Bike brakes messed up!
12-30-16, 10:06 AM
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Bike brakes messed up!
Hey all. So my bike has the type of brakes where you pull the levers by the handlebars and the brakes push against the tires. One of the brake cables is misplaced on my bike but I can't figure out how to get it from where it is to where it needs to be. The picture is the misplaced one. Thank you guys.
12-30-16, 10:38 AM
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Say what?! The cable slipped out of the socket. It doesn't need replacement. It just needs to be put back in place. Don't turn a 5 second job into a hour long ordeal.
All you need to do is to pull the cable back in place. Check at 2:14 in this video
to see how it is done. Basically, all you need to do is pull the cable housing out to the end of the lever and slide the inner cable through the slot to get it back in place. You may need to release the brakes to get enough slack on the cable but you shouldn't have to loosen the anchor cable.
Hey all. So my bike has the type of brakes where you pull the levers by the handlebars and the brakes push against the tires. One of the brake cables is misplaced on my bike but I can't figure out how to get it from where it is to where it needs to be. The picture is the misplaced one. Thank you guys.
to see how it is done. Basically, all you need to do is pull the cable housing out to the end of the lever and slide the inner cable through the slot to get it back in place. You may need to release the brakes to get enough slack on the cable but you shouldn't have to loosen the anchor cable.
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
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Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
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Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
12-30-16, 10:40 AM
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A bicycle is a simple machine but the devil is in the details. I see a lot of details in your picture that look seriously messed up to me. You are crossing the line into seriously hazardous. Do yourself a favor and find somebody who can either do it, or help you to do it, right.
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12-30-16, 10:51 AM
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Park Tool has a video on brake & cable installation that'll help you get that back together:
The part about threading cable into levers like yours starts at 8:42.
The part about threading cable into levers like yours starts at 8:42.
12-30-16, 11:18 AM
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Have you considered looking at the OTHER brake lever to see how it goes?
12-30-16, 12:17 PM
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Do this, and then twist the barrel so you don't have the slot lined up. Also move the brake pads to where they only touch the rim, not the tire, or you'll have a blow-out.
12-30-16, 12:25 PM
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That gets the cable back in place. Now for the hard part - cable properly lubricated, housing proper length, neither cable nor housing kinked, brake pad alignment, and finally caliper centering and adjustment, maybe wheel truing, which may require hub adjustment......
12-30-16, 12:44 PM
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If these are v-brakes, you will need to release the metal noodle the cable threads through from the bracket on the caliper arm; if these are canti-lever brakes you will need to release the straddle cable from the caliper arm....this is because the bracket that holds the cable end in the lever is sticking out...you will need to pull the brake lever to open up enough space to maneuver the bracket back into the lever body while repositioning the cable and housing.
-j
-j
12-30-16, 04:01 PM
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That gets the cable back in place. Now for the hard part - cable properly lubricated, housing proper length, neither cable nor housing kinked, brake pad alignment, and finally caliper centering and adjustment, maybe wheel truing, which may require hub adjustment......
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My greatest fear is all of my kids standing around my coffin and talking about "how sensible" dad was.
My greatest fear is all of my kids standing around my coffin and talking about "how sensible" dad was.
12-30-16, 04:41 PM
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This must be a troll post. I still can't see how anybody with the brainpower to type couldn't see how to 'fix' this problem just by looking at the lever for 10 seconds.
12-30-16, 06:28 PM
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Say what?! The cable slipped out of the socket. It doesn't need replacement. It just needs to be put back in place. Don't turn a 5 second job into a hour long ordeal.
All you need to do is to pull the cable back in place. Check at 2:14 in this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dCZZ1kzTd8
to see how it is done. Basically, all you need to do is pull the cable housing out to the end of the lever and slide the inner cable through the slot to get it back in place. You may need to release the brakes to get enough slack on the cable but you shouldn't have to loosen the anchor cable.
All you need to do is to pull the cable back in place. Check at 2:14 in this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dCZZ1kzTd8
to see how it is done. Basically, all you need to do is pull the cable housing out to the end of the lever and slide the inner cable through the slot to get it back in place. You may need to release the brakes to get enough slack on the cable but you shouldn't have to loosen the anchor cable.
12-30-16, 07:22 PM
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Alex- You only need to spend a few days in a service shop to learn how clueless some riders can be... Andy
12-31-16, 06:32 AM
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Because some people aren't mechanically minded and don't have the capacity to comprehend what is what. Women fixing cars, men baking a cake spring to mind. Me, I'm the same when it comes to anything more than basic mathematics. It's got nothing to do with brainpower, I'm far from dumb, I just can't comprehend advanced mathematics. The reason you know better is that you've probably fixed a problem like this. The OP obviously hasn't.
Last edited by migrantwing; 12-31-16 at 06:38 AM.
12-31-16, 08:03 AM
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Hey, I don't 'have trouble with V-brakes', I just don't think they offer any advantages, and require more maintenance.
Take a look at 10 V-brake equipped bikes at a popular bike rack, and I'd bet you that 8 out of those 10 are mis-aligned and dragging.
And as far as the 'baking a cake' analogy, only a troll would open an account just to ask the entire world how to do it, with pics included.....
Take a look at 10 V-brake equipped bikes at a popular bike rack, and I'd bet you that 8 out of those 10 are mis-aligned and dragging.
And as far as the 'baking a cake' analogy, only a troll would open an account just to ask the entire world how to do it, with pics included.....
Last edited by AlexCyclistRoch; 12-31-16 at 08:06 AM.
12-31-16, 10:11 AM
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Glad to help. On a side note, don't let some of the posts here put you off. Although they don't want to admit it, everyone was totally ignorant of how bicycles work and how to fix them at some point in their lives. Keep reading and posting questions. The best way to learn is by doing and making mistakes.
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Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
Stuart Black
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Old School…When It Wasn’t Ancient bikepacking
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
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