augustao

When I brake, the sidepull pad of the front brake goes downward as expected, but it doesn't come all the way back up (it will if I manually pull it up). This sometimes causes the shoe to press against the rim. How do I fix this?

dit

The brake pivots may be dirty or gummed up. Take the brake apart and clean the pivots, both inside and outside. Sometimes I will even put a ( 1 ) drop of light oil on the friction surfaces after the cleaning to free up a sticking brake. It could also be a sticking brake cable. You may need to change the cable and housing.

rm -rf

You can unbolt the cable clamp so the cable is disconnected at the brake. Then squeeze the brake pads to the rim and see if they spring back when you let go. If so, it's probably a cable problem.

augustao

I did this, and it appears the brake is okay. I tried tightening the cable, but no success. I guess I'll have to go to my LBS.

Lava

I had a similar thing happen to me over the weekend, except it happened after replacing the cable/housing on an older (Centurion) bike. I didn't lubricate the cable at all, figuring that since it was new, it should work alright. Was that a bad idea? Where could it be sticking?

An alternate hypothesis is that the bold that holds the brake to the frame feels like it's stripped, so adjusting the right-left play of the brakes is pretty flimsy at best.

Thanks for the help. I didn't want to make a new topic on an issue I see comes up often, but my circumstances (sticks AFTER replacing the cable & housing) makes me think it warrants a question.

Thanks again!

Lava

One thing I forgot, it's a sidepull caliper brake, as far as I can tell. Whatever came on a Centurion Accordo back in the day.

Thanks again!