disc brake question.
 

i haven't been on this site in a while.

i just upgraded because i think i got a great deal on a 2014 specialized roubaix expert DI2 disc brake bike. the only reason i bought this bike was because it has electronic shifting, i always wanted a bike with this, and was in my mind CHEAP, $1500. it is used but seems to be a solid bike. it has some paint scratches and it looks to have been in storage for years so it needs a serious clean up.

my old bike is a 2010 specialized roubaix elite


my question is regarding the disc brakes. first the front brake seems to drag a bit and the second is the brake lever go 3/4 of the way to the bars before they work. this seems to me as excessive travel. are they supposed to go that far before engaging? and how do i adjust the pads to stop the drag? or better yet where can i find info on how to service the brakes?


the 3rd question once i have everything sorted out. is travel. i have a seasucker bike rack where you remove the front wheel to put it in the rack. do i have to worry about the brake pads falling out?


THANKS for the replies in advance.

You can adjust the travel, but if it were me, I would spend a wee bit of all that money you just saved on new pads and rotors, and bleed the brakes. Once it is set up like new, you may or may not need to adjust the travel.

Keep the old pads. To adjust the brakes, stick a large flat-blade screwdriver in between the old pads and twist on it to push the pads back into the calipers. Then center the caliper over the rotor, and put the new pads in, and squeeze the brake lever while you tighten down the caliper mounting bolts.

There should be a bolt that holds the pads in place in the caliper. If not, new pads come with a cotter pin, or you can buy a new bolt at the hardware store. (If that bolt isn't there, I can't imagine your brakes would even work at all).

On new bikes it's pretty common to have different lever pull amounts between the front and rear (and this is a personal peeve of mine). Most all fluid discs have no pad to rotor adjustment other then the amount of fluid in the system. So a bleed is pretty much the way to adjust pad/rotor clearance amount and lever pull amounts. I do agree with the suggestion to get new pads, the rotors I would want to see before replacing them. Andy

THANKS for the replies.
i will try centering the front caliper later. probably going to remove the pads and buy new. also flush the brake fluid also.

Check to make sure the rotor is not warped before adjusting.