Hi guys,

I just got my first road bike. Not the best bike, I have the CCM Presto (reference: https://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/brows....jsp?locale=en)

So the problem is when I'm riding from the hood, it's extremely uncomfortable to brake. It actually takes so much effort that it hurts my fingers. I've tried to fit the bike myself since I bought it used, so either I fit it wrongly or the brakes are too tight? Is it possible to move the brake levers closer to the handle so I don't have to use so much force? After a day of biking my hand was pretty numb and my fingers hurt from braking that I spent the rest of the time in the drops.

Any suggestions on what to try would be greatly appreciated.

Take a picture of your hand/finger/thumb position on the hoods.

Do the brake levers feel tight from other positions. When standing next to it, hands on the drops, are they easy and smooth when squeezing ?

If tight, there could be problem with cable or housing, such as a bend, or poorly cut housing.

Standing next to it hands on the drops, it's quite easy to squeeze. Question: when braking from the hood should you be able to fully press the brake?

The brakes don't feel tight from the drops.

2 angles of me holding the hoods:
https://i.imgur.com/8rF8Qlk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/wzJVdLh.jpg (White line = reflection off of cable housing from camera flash)

I have above average hand size, so I can only imagine how difficult it would be to brake from the hood with the bike at its current state with smaller hands. Greatly appreciate the help.

Also would like to add my friend has the same bike as me, and he has the same issue.

Have you closed your brake quick release for minimum brake pad to rim gap?
That will reduce the amount you have to squeeze the lever to stop or slow down.

Yep. I don't have to squeeze very far to stop/slowdown. However the issue seems to be it requires a lot of force to press on the brakes and is highly uncomfortable. I've tried braking on some different road bikes from the hood and it seemed much easier..

In the second picture, it doesn't look as if the cables have a housing, being run directly under the tape.

You have no brake housing...

hey i like your username ^^^^

There you go. Some levers work better than others. It has to do with the shape of the lever and the hood, the location of the pivot, the quality of the bushing in the pivot, the direction of pull on the cable, and the amount of friction it encounters while it's still in the lever. Of course, the problem could also be with the calipers. The photo of your bike appears to show single-pivot calipers, while most modern road bikes use double-pivot.

Any brake can work better with upgraded cable and housing. Also, inexpensive but very effective levers are made by companies like Shimano, Tektro, Dia-Compe, and Cane Creek, which are available through bike shops. Take your bike to a shop that has a service department and hear what they recommend.

Sure looks like you're missing a part. Cable shouldn't be exiting at that point - my guess is it's being pinched by the bracket cover. The cable should fit inside part 6 on the spec sheet below and travel further down the bar before it exits from under bar tape.

https://techdocs.shimano.com/media/te...9830612670.pdf

EDIT: on closer look that may not be a shimano lever but I still think the problem is incorrect installation. As a few others have noted there doesn't seem to be any housing. There is a pinch (or friction) point along the line such that it requires more force to pull the cable. Not only is this a comfort problem but a big safety concern. The cable will fray and you'll reach for the breaks and " snap" you won't find them.

I'm wondering about your hand position. When you're on the hoods just applying normal braking, regulating speed, any old hand position that's comfortable will do, but when I'm descending on the hoods or otherwise braking hard I roll my hands more to the outside so I can have all three middle fingers lower on the lever and with more of the finger wrapped around the lever. My hands are of average size and I've never had to go to the drops to get more leverage.

Need cable housing and ferrules.
Is that electrical tape? If so, remove it immediately because it'll leave a sticky mess that can gum up your levers.
If you're not comfortable doing it yourself, take it to a bike store... it's a quick and simple job.
They'll have to retape the bars, so have them put on a fresh one of your choice while at it, without someone else's palm sweat...

Those are lousy calipers. I have owned bikes using them. Still have one.

In a road bike of that type and price all of the parts of the brake system are possible contributors to the problem. Are the wheels painted? Are they steel? I have seen a couple of bikes in that price point with painted wheels and rim brakes. If this is the case, you need a new bike.

New double pivot caliper brakes would help, but cost almost as much as the bike, or more installed. If the wheels are painted even new calipers would not be satisfactory.

It might be the reflection from the flash, there's housing haha.

I thought CCM made hockey equipment, used to have some ccm skates when I was a wee lad.


But like everyone else said, they are setup poorly and the levers themselves are not anything to write home about.

you have no brake housing. as a result you are trying try apply the extra force needed to brake and can only do so with the added leverage gained with hands in the drops.

No, there isn't. It is only a cable!

As other have mentioned the cable should not exit there. It is set up very, very wrong. Those lever should work reasonable well. Take it to a bike shop as you clearly don't know what you are doing and brakes are pretty important.

I'm confused, is there another component called housing? I thought cable housing = the black layer surrounding the bare gray cable? Once again the bright line from that picture is just the reflection off of the black cable housing from my camera flash..

But the cable exiting the wrong position is a good point. The previous owner decided to put black handlebar tape over the existing red one, so he probably aligned the cables wrong. I was planning to bring it into the LBS tomorrow, but just wanted to hear some opinions to see if it was something I could fix myself.

Edit:
Googled a picture of someone with the same bike: https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTYzWDEwMDA=/$T2eC16Z,!ygE9s7HJ-n1BRWFuUHvkw~~48_20.JPG
The only difference I see is that the cable housing exits slightly farther from the bracket cover than mine - and yes that's basically how my cable housing coming out looks.

There may be housing but the cabling looks very weird. Looks like there's bar ( or electric tape ? ) under the hood and then more over the top end of the lever holding the cable in place? Anyway I'm pretty sure the way it's strung has put a bend or pinch point in there.

I see what you mean, but doesn't it also seem this way in this picture? https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTYzWDEwMD...vkw~~48_20.JPG

I'll try to play around with it tomorrow though before taking it to the LBS!

No offense, but it's a $200 bike. So my guess is the levers are probably notchy as hell combined with an extremely cheap braking system = you feel like you're giving it everything and the bike isn't stopping.

Pivot your wrists to add some additional force to the levers as you squeeze.

Do the opposite, loosen the brakes. Your hands/fingers can squeeze much harder when almost fully closed than when almost fully open. The slight increase in brake spring resistance is insignificant, at least in my experience. Also, buy better brake pads.

Edit: Just checked out the bike in your link - those levers look like Tektro RL520, which are V-brake levers. In combination with standard road calipers they would feel very hard under hand while providing little stopping power. Not sure the levers you actually have are those, but it's worth checking out.

Yes, but he has regular road levers in the photos he posted.