[RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
I had a similar problem with the silver brakes on my AHH when new. I was using Ultegra levers and they definitely felt mushy. After some months and putting in a lot of miles on the bike, I noticed that the problem had completely disappeared. The bike would stop on a dime with very little flexy feeling. I believe the problem was the factory coating on the also new rims (Velocity Synergy). I don't think the rims are anodized, but the surface definitely looks different now than it did when new. Once the coating wore off, everything changed. At some point I changed from the Ultegra levers to some Campy ones and experienced another significant improvement. I'm sure not all levers have the same leverage and cable pull. Dylan On Sep 15, 12:53 pm, Garth garth...@gmail.com wrote: FWIW I've found it's not necessary to have a perfectly square cable end. I've driven myself nuts trying to do it, but then realized as long as the cut is clean, the angle doesn't have to be perfectly square. This is based on my many trials and errors. The most useful tool I have is one I'm not sure the name of it is. It's essentially a pick that I use to inset into cable ends after cutting and filing, to ensure it's fully open. As filing is great and all, but it can compress the metal inside the cable, where it's unreachable, hence using the pick I wedge it in there and gently ream it in back to proper size. -- 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.
[RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
The Silver/Tiagra lever combo has been working well. It's hard to diagnose the problem online, of course, but there's nothing inherent 'bout the 'bo that ought to make anything funky. There are differences in feel flex among brakes, but the differences are by faaa most noticeable when your attention is concentrated on the brake--- when you're not actually riding the bike using it, but when your feet are on the floor and you're squeezing levers harder then you ever do during a ride, and looking for flex-action. This is a common, and understandably reasonable-seeming way to compare or test brakes, but it tends to distort differences. Centerpulls that feel good during use often fail the SBVT (static bike visual test). But the Silvers generally pass the SBVT with fairly flying colors. If the cable housing and cables are good, and the spring is good (it is), and it's lubed where it hooks onto the inside of the brake arm where you can't see it unless you look there, and if there aren't any kinks, then the action should be plenty OK. Lube the spring where it hooks onto the arm. The hard way isn't too hard, but involves unhooking it, applying grease or lanolin, and rehooking it. The easy way is spraying with W4D, as my granny used to call it, and it came up in an extraordinary number of conversations, considering she was in her '80s and '90s when it did. Lube the spring. And while you're at it, spray the spring with Boeshield to keep the rust at bay. If the Boeshield drips down into the W4D area in that groove, no harm done. G -- 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.
[RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
Haven't read the whole thread, but I second this comment, with the additional note that i find it actually very difficult to square cable housing well with a file. Use a dremel tool or grind stone to do the job really well. Sheldon brown has some good photos of well-squared housing ends for reference. Gernot On Sep 14, 7:00 am, Doug Van Cleve dvancl...@gmail.com wrote: Hey Adam. I've gotta think plenty of Silver/Tektro calipers are in use with Shimano aero levers. I would suspect the cable housing. Are the ends cut cleanly and squared off, with a file if necessary? Are you using metal housing end caps where they fit or at least the plastic ones? I would recommend using some so-called compressionless housing, kind of a brake/derailleur hybrid. SRAM and Jagwire both make it, probably others do as well. Also, you want the pads reasonably close to the rims, I'd say 2-3mm clearance. HTH, Doug P.S. The Tektro/Silvers are on the flexy side due to their length, but should still give reasonable performance if set up right. On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 2:21 PM, Adam Kimball adamfkimb...@gmail.comwrote: 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.
[RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
there's nothing inherent 'bout the 'bo that ought to make anything funky Using my Grant decoder ring, I'll guess that 'bout the 'bo translates to about the combination. FWIW I bought the OP's Silvers, so any advice about how to make the Silvers work better are pretty much moot. I'm confident the Silvers will work fine for me. I'll be using Tektro R200 levers. The Campy copy ones that get branded Cane Creek. Another aspect that has not come up is the rim. I assume the OP is using Velocity rims like most of us, but there are rims that have pretty subpar braking performance. We've all gotten on a bike (usually wet weather) where the brakes are so useless that it almost feels like the brakes accellerate you. Again, that's usually in wet weather, but the point I'm making is that the rims matter, and they are another constant in the OP's experiments. On Sep 15, 8:13 am, grant grant...@gmail.com wrote: The Silver/Tiagra lever combo has been working well. It's hard to diagnose the problem online, of course, but there's nothing inherent 'bout the 'bo that ought to make anything funky. There are differences in feel flex among brakes, but the differences are by faaa most noticeable when your attention is concentrated on the brake--- when you're not actually riding the bike using it, but when your feet are on the floor and you're squeezing levers harder then you ever do during a ride, and looking for flex-action. This is a common, and understandably reasonable-seeming way to compare or test brakes, but it tends to distort differences. Centerpulls that feel good during use often fail the SBVT (static bike visual test). But the Silvers generally pass the SBVT with fairly flying colors. If the cable housing and cables are good, and the spring is good (it is), and it's lubed where it hooks onto the inside of the brake arm where you can't see it unless you look there, and if there aren't any kinks, then the action should be plenty OK. Lube the spring where it hooks onto the arm. The hard way isn't too hard, but involves unhooking it, applying grease or lanolin, and rehooking it. The easy way is spraying with W4D, as my granny used to call it, and it came up in an extraordinary number of conversations, considering she was in her '80s and '90s when it did. Lube the spring. And while you're at it, spray the spring with Boeshield to keep the rust at bay. If the Boeshield drips down into the W4D area in that groove, no harm done. G -- 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.
[RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
FWIW I've found it's not necessary to have a perfectly square cable end. I've driven myself nuts trying to do it, but then realized as long as the cut is clean, the angle doesn't have to be perfectly square. This is based on my many trials and errors. The most useful tool I have is one I'm not sure the name of it is. It's essentially a pick that I use to inset into cable ends after cutting and filing, to ensure it's fully open. As filing is great and all, but it can compress the metal inside the cable, where it's unreachable, hence using the pick I wedge it in there and gently ream it in back to proper size. -- 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.
[RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
On Sep 13, 5:21 pm, Adam Kimball adamfkimb...@gmail.com wrote: ** My Dura-Ace brake levers are incredibly squishy** Thanks, Adam You really need to pursue this, either the levers don't have the correct pull, or there is drag in the cabling. Or a combo of both. If the cable is the culprit and has any drag in it, it's easy enough to tell just by feel. If you take the cable off of the brake, hold it down hard and use the brake lever, you should feel no friction, it should slide effortlessly. With the cable attached it should have a nice snappy rebound affect. -- 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.
[RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
P.S. The Tektro/Silvers are on the flexy side due to their length, but should still give reasonable performance if set up right. I have been thinking about getting a Hilsen 650B frame but am worried about the Silver caliper flex. I definitely want to use Hetres on my 650B. With fenders seems only the long reach would work. Paul Racers are an option. Thing is the braze on version works so much better going with the center pulls is a let down. On Sep 13, 7:00 pm, Doug Van Cleve dvancl...@gmail.com wrote: Hey Adam. I've gotta think plenty of Silver/Tektro calipers are in use with Shimano aero levers. I would suspect the cable housing. Are the ends cut cleanly and squared off, with a file if necessary? Are you using metal housing end caps where they fit or at least the plastic ones? I would recommend using some so-called compressionless housing, kind of a brake/derailleur hybrid. SRAM and Jagwire both make it, probably others do as well. Also, you want the pads reasonably close to the rims, I'd say 2-3mm clearance. HTH, Doug P.S. The Tektro/Silvers are on the flexy side due to their length, but should still give reasonable performance if set up right. On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 2:21 PM, Adam Kimball adamfkimb...@gmail.comwrote: 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.
[RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
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.
[RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
Wait a mintute though ,we're talking about Silver Caliper brakes yes? If so, what's all the talk about canti geometry and yokes? The problem is not the brakes, it's either some drag in the line or the levers themselves. Calipers are calipers, if you squeeze them in your hand they should spring back when released, if not you got some bad calipers, buy I've never heard of such. -- 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.
Re: [RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
on 9/14/10 11:07 AM, Garth at garth...@gmail.com wrote: Wait a mintute though ,we're talking about Silver Caliper brakes yes? If so, what's all the talk about canti geometry and yokes? The problem is not the brakes, it's either some drag in the line or the levers themselves. Calipers are calipers, if you squeeze them in your hand they should spring back when released, if not you got some bad calipers, buy I've never heard of such. OP said he had not gotten the Silver brakes to work to his satisfaction, and then changed to a Paul aenterpull model, which does have a yoke and transverse cable. - Jim list admind/disambiguation dept/division of the department of redundancy department -- Jim Edgar cyclofi...@earthlink.net Cyclofiend Bicycle Photo Galleries - http://www.cyclofiend.com Current Classics - Cross Bikes Singlespeed - Working Bikes Your Photos are needed! - Send them here - http://www.cyclofiend.com/guidelines I threw one leg over my battle-scarred all-terrain stump-jumper and rode several miles to work. I'd sprayed it with some cheap gold paint so it wouldn't look nice. Locked my bike to a radiator, because you never knew, and went in. -- Neal Stephenson, Zodiac -- 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.
[RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
Adam A travel agent won't help. It is designed for linear pull brakes. Is it possible that you used derailleur cable housing instead of brake housing? Is it possible that the brake housing isn't properly seated in the brake lever bodies? On Sep 13, 2:27 pm, James Warren jimcwar...@earthlink.net wrote: Mark at Rivendell built up my AHH with the Silvers and the Shimano Tiagra levers that they sell, and the performance is excellent. -Jim W. -Original Message- From: Adam Kimball adamfkimb...@gmail.com Sent: Sep 13, 2010 2:21 PM To: RBW Owners Bunch rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com Subject: [RBW] Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help? 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 athttp://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - -- 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.
[RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
I certainly can't give you a definitive answer, but I can share my experience. I had a bike with Shimano canti brakes and Ultegra levers. The stopping power was frighteningly poor. First I switched to a set of paul's neo retros and that helped smewhat. Then I replaced the Ultegraa Brifters with a pair of Cane Creek levers and voila, had great braking power and control. I have come to the conclusion that Shimano levers simply don't draw enough cable to work reliably with anything other than short reach shimano brakes. Michael On Sep 13, 5:27 pm, James Warren jimcwar...@earthlink.net wrote: Mark at Rivendell built up my AHH with the Silvers and the Shimano Tiagra levers that they sell, and the performance is excellent. -Jim W. -Original Message- From: Adam Kimball adamfkimb...@gmail.com Sent: Sep 13, 2010 2:21 PM To: RBW Owners Bunch rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com Subject: [RBW] Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help? 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 athttp://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. -- 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.
Re: [RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
On Mon, 2010-09-13 at 16:34 -0700, MichaelH wrote: I have come to the conclusion that Shimano levers simply don't draw enough cable to work reliably with anything other than short reach shimano brakes. I don't know about brifters - I've never used them - but Shimano aero brake levers work just fine with cantilevers and center pull brakes. I use them with Avid Shorty 4 and Deore XT II cantis, and with Mafac Raid and Paul Racer center pulls without any issues. -- 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.
[RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
Hey Adam, I've never worked with the Silvers or the Pauls, but I work on a lot of older 80's road bikes and often encounter squishy brakes. Are the levers returning to their position because if not it may be a cable issue, but it doesn't sound like it. Are your wheels out of true? because if so that could keep you from getting the brake pads as close as necessary... It would be a good idea to get the yokes up as high as you can, but maybe there is still a bit of space between your brake pads and the rim, if that's then case then... what I would try is (and this is easier with 2 people) setting your yokes all the way down, loosening the bolt that holds your brake cable to your Silvers, squeezing the brakes together onto your rims with one hand, and pulling the cable as far as you can with your other hand (easier with a pair of pliers) and then if you can while still pulling the cable retighten the the bolt to your cable... if your wheel can still spin after that, then tighten the yokes until your brakes start rubbing on the rims and then loosen just a bit. A travel agent may do the trick also, but might be unnecessary. Hope this helps, it may be just what I do on the old bikes but with your better equipment, the problem may be as you said with the flexing. Good luck! james (ps. this is my first post, so if it gets past the admins: hello rbw owners, i'm james, i live in st. louis, i work on old bikes a lot and ride a fuji touring series and i like reading and following this group!) -Original Message- From: Adam Kimball adamfkimb...@gmail.com Sent: Sep 13, 2010 2:21 PM To: RBW Owners Bunch rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com Subject: [RBW] Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help? 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.
Re: [RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
Hi James! :-) On Mon, Sep 13, 2010 at 3:42 PM, meinertj meine...@gmail.com wrote: Hey Adam, I've never worked with the Silvers or the Pauls, but I work on a lot of older 80's road bikes and often encounter squishy brakes. Are the levers returning to their position because if not it may be a cable issue, but it doesn't sound like it. Are your wheels out of true? because if so that could keep you from getting the brake pads as close as necessary... It would be a good idea to get the yokes up as high as you can, but maybe there is still a bit of space between your brake pads and the rim, if that's then case then... what I would try is (and this is easier with 2 people) setting your yokes all the way down, loosening the bolt that holds your brake cable to your Silvers, squeezing the brakes together onto your rims with one hand, and pulling the cable as far as you can with your other hand (easier with a pair of pliers) and then if you can while still pulling the cable retighten the the bolt to your cable... if your wheel can still spin after that, then tighten the yokes until your brakes start rubbing on the rims and then loosen just a bit. A travel agent may do the trick also, but might be unnecessary. Hope this helps, it may be just what I do on the old bikes but with your better equipment, the problem may be as you said with the flexing. Good luck! james (ps. this is my first post, so if it gets past the admins: hello rbw owners, i'm james, i live in st. louis, i work on old bikes a lot and ride a fuji touring series and i like reading and following this group!) -Original Message- From: Adam Kimball adamfkimb...@gmail.com Sent: Sep 13, 2010 2:21 PM To: RBW Owners Bunch rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com Subject: [RBW] Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help? 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.comrbw-owners-bunch%2bunsubscr...@googlegroups.com . For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. -- Cheers, David Redlands, CA -- 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.
Re: [RBW] Re: Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help?
I have had a few occasions of poor brake set-up in general, but I have never had poor brake performance when using the Shimano Tiagra levers that Rivendell sells. And this has been Tiagra levers with cantilevers and with longreach sidepulls, one of each of these set-ups currently in action now. (In action being figurative. I'm not riding as I type this.) However, I did once try to set up my Atlantis with cantis and an older set of Shimano 600 aero brake levers. I couldn't get it working well and gave up. In fact, I think I responded by buying a pair of Tiagras. -Jim W. -Original Message- From: MichaelH mhech...@gmail.com : Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help? I have come to the conclusion that Shimano levers simply don't draw enough cable to work reliably with anything other than short reach shimano brakes. Michael On Sep 13, 5:27 pm, James Warren jimcwar...@earthlink.net wrote: Mark at Rivendell built up my AHH with the Silvers and the Shimano Tiagra levers that they sell, and the performance is excellent. -Jim W. -Original Message- From: Adam Kimball adamfkimb...@gmail.com Sent: Sep 13, 2010 2:21 PM To: RBW Owners Bunch rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com Subject: [RBW] Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help? 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 athttp://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. -- 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. -- 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.
