Mildly Stupid Question

[ninerfan]

I feel like I'm missing something very obvious, perhaps one of you kind folks can help me.

The time had come to replace the brake pads on my front break. My bike is a Trek 1000 wsd. I figured this would be a relatively easy thing to do. So, I bought new break pads and set about installing them. I got them in and then pressed the break release back down- and it won't go, not enough room.

Ok fine, I thought. I had adjusted the breaks a couple of times so my levers remained tight in the months of riding prior. But now I can't get them back to where they should be. I'm not even sure if I am "adjusting" them correctly.

Can anyone explain what I might have been doing wrong? Btw, please be careful with the bike parts terminology you use, I am learning but am still not fluent in "bike."

[boy in a kilt]

It sounds like you were carefully adjusting your brakes as the pads wore down.

There is a barrel adjuster (knob with a cable going through the middle). Turn that, (direction should be clockwise, but I could be wrong) until the distance between your brake pads and the rims is where you want it.

[Zen]

Two words-
Sheldon Brown

[ninerfan]

I've been turning the barrel and I don't seem to be getting anywhere.

[OakLeaf]

Is it possible you turned the barrel so far out that it's completely unthreaded, and just resting in its little socket? (I did that with my rear derailleur adjuster.) Try rocking it back and forth and making sure the threads are engaged.

[ninerfan]

Sigh. I just can't seem to get the thread engaged.

[VeloVT]

I don't think turning the barrel adjuster is the best way to adjust your brakes -- it's easier and more accurate to do it by loosening the allen bolt that holds the cable in the brake, then pulling the cable down/adjusting the pads until they are an appropriate distance from the rims, then retightening the allen bolt.

You need three hands (or a helpful assistant) to do this though.

[lph]

Ninerfan - what kind of brakes do you have? How have you been adjusting your brakes up til now? Forgive me if I'm pointing out the obvious, but the various adjustment thingies have one thing in common, they tighten (or loosen) the wire between the lever and the brake. Attaching the wire with an allen bolt gives you the basic alignment and if you're lucky or deft that will be enough.

Often you'll want to turn the barrel adjuster (or similar doodad) all the way in first (so that it's not tightening the wire at all), attach the brake wire with the allen bolt with a bit of slack, then use the barrel adjuster (or similar doodad) to finetune the distance between brake pad and rim.

Also, if you have fat or wide tires the brake pad may be rubbing against the tire and not the rim, if the brake has got a little crooked. On my one mtb I can't put the wheels on at all if the tires are full of air, there's not enough space between the brake pads. Keep forgetting that, and have to let air out, put on wheels, put in air again...

[Irulan]

I don't think turning the barrel adjuster is the best way to adjust your brakes -- it's easier and more accurate to do it by loosening the allen bolt that holds the cable in the brake, then pulling the cable down/adjusting the pads until they are an appropriate distance from the rims, then retightening the allen bolt.

You need three hands (or a helpful assistant) to do this though.

Yep, the barrel adjuster is for on the fly adjustments. I would loosen the allen nut that holds the cable to the brake assembly, tighten up the barrel adjuster all the way, and then do the final adjustment with the cable/nut.

I'm kind of anal about my bike maintenance. If my pad are worn and the cable hasn't been replaced in ??? I would do the cable too.

The Sheldon Brown and Park tool web sites have great instructions. The book, Zinn and the Art of Mountain Bike Maintenance is a great book to invest it.

[ninerfan]

Thanks everyone for the responses.

In doing some internet research last night, I learned about loosening the allen bolt and puling the cable, which I did. So, good news is the wheel is in and the breaks appear to be where I want them.

The problem: my barrel adjuster seems as though its not engaged with anything anymore- how crucial is this and how can I fix it? Essentially I can't tighten my levers the way I want, or at least fine tune them. By this I mean I guess I turned the barrel out so far it is no longer threaded and I can't get it threaded again. The barrel isn't doing anything.

[Irulan]

sometimes its best just to take the whole thing apart, get a new cable, make sure everything is positioned properly and start from the beginning.