Have mercy on an oldster who's been out of touch with the technology and don't throw anything at me if this question seems dumb.... I'm basically coming back to cycling and a hiatus of more years than i care to admit, and sadly mind still looks for things to work they way they used to in the 70s. My problem is with wheel removal. In the old days one could just use the quick release on the brake, and the axel, and have wheel in hand in no time. On my new bike, a Specialized hybrid, after releasing the V brake, and the quick release on the axel, the wheel drops a bit and the tire (700c x 45) binds against the brake shoes. I can pop the wheel with the palm of my hand and force it through the brake shoes, but I fear that doing such too often will compromise the integrity of the brake shoe itself. Being that I just put a bike mount in my truck which uses a quick release type mount to secure the fork, I will be removing the wheel often. Is there a way to increase the spread of the V bakes so the wheel can be removed without binding? Sadly I must confess my last bike had good quality side pulls, so I am quite unfamiliar with V brakes. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Most V brakes have a curved metal tube with a stop at the end called a noodle.

You need to pull back on it slightly and pop it out of its seat to allow the brake to open up.

You do the opposite to put it back together after the wheel goes back in.

Yeah, that is what I did initially to release the brake. But the tire is still catching on the brake shoes.

Yeah, I sometimes encounter that too. I find I have to be careful not to move the brake pads when removing or reinstalling the wheel.

them some pretty fat tyres. sometimes i have trouble releasing the noodle because they're finely tuned, the pads are only a mil or two away from the rim, so not much play there to squeeze them

i'd suggest to go smaller tyre

Are you positive that it is the brakes, and not wheel retention lips at the end of the forks that you are popping the wheel past? Some of the retention lips require the quick release to be unscrewed a lot after flipping the release lever. I have had up to 42 mm tires with V-brakes, and not had to fight them past the brakes after the noodle was released. If it really is a brake clearance problem, then either removing and replacing one pad (pain to fiddle with and get readjusted), or letting some air out of the tire so it can be squeezed enough to pass easily, than re-inflating might be a solution.

Very fat tire for a 700c hybrid. Drop a width size, let the air out, carry a wrench for resetting the pads. Andy.

Yes, quite positive. It's not the retention lips. It's the tire width -vs- the brake shoes. I guess the think to do is mention it at the bike shop where I bought the bike and see what their mechanic says about it.

Don't worry about that. Brake pads needs to be quite sturdy to hold up to the forces generated during braking.
Remember that you can endo a bike by braking too hard. Squeezing a tire past isn't going to worry them structurally.

What it MIGHT do however, is to upset their alignment.
This MIGHT cause the brake pad to gouge the tire sidewall when installed, which can cause all kinds of nasties. Blow outs, brake pad getting snagged leading to endo AND blow out. Pad dropping too low and wedging against rim....

Let me guess, the brake pads can't go any wider because they're hitting the inside of the fork? I have a bike that also has that design flaw.

Thanks for the heads up on the alignment. I will most certainly keep my eye on that.

No, that's one problem that I am not having, thankfully.

Hmm... then I can't picture in my head how if you release the noodle on the V-brake, you still can't get the wheel out?

After disengaging the noodle some folks forget to take their fingers and swing the brake arms to open the space for the tire to exit and/or enter.
See it all the time. The springs often only swing them out so far.
Some folks forget this simple thing and JAM the wheel in or out often removing the pad from the holder. Yup, they do this.

Well, it turns out that I spoke too soon when I responded to your earlier post regarding the brake shoes hitting the fork. Went out to put the bikes in the truck earlier and when I went to pop off the wheel so I could mount the fork in my carrier and sure enough, when I looked closer the break shoe was hitting the fork. I looked at the set-up on the bike of the friend I rode with today and his does not have this problem. It seems that on his the brake shoes mount on the front of the brake arm, and mine are on the rear. This requires a bit of thought. There has to be a way around this. Stopped at the shop where the bikes were bought and the mech said it shouldn't hurt the pads, and at sometime in the future I could go with a narrower tire. May have to do that. *sigh* My yen for simplicity is being thwarted here. Ah well. Such is the nature of life.

Air down your tire? Find different brake pads that don't hit the fork leg in their swing?

Called it.

It would help if you can post a couple of pictures with the tire wedged at the brake shoes.
And what size and brand are the tires?
( click the Insert Image icon, click "basic uploader", then browse to the photos on your PC.)

Different pads might give you just enough clearance.

For instance, Kool Stop makes a low profile V brake pad. Kool Stop Thinline (Note that the long end of the pads are supposed to be toward the back of the rim, under the fork.)

Here are a couple of photos. It's kinda hard to photographically depict what's going on, but such as it is:

Brake undone. No seen quick release skewer released, and unscrewed to clear safety nubs on fork:



Bike held up by hand, wheel drops down, tire binds against brake shoe. It's hard to see, but the read of the brake shoe is up against the fork.



I can pop the wheel with the palm of my hand, using a bit of force, and it will push through. Not sure how many times I can do that before a brake shoe breaks.

Not sure where to go with this now. I don't want a broken brake shoe, or one that might break when I need it most due to the stress placed on it. Letting the air out of the tire is an option, but in my mind a last resort.

If I didn't need to remove the wheel to secure the bike to the mounts in the back of my truck, I probably wouldn't worry about it. But since I have to be able to transport the bikes quite often, it's a concern.

As stated buy a narrower tyre or put up with letting air out and re-inflating every time you want to remove/install it, I have worked on plenty of beaters with this design its a tight fit with the tyres fully inflated. Buy a suitably narrow tyre and keep the old one as a spare for the back

I looked around some, and all the V-Brakes I've found either mount the shoes on the back of the arm, or perhaps some have them in the middle. And, all hit the fork.

Your fork is pretty narrow.

My Cantilever brakes, however, mounted the pads on the front, and opened quite nicely (maybe with shorter shoes too).

So, a few options might be:

• Find out what kind of brakes your friend is using.
• Consider swapping over to Cantilever brakes, at least on the front. It may also require changing to shorter pull brake levers.
• Browsing the internet, the STX-RC (or similar vintage) V-Brakes callipers might be able to have the brake placement reversed, depending on how many washers at the stud holding the pad in place.

Kool-stop Cross pads are shorter than most, so there's a good chance that they would clear the fork legs when the brake is opened.
Kool Stop International - High Performance Bicycle Brake Pads Since 1977

Agreed, I think your brake shoes are installed backwards.

I have a similar problem, I have a very fat (2") tire on a Surly CrossCheck, I have cantilever brakes, and even though I undo the straddle wire, I have to squeeze the tire past the brake pads to get it out and in. And part of the problem is that the long ends of the brake pads are against the insides of the fork.

If your brake pads are installed tight enough, I wouldn't worry about it at all. The force of a tire squeezing by is nothing compared to the force of squeezing against the rim to stop you.

I like Tim's idea - shorter pads. That seems to be a cheap solution to a nagging problem.

I've cut down the length of pads to clear fork blades before. But I don't suggest that to others. Now when I build a frame I add a extending sleeve to the canti bosses so the stand off the blade at a greater height. Here's a couple of shots. Andy.