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not resolvedCan anyone advise on getting V-brakes to work. Putting some new pads on today as the various conditions have melted away my current blocks, but I can just never get the back brakes to work well.
Either I have the pads close to the rim and I'm not getting the full pull force as they are coming on quickly, or I have them a bit out and it's not putting enough force on the rim, is there some setting I'm getting wrong :-/
Also any tips on squeal-stopping :)
Toe in the pads should stop a squeal.
I've never had V brakes but you can use a few bits of cardboard as spacers to set other types.
Sorry I know I should be getting them serviced professionally, but I like to learn how do these kinds of things, and I'm rarely near a bike shop on business hours. :)
Is there a golden gap for brakes, or is it all down to your individual setup?
V-brakes often have the cartridge pad holders now, which prevents the pads from squirming and taking up the carefully set toe-in. But some do have a pointy end, ostensibly for deflecting water from the rim, and that can be used to gauge the toe-in.
Normally I'd aim for a 0.5-1.0mm gap at the rearward end of the brake pad, and set the angle so that they contact the rim slightly above square - that is, pointing fractionally upwards towards the tyre, and set the height to have the bottom edge of the brake pad just above the bottom of the braking surface of the rim.
Ask the man:
Thanks for the advice folks, about to go and have a fettle. Will see how I go.
"Sorry I know I should be getting them serviced professionally"
Nope, who do you trust to set your brakes? You, the person who will need them to stop you before the bus/car/pothole/shark infested custard? Or a (possibly underpaid) mechanic who is on peice work and may never see them again...?
Obviously that is a generalisation and we are fortunate round here in having quite a few more than reputable shops/mechanics who will undoubtedly do a good and worthwhile job, but with no offence to the shops/mechanics (some of whom I know personally) brakes is brakes and personallyI like to have done them myself ;-)
that's a good point. Seem to be in working order (and the Screech has stopped). Sadly I've just noticed that I may need a new back wheel. Concave rims aren't good, right?
"Concave rims aren't good, right?"
If you get a similar new rim - so that the spoke length is the same - it's fairly straightforward to put on a new rim.
Slightly more 'fun' to true it nicely.
Worth it for sense of satisfaction and small saving of cash (if you don't value your time too highly...)
(Assuming hub + spokes are still in good condition.)
It recently took a bloke in a shop ten minutes (good value, for the 80p cost) to find the right length of spoke to sell me to replace the one which had snapped. How easy is this finding-a-similar-rim thing? Presumably there are standards for spoke-fixing-circle-diameter?
I been having probs myself, after a wash and a fettle one brake doesn't have quite the same tension as the other and is rubbing the rim. Ive played with the tensions adjustment screws, but there is still a (barely) perceptible rub. Was thinking of giving the spring arm an extra bend unless anyone has a better idea? I tried setting the spring to a different hole but no dice.
Dead easy. Go see Alistair Gow.
Other wheel builders are available.
Some rims have wear indicators. These are grooves in the side. When the rest of the rim wears down to the groove then it's time for a new rim.
"How easy is this finding-a-similar-rim thing? "
Well..
To some extent it depends on what shops have in stock.
There are all sorts of spoke length calculators on the web some have databases of many hubs and rims.
There is some degree of flexibility, in practice, about spoke length - not too long so that spokes puncture tubes (small amount protruding can be filed off - seldom an issue with "double walled" rims) or too short so that not enough threads are held by the nipples.
Generally if you swap from an 'ordinary' rim to a deep section one, you'll need new spokes.
"Was thinking of giving the spring arm an extra bend unless anyone has a better idea? I tried setting the spring to a different hole but no dice."
Whatever works!
"Where does one go to get wheels built in Edinburgh? Please don't say Alistair Gow, it needs to be someone I can get to. ;-)"
Chdot i think we've got a spam bot issue again, i can't see the post from (presumably) stepdoh that has this quote
"Where does one go to get wheels built in Edinburgh? Please don't say Alistair Gow, it needs to be someone I can get to. ;-)"
yep, I think I can almost see the rim tape through mine :*) Thought wheel building looked like a fairly arduous task actually looks fairly good 'fun' in a meditative way.
Think this may be a job for the professionals :) although don't think I need to be as 'bespoke' pun intended as Alistair Gow :)
"i think we've got a spam bot issue again, i can't see the post from (presumably) stepdoh that has this quote"
Actually Min.
It's just a link to a previous post, should be visible to all
Ahhh my mistake, shouldn't should have followed the link i assumed it would be the one to the list of edinburgh bike shops... Opps
"shouldn't followed the link i assumed it would be"
??
Probably should have made the text a link.
Spam filter hardly caught anything it shouldn't for a while - must be learning...
(Fate tempted)
??
Typo fixed now...
You can also go halfway to paradise and crossover the new rim onto the hub.
I tape the two rims together and then work round it moving spokes across. Make sure you put the valve hole in the right place. I don't have problems with reusing spokes.
An afternoon shooting the breeze in Alistair's back shop is one of life's little joys and well worth the trip.
"Concave rims aren't good, right?"
Whoa. What I thought was rim-concavity from brake-gouging-wear is actually the entire outer edge of one side of the rim having been bent outwards by the tyre and tube. That would explain the difficulty I had getting my brakes to sit nicely. It doesn't explain why it's not yet popped off with a bang.
IMAG0375 by wingpig, on Flickr
I shall be walking to work in the morning, and to a shop at lunchtime.
Should have listened to Uncle Sheldon when he told you not to use the back brake! Are you sure you managed to bend the rim through brake force alone? Maybe some chump knocked your bike over or bashed into it at work? That's why I never use the stupid wheelbender bikeracks we have, but just prop it up on a pedal and use the lock to tether it.
I only heard about him last year. Sheffield racks at work and I don't use wheel twisters if anywhere offers them. I've never had a Schwalbe on this rim so it wouldn't have been caused by the force exerted on the rim edge by the tyre lever when dismounting a tyre. I assume the braking (more specifically the evil black abrasive compound, now replaced by nice soft KoolStop pink) weakened the rim enough to let 120 psi, a high proportion of the total weight carried and conceivably the odd compressing blow from bumps and potholes bend the weakened and thinned rim. It's quite even all the way round.
+10 awesomepower points
"I only heard about him last year"
http://cyclingedinburgh.info/2008/02/04/sheldon-brown-1944-2008
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May 1 , 2010
Harriet is fixing broken links in hundreds of files, and posting Google ads. John is working his way through the Glossary, updating information.
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