Adam- I'll throw in my 2 cents. Ideally, every bit of force you apply to the lever should be transmitted to the brake pad.
Any part of your system that flexes is actually indicating a place where your efforts are being used to bend metal, and are not making it to the pads. (Cable or pivot friction and cable stretch are other places where you can be "robbed" without it being visible.) I'd replace the cable hanger first of all if it flexes that much. The brakes themselves may have some flex, but shouldn't result in a non-functional brake system. My Tektro 556's flex a lot, but can still stop me (240 lbs) on my Sam pretty well. If you suspect your levers - try this. Take an old brake cable (you'll trash it, so don't use your good one) and feed it through your lever like normal. Where it exits the lever housing, wrap it around a dowel so the cable is taut and the dowel is tight to the lever body. Get it as tight as possible - the idea is to have no play. Squeeze the lever. It should be rock solid. If it moves at all, something is wrong in the lever assembly. As others have said - re-cable the bike using a top quality cable and housing like Jagwire. This will eliminate bad cable or housing as a possible culprit. -Pete On Sep 13, 5:21 pm, Adam Kimball <adamfkimb...@gmail.com> wrote: > Wow, I'm not having much luck in the brake department with my new > ride. I set up my Hilsen with Silver brakes and found that they > simply wouldn't stop me - I could have both levers to the tape and > still roll. So, I changed to Paul Racer's on the advice of my LBS and > found that the situation really isn't much better. Here is where my > thinking is at: > > * I'm seeing a lot of flex in the brakes themselves and at the cable > hangers. The rear brake is worse than the front (as is usually the > case) but I suspect the inline barrel adjuster and the rear cable > hanger (light-weight aluminum one that hangs of the seat-post bolt) is > flexing too much. > > * I've brought the yokes up pretty high - I can get them higher, but > not much. So, I'm not certain this is the problem. > > * Brake-pads are the standard black Kool-Stops and I would have to > assume they are not the problem > > * My Dura-Ace brake levers are incredibly squishy. This is one piece > of the equation that is common to both setups (Silvers & Racers). The > Racer brakes are indeed short-pull so those road levers should be fine > - but I've suspected them before. > > Another mechanic took a look at the brakes and road the bike today. > He agreed that the brakes are massively under performing. He thought > that a "travel agent" might help to pull more cable. He also wanted > to re-cable since I cut the rear cable a little short. He wanted me > to find out if Paul makes a stiffener that attaches to the calipers. > > Does anyone have any other ideas for me? I don't have another AHH to > ride, so it is hard for me to know just how bad my brakes are. Keven > at Rivendell didn't think the Racer's are much better than the Silvers > for braking (and he has a pair on his Hilsen) and so he wondered what > the other problem might be. > > Any help would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks, > Adam -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
