Originally Posted by dafydd
The two arms shouldn't rock back and forth at the pivot bolt. they need to be adjusted much like a cone and locknut. a shop should do that when installing pads and adjusting brakes.
chang star brakes are fairly lousy in my opinion, although i believe most of the problem lies in the pads and the (road) levers. i'd replace the pads with koolstops, and the levers with either aero levers or at least weinmman or diacompe nonaeros, preferably without the safety levers.
I did some more adjusting, including using a wrench to bend the levers to a better angle, and they seem to be better. The return springs may be entering the beginning of the end, though. That and the wear on the plastic washer would be an excuse to upgrade. Hopefully, I can upgrade in the spirit of originality. I love my old Schwinn, but recognize that it was not the top of the line when it was new. It was just a nice bike, and a big step up from the K-Mart bike I had before it.
I've only had it in the shop a couple of times, and not in several years. I've always changed parts myself.
Do parts like you mentioned show up on ebay often? Is stuff like that pretty much "fits all road bikes?" Sorry for my ignorance, but I've never upgraded a bike before.
Thank you,
-Bill