[CrAckErKorEan]

I just built my wifes bike and the brakes are super touchy. No matter how much slack there is for the brake lever its all or nothing when it comes to stopping. These are XT V-Brakes if that matters. Would toeing in the pads help? Its almost scary riding on these things.

Also it feels like the brakes are squishy. I can pull the Brake handle and once the pads reach the wheel i can still pull on the brake lever.

Any help on these two problems would be much appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Matt D]

I don't get it. The brakes are touchy and squishy at the same time?

Toeing in the brakes should lessen the initial power some.

 

[CrAckErKorEan]

Yep they are. Pulling the brakes will stop you instantly but you can keep on pulling on the brake cable.

 

[jonassterling]

Are you sure you are running v-brake levers? Running canti-levers with V-brakes can cause this problem.

 

[CrAckErKorEan]

Were using XT brakes levers.

 

[-dustin]

XTs can't be toed in, can they? aren't they parallel push (which is why they sqeal so bad)?

how far away from the rim is the pad? decrease the sping tension?

 

[jonassterling]

Do the levers still have all the little power adjuster half-monn things still installed?

 

[CrAckErKorEan]

XTs can't be toed in, can they? aren't they parallel push (which is why they sqeal so bad)?how far away from the rim is the pad? decrease the sping tension?

You can adjust the pad around though. And they have the ball and socket type washers.

The pads are not far from the wheel. But even if i back the pads away from the wheel and hit the brakes they stop instantly.

I think I might switch my Avids 1.0 for her Xts.

 

[sub6]

See if the leverage adjusters on the lever are all there - they're these little crecsent-shaped doo-dads that are on the lever blade near where you attach the cable to it. There should be three of them. If they're all there, you should have a less powerful, but more on/off feel. If you take some of them out, you'll get more modulation (less on/off) and more power, and you'll also get a softer/mushier lever feel.

As for lever mushiness - try a brake booster or some higher quality cable housings.


A last resort would be to contaminate the pads VERY SLIGHTLY with something greasy. The key words here are VERY SLIGHTLY, obviously....

 

[CrAckErKorEan]

Do you have a pic of these crecent shaped thinges. And for the mushiness it might be the housing. Both are the same so. Where can one go to get some good brake housing and how much would it run me. That would fix one problem at least.

If could get a pic of these crecent things that would be much appreciated. I dont remember anything like that.

 

[jonassterling]

Try this:shimano website

First page upper lefthand corner

 

[CrAckErKorEan]

Dont do not have any of the crecent things. From reading this the less crecents you have the more sensitive your brakes are. Am I correct thinking this?
Thanks for the help

 

[jonassterling]

If you are handy you may want to try to fashion some halfmoons out of some random crap. I can't imagine your LBS having these stupid things in stock. This is why I like Avids much better.

 

[CrAckErKorEan]

So I am correct in thinking that w/o the half moons the brakes are touchier. If thats the case I might try to come up with something tonight.

We would have got avids but we got the whole XT groupo for 200 with about 50 miles on it so I could not pass that up.

 

[oldfart]

Remove the spacers and the brakes will be more powerful and feel spongier. They feel spongier because of the increased power from the increased leverage. Before you toe in, try something else. Chalk the rim. Or my old trick was to find a patch of loose dry sandy gravel and simply lay the bike on its side, spin the wheel and drop some sand on the brake surface, both sides both wheels. This makes the pads less grippy so there is less squeal, more modulation and less grabiness.

New pads and rims can be really grabby even with older cantilevers. I used to use one spacer in the rear brake and none in the front, You want a stronger front brake because that's the one that does most of your stopping.

 

[Serial Midget]

Originally posted by the Inbred
XTs can't be toed in, can they? aren't they parallel push (which is why they sqeal so bad)?

Yes - the front brake is the primary screamer due to 70/30 split.

Anyhow - I have never had this problem with V-brakes - maybe they just need a few more stops on the pads.

 

[jonassterling]

Originally posted by oldfart
Remove the spacers and the brakes will be more powerful and feel spongier. They feel spongier because of the increased power from the increased leverage. Before you toe in, try something else. Chalk the rim. Or my old trick was to find a patch of loose dry sandy gravel and simply lay the bike on its side, spin the wheel and drop some sand on the brake surface, both sides both wheels. This makes the pads less grippy so there is less squeal, more modulation and less grabiness.

New pads and rims can be really grabby even with older cantilevers. I used to use one spacer in the rear brake and none in the front, You want a stronger front brake because that's the one that does most of your stopping.

OK, I coming out and saying putting sandy gravel on your rims ranks up there with putting sand on your chain.

Come on now. That will cause a hell of a lot more damage than good. I like my rims to last me a few months before I wear through the sidewalls, gritty stuff won't help this.
This is a mechanical problem that can be remidied, don't try any band aid stuff. Treat the cause not the symptoms

 

[CrAckErKorEan]

These brakes are ok for me. But my wife doenst like them so grabby. She is still working on getting confortable on the bike and she doenst want to panic and grab the brakes on day and fly over the bars.

 

[oldfart]

That's a perfectly valid way to deal with pads which are too sticky. The sand doesn't stick! It just gets things a little dusty, just enough to get rid of grabbiness. Another method is to ride into a mud hole and use the mud to abrade things a bit to eliminate pad stick.

It might not be a mechanical problem which can be fixed in other ways. A booster won't help grabbiness. Toe in might. I think the main thing would be to get some blocks in the lever to decrease the power. Once she's used to the brakes, take one out and get used to that, them maybe take out the other.

The chalk on the rim works. I was simply suggesting other things for thought.

 

[CrAckErKorEan]

Thanks for all the suggestions. The brake levers have those little crecent things. So i guess ill tell her to try them out and see what happens. If she doenst like them I might end up with a pair of XT brakes on my bike.

 

[Repack]

Take a look at thehalf round spacers at the pad; they form the ball-and-socket. There are 2 sets on each pad, one thick and one thin. When the pads are touching the rim, the arms should be parrallel. If the arms are "V"'d out, put the thinner set of half round spacers on the inside. Arms too far apart can make the brakes feel mushy. Also, toeing in the pads can make them feel mushy as well since you are forcing the pads flat against the rim as you apply the brakes. I have found that v brakes require less toe than canties. I am not saying toeing is not required. Just that the rules that apply to canti's don't always work the same for v's.

 

[CrAckErKorEan]

Repack: The shorter washers are on the inside on both sides.

I went over lunch to look at one of my frineds bike he just got a complete LX setup on his bike and its pretty much the same way. Brakes are touchy and you have some cable that you can pull once the brakes are engaged. I guess its the nature of the brake. I just know it feels different from my avids.

 

[UltraViolet]

Shimano do a power modulater, its found with 'Acera' brakes,
this is the best thing for your wife realy

 

[Kornphlake]

This thread was started over a year ago. I sincerely hope that the guy got his brakes fixed since then.

 

[CrAckErKorEan]

It was fixed soon after. Just had to loosen the cables a bit and the wife is happy with it.

I was surprised to see an email concerning this thread.

 

[grimm]

This thread was started over a year ago. I sincerely hope that the guy got his brakes fixed since then.