Hayes Levers pull all the way back to the handlebars
 

Ok, my brakes have been great up until the other day when I hit a tree with my handlebars. the hayes brakes may or may not have taken a direct hit.

At any rate, directly after that impact the front brake started to act funny. if I pull quickly on the lever the brakes work good. But if I pull on the brakes lightly I can slowly pull the levers all the way back the the handlebars, and have very little braking power, and squished fingers.

So is this just a quick adjustment, (please say yes) or is this going to require me to bleed the lines? and if I am going to have to bleed the lines do I have to buy a kit to do it?

thanks

Bleed the lines the air in the system is why it will only hit the bars when your pulling slowly.

If you have HFX9's it is likely the lever adjust. A small allen key located in the master cylinder of the lever body. Turn that in and your lever moves out.

It also sounds like you might need a bleed. But hfx9's feel like crap to me so I would try adjusting the reach first.

Great, thanks for the help, first I will check the lever adjustment, second I will look into bleeding the lines.

Yup, there Nines. 2mm allen wrench should fix the adjustment. Try loctiting the screw into place. Works for some. Maybe get by rebleed and loctited by a trusted mech. It works so some. Never seemed to work on my nines.

So the HFX9's lever adjustment was already tightened in, but I adjusted the rear brake lever screw it was way out and wow does that ever make a difference in braking power!

So I bled the lines and there did not seem to be much if any air in them, at any rate the problem is still there. Very little braking power and if I pull the lever in slowly it will reach the handle bar and I have no braking power at all.

I am now thinking that it may be that the cartridge in the main houseing of the brake was damaged.

any ideas?? am I better off replacing the entire brake handle?

OK I know the feeling, and I have the same brakes...bleed em man. They probably need it. Also, another thing, can you smell the pads when you come to a stop? if so, you're probably riding the brakes....just a thought.

Problem is, he already adjusted the screw and it made no difference in the feel of the lever. It sounds to me like you're losing pressure somewhere along the lines if you're pulling the lever back and the piston in the caliper is not moving. The fluid is being displaced, but it's not displacing the caliper any. I'm not familiar enough with the design of the 9's to know exactly what could be damaged/broken/in need of adjustment, but that's just my idea on the situation.

If you smashed the bar good, you most likely damaged the master cylinder...seen it happen lots before, good luck.

I think this is the problem, I am fairly sure that the brake did take a direct hit fairly hard against a tree, the lever screw is not helping and I have already bled the lines.

The brakes works but you have to pull the lever really hard, 2-3 fingers for it to stop hard, and if you pull it in slowly the lever will work its wat back to the bars. no leaks anywhere that I can find.

so if it is the Master Cylinder that is damaged, am I just better off buy a new one or trying to fix it? also I beleive that these are Hayes 9's but it does not say anywhere that they are for sure.

if your brakes are the hayes 9's they should look like this:
http://realisticillusions.fluxworks....a/DSCF1927.JPG

Oddly enough only my rear brake lever says nine on it. The other ones doesn't say it :-\ Here is a pic of the caliper.

http://realisticillusions.fluxworks....a/DSCF1924.JPG

here is a gigantic pic of my handlebars so you can see what the hayes look like, it's too big to tag, but here is the link. http://realisticillusions.fluxworks....a/DSCF1926.JPG

yea they are nines, they look just like yours

Cool deal then. You should be able to get a replacement part pretty cheap. I'd check with jenson usa. I got my new rotor and adapter for the rotor from them.

www.universalcycles.com sells Hayes replacement kits that are usually hard to find. Their prices aren't too bad.

so do you think I should just get the Cartridge kit 2000+ which is what I think is damaged, or should I just replace the whole Brake Lever? I wonder how difficult it will be to replace the Cartridge?

It likely isn't the lever but the master cylinder. I would take it to a shop and explain what year and what is wrong ... they should be able to help.

Your LBS is likely to charge a lot for parts...if you can do the work yourself, you can call Hayes customer support (they're very good) and they'll help you diagnose the problem, and give you the part numbers you need. You can then order them online and save a lot.

It is pretty easy. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes with basic tech skills to change the cylinder...

Yea I would prefer to do it myself, so I think I will either bring it to my LBS an have them figure out the problem and then do it myself, or I may call hayes which sounds like a real good idea. Or I may just buy a new lever/brake off ebay, if I can find one cheap enough.

Thanks for all the help everyone.

http://www.bikeroom.com/items.asp?Cc=1096

Thats the site you need. David at bikeroom has a lot of small parts for hayes. He should have both parts you need in there.

The hfx9 blade is 20$
Lever parts are 9.8
Lever body 45
I dont see hfx9 cylinder...but 40$ is average.

early: I got some Hayes Nines, you can buy and use the parts for. Full front and rear brakes. So Whatever you'd need. How much you willing to spend? Feel free to PM me.

ok I think I found the problem with my brake, I took the lever apart and found a chunk missing out of one of the bushing on the Master Cylinder Piston.

take a look.

Hayes owners, don't buy Hayes replacement levers. For another $16 you can get a set of CNC'd Dangerboy levers. Probably going to get a set for my new brakes.

There is also another company coming out of WA doing the razorrock multi pivot lever. Just trying to find some solid info on them. :)