Adjusting v brakes

veganrun

My bike is a hybrid with Tektro V brakes but they are a pain to adjust. I've had to tighten them both recently and they are difficult to get right. Same goes if I take the wheel off.

I seem to spend an eternity trying to get them right and they inevitably end up rubbing on one side of the rim.

Am I doing something wrong or is that normal for V brakes? I don't know if they are stock brakes and whether changing them to something else would help?

tomasrojo

When I had v-brakes, I had to make occasional adjustments to the tension screws on the sides of the brake arms. But it was a very quick adjustment; just tighten the screw on the side that's rubbing on the rim.

(It was frequent enough of a problem that I brought a screwdriver when out on the bike to do the adjustment.)

veganrun

Yeah been using the tension screws but it's v difficult to get right. Spent an age last night tweaking them, seemed ok then first thing this morning when I took the bike out the pad is rubbing again on the rim.

tomasrojo

I'm sure you've checked, but the wheel is true?

Other than that, you could release the brake cable (unhook the noodle and open the screw that holds the cable to the arm a bit to let more cable through), screw both tension screws most of the way in, hook the cable back up again, and adjust that. I did find occasionally that I had one tension screw most of the way in, and the other barely in, and the side with the screw barely in didn't act as it should.

archer22

That was a problem that I had on one of my bikes...I would adjust them and then next trip they would revert back to rubbing again.
Turned out the problem was the return spring was weak on one side.

check_six

There's quite a few things that have to line up to get brakes working just right.

Check your wheel for any slight buckle or warping. Spin the wheel and check its alignment against the brakepad on one side as it spins. If the wheel and brakepad change their relative distance there may be some warping in the rim of the wheel. It may also be a simple case of the wheel not sitting in the fork correctly. If the rim is warped you may need to adjust the spokes to fix it.

If the rim is straight and true the next thing to look at is the brake cable inner and outer. When you squeeze the brake and then release, does the brake return to its original position? Does the brake get stuck rubbing against the rim? If the brake is not springing back there may be dirt in the brake cable assembly which is making it stick. It only takes a bit of grit to make this stick. The best way to get everything working perfectly again is to replace the brake cable (the inner) and the cable outer that the cable passes through. On a V brake it is also possible to buy a new L-shaped metal tube that the cable passes through at the brake assembly (a vee-pipe). Replacing the inner cable alone will help a lot if you can't get the other bits. Remember to use a bit of grease on the cable when installing it.

The next thing to check is the brake adjustment. If one brake is too close to the rim, tighten the little screw on that side by half a turn or so. You can also loosen the little screw on the other side to achieve similar results. Best course is to only turn them maybe 180 degrees at a time as a small adjustment can bring the brake pad a good distance from the wheel rim.

Check your brake pad alignment. Are the pads hitting the rim? Does half the pad miss the rim? Do the pads hit the rim too close to the tyre? You can move the brake pads up and down in the arms to adjust how they hit the rim. It is also possible that you have spacers that can bring the pad closer or further from the rim by moving them from inboard of the arm to outboard or vice versa.

Also check for rim and brake pad wear. It may be possible through misalignment that one brake pad has worn down a lot more than the other. Replace the two of them and realign in that case.

The fancier more expensive brakes do tend to be a bit easier to adjust, I've found, but it is possible to set up any brakes to be effective and as good as when they left the shop.

Good luck!

veganrun

I had the front wheel off to fix a puncture. As far as I can tell it's centered but I don't have a stand to hold it up and easily check. I know that was an issue before for me after having the rear wheel off. But as I say I don't have an easy way to check the front wheel as I have no stand.

Been using the tension screws either side but once it seems ok it goes back to one side or the other sticking when the wheel is turning and I use the brakes. Even if I pump them a few times and spin the wheel, it seems ok then like this morning it goes back to sticking on one side.

I tightened the brakes on Sunday including the cable that goes over the brakes, not sure if that should be loosened.

peasant

Type 17

Quick, reliable V-brake adjustment:

Ensure wheel is straight in dropouts (common issue, very easy to get wrong). Rock the wheel with the nuts/skewer open whilst keeping weight down on the bars or saddle.

Ensure wheel isn't buckled, correct if required. Ensure brake pads are aligned to the rim, correct if required.

