Brakes V-brake adjustment

B

Barret

Guest
I'm having trouble figuring out the adjustment for my "v-brakes", and I'm wondering if any of you have had any experience with these. They are GREAT at stopping the wheels at any given speed, and are very strong, but I'm still having a hard time getting them to adjust so they don't touch the rims after being used. I know there is a very simple solution and since I don't have nearly as much experience as most of you with these, I'm just seeing what you think.

One idea I had is to trash the rubber "spring" (across the top) and use a metal spring that will bounce the brake arms back to their original location, and so the pads are not touching the rim...

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I believe the "black spring" is really a dust boot! Also it looks like your working on a new bike? Look in the owners manual for the section on brakes,
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Paying close attention to diagram #5. Hope this helps.

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Papa
 
Those are pretty hard to adjust. The tension spring adjustments on the side only help to an extent. I would say lower the cable tension and buy a lever that has a longer travel distance, That solved my problem with these type of brakes. It allows the brakes more room to move out of the way of the wheel, this along with stronger tension springs (which I noticed bend inwards on an old bike, lessening their effectiveness.) should help.
 
Pull the tensioners on the rear side out. Just unclip them and give the a pull and reclip them you will have to do this on both sides untill they are centered
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Stertz said:
Pull the tensioners on the rear side out. Just unclip them and give the a pull and reclip them you will have to do this on both sides untill they are centered
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When I tried this, the rebending made them weaker and they just failed all over again.
 
brakes, Brakes, BRRAAKKKES!!!....

Great info here. I striped that small black screw on one side of the brake for the spring. The screw thread is so course I am having problems finding a new screw. Is it worth the time to mess with these brakes or should a owner of this kind of brake go for something better? what kind would be recomended for a motor bike? Thanks for all the great info. In the last few weeks of putting the engine on the bike and the "now how did that happen?" stuff this site has kept me from the nut house. Thanks to all.
 
Properly adjusted V brakes are very good indeed.

You might want to remove old but usable pads, sand the face flat, then reinstall and adust. It will take a few attempts to get adjustment spot-on, so don't over tighted things. It's not like it's a bulldozer. It's a bicycle! :D
 
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