Quote Originally Posted by liza View Post
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.