel adjuster. push the cable through the housing, free end first, the ball end will catch the barrel adjuster on the brake lever. route the cable through the barrel adjuster on the caliper and under the cable fixing bolt washer. pull the cable taught and tighten that bolt. you can do your adjustments after this is done. centering/evenly spacing the caliper on the wheel. adjusting the cable tension. etc... hope that makes sense.

legstwelve

The Park Tool website is godd for simple things like this, lots of pictures.
https://parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=22

Alternatively if you are going to be doing a bit of work on your bike consider purchasing Zinn and the art of roadbike maintenance, got mine from Borders.

chrissmedley

what is the lever that faust1978 posted? anybody know?

arexjay

paul e-lever

Dr.PooLittle

That thing's HUGE. Bigger than a horse!

cc700

wow.

okay,

breaking it down into steps:


1. use the bolt at the top of the actual brake to bolt the brake onto the front of the fork.

don't worry about tightening it because you will have to readjust it once you run the cable in step three.

2. put the lever on the handlebar where you will be able to reach it quickly from your normal riding position. with that lever, it's going to have to be at the top of the bars so be sure you can get to the top.

clamp it on nice and tight so that it won't move, but don't strip the threads.

3. run the cable through the brake lever, through the housing, and then through the brake. don't clamp it down tightly, just make sure it won't fall off while adjusting. cut the cable housing so that it has a slight amount of slack even when the bars are turned to the opposite side. put the metal housing stops on the ends of the housing now that it's cut to size.

4. adjust it. this is not easy to explain and honestly you're going to have to make sure it's tensioned and positioned correctly so it will actually stop you, so don't just take any advice you get on the internet... try it and then get someone who's done it before to check and recheck it for you.

5. cut the cable and crimp the cap.

again,

DON'T RIDE WITH THIS UNTIL SOMEONE WHO KNOWS BRAKES HAS CHECKED IT.

you don't want a brake failing. it's the number one way to ruin your day.

iamtim

+1

In-line, cross brake levers: the levers of fixie enthusiasts everywhere.

ZiP0082

i also bought the BikeIsland kit pictured, a few weeks back. They seem to be quality, as far as I'm concerned.

andrewro

I would add - you can look at a bike with a brake already installed, or pics of such from the web, if you get confused.

harrier

... But the reach on the pony legs doesn't clear my deep V's. Should I try different shoes on the pony? Also, I felt a little cruel drilling a hole through its belly, so I was glad I had an old Pony clamp to attach it to the fork bridge.