Help Properly Connecting V-Brakes
 

I recently purchased a Kona Dew. The salesperson helped me get it into my car by taking off the front wheel, and showed me how to reconnect the wheel and the brakes. I've been working on this since yesterday and still cannot properly connect the brakes. I believe I've connected the wheel properly, but when I go to attach the v-brakes it's as if the cable does not reach far enough for me to secure the bit into its holder. When I force it in to be connected, only one of the brake pads moves significantly as the other is up against the rim, preventing the wheel from moving freely.
I've been watching videos and searching this issue online all day and am extremely frustrated. To bring it back to the shop would mean another 2hour trip both ways for a problem I know that I should be able to figure out myself. Any suggestions?

Christuna,
Make sure that the cable outer housings, beginning at the exit from the brake lever and working downward from stop to stop to stop at the little loopy metal thing at the end, are properly seated within their respective stops. Having one or two ends not seated will effectively shorten your cable and make the brake too tight.

The other thing you can try is to have someone hold the bike (with the front wheel removed again) and the brake cable properly engaged. Does the V-brake caliper appear to be symmetrically aligned to the bike's fork? Does it have free movement when you squeeze the lever? If yes, you might check that the wheel is centered before you re-engage the quick release hub mechanism.

If not, you'll be faced with the drive, or taking photos of the problem and posting them here. It'd be easier to diagnose if we could see it.

To summarize:
1) check whether cable housing(s) are seated properly
2) check free motion of caliper with wheel removed
3) check "centering" of wheel prior to tightening the QR

Thank you for your reply, Phil.

I made sure the cable housings were properly seated (required a little tightening at the brake lever) which made the cable long enough to connect it. I don't have a second hand at the moment, though I have attached some pictures to show you what I'm working on.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=329807
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=329808
When connected as in the second photo, the left side of the brake appears misaligned to the bike frame, while the right brake pad is effectively against the rim when not holding the brake.

the end of the spring, on the Rt arm is loose..

It has a pin on the back of the brake arm to press outward against.

It maybe just part of the arm itself or a separate nail like head.

You can now put the return spring behind the arm and put it behind that pin.

then, it presses outward to pull the pads away from the rim,

when you release your grip on the brake lever.

Couldn't thank you enough for such an easy fix :-)