Unhook springs from behind lugs on brake arms, tighten spring-screws all the way in.

Compare angle of springs when you hold them up gently with your fingers - if one is closer to the rim by more than a few degrees, bend it down a bit so it matches the other spring.

Hook the springs back in behind the lugs, pull brakes to check for centring - open the screws by a quarter turn at a time. If you need to tighten one, temporarily unhook the spring to make it easier to do.

Note that, when adjusting the spring-screws, the correct tension happens only at one point - think of the process as a see-saw tipping suddenly, rather than a volume knob getting gradually louder.

Also note that, if you find that one arm sometimes won't release, it could be that the brake pad has been too low for a while, and has a lip worn into its lower edge where it is catching under the rim-edge.

veganrun

Spent an age the other night and I think I have them set. I am replacing the tyres in the next few days so will probably have to go through the whole carry-on again.

check_six

veganrun wrote: »

Spent an age the other night and I think I have them set. I am replacing the tyres in the next few days so will probably have to go through the whole carry-on again.

To remove the wheel to change a tyre you just need to unhook the vee-pipe (the wee L shaped metal tube thing the cable inner goes through at the brake assembly) from the holder on the brake arm. This will not change the adjustments you have made previously in any way.

You have been unhooking this in the past, yes? It gets really fiddly if you try to adjust without doing this. You start to need extra hands all over the place!

Your ideal adjustments should have the vee-pipe unhookable without having to loosen any nuts. If it is not possible to unhook the vee-pipe by hand, the brake pads may be too far from the rim in the their holders (meaning you have pulled the inner cable really tight). The spacers may need to be adjusted.

PJD

.......New bike!

veganrun

PJD wrote: »

.......New bike!

I like the bike a lot, so not going to replace it just yet. I might look at a new set of brakes and upgrade from the Tektro ones that it came with but I don't know if they would ultimately mean less maintenance.

I may not have seated the wheel fully straight but I find it hard to tell when it's correct as I see no obvious twisting or anything when it spins.

veganrun

check_six wrote: »

veganrun wrote: »

Spent an age the other night and I think I have them set. I am replacing the tyres in the next few days so will probably have to go through the whole carry-on again.

To remove the wheel to change a tyre you just need to unhook the vee-pipe (the wee L shaped metal tube thing the cable inner goes through at the brake assembly) from the holder on the brake arm. This will not change the adjustments you have made previously in any way.

You have been unhooking this in the past, yes? It gets really fiddly if you try to adjust without doing this. You start to need extra hands all over the place!

Your ideal adjustments should have the vee-pipe unhookable without having to loosen any nuts. If it is not possible to unhook the vee-pipe by hand, the brake pads may be too far from the rim in the their holders (meaning you have pulled the inner cable really tight). The spacers may need to be adjusted.

Yeah I unhook that cable. Just assumed it would set me back to square one again.

check_six

veganrun wrote: »

I may not have seated the wheel fully straight but I find it hard to tell when it's correct as I see no obvious twisting or anything when it spins.

When you have the wheels pushed fully into the fork dropouts they should be straight. Spin the wheel and see if there is any lateral movement relative to the brake pads (keep them static). You may see a spot on the wheel where the rim starts to move closer to one brake pad, this could indicate a buckle in the wheel.

benneca1

All above but remember that when adjusting loosen the side that is rubbing rather than tighten the side that is not. Dont know exactly why but allows a finer adjustment and also little by little literally quarter to half turn at a time,

tomasrojo

benneca1 wrote: »

All above but remember that when adjusting loosen the side that is rubbing rather than tighten the side that is not.

My recollection is that tightening the tension screw pushes the brake pad further from the rim, so you should either loosen the side that isn't rubbing, or tighten the side that is rubbing?

veganrun

I watched a video that side to tighten one side and loosen the other instead of just the side with the issue?

veganrun

I watched a video that side to tighten one side and loosen the other instead of just the side with the issue?

tomasrojo

Yeah, good advice. If the screw isn't about to fall, out, or in very tight already.

benneca1

tomasrojo wrote: »

My recollection is that tightening the tension screw pushes the brake pad further from the rim, so you should either loosen the side that isn't rubbing, or tighten the side that is rubbing?

Yes you are right my bad anyhow my point is rather than tighten that one loosen the other gives finer control.