brakes confusion.. Fitting brakes

webbhost

Hi All,

OK so I recently (arrived this morning) aquired some loverly looking Campagnolo Veoloce brakes .. I have read through the instructions and everything is crystal clear.. apart from 1 bump (at the minute lol)

firstly:

On my old brake levers, I had a hand lever on each brake which when I pulled it, would loosen my brakes enabling me to take my front / rear tyre off incase of a puncture or replacement. This veloce brakes do not seem to have a lever.

If the brake pads are meant to sit 1MM away from the rim either side, how on earth do I loosen the brakes up to allow my wheel / tyre to fit through?

webbhost

also It doesn't state anything about locktite... nothign wrong about putting some blue locktite on the thread that holds it to the bike right?

Coming from a hobby that loves the stuff it seems stupid not to use it?

John.T

Have you got Campag brake levers. If so then you will find a button on the lever section that can be slid across to let the lever move up to release more cable. If not running Campag I'm afraid you have the wrong brakes.
As regards Loctite, use it if you want. Not necessary though.

blackhands

Don't worry if you've no got campag levers - you'll just have to deflate the tyre if you want to take the wheel out or put it back in place.

webbhost

Hi,

I have shimano brake levers.. but the campag. brakes looked nice hehe.

I'll just make do with deflating the tyre no biggie.

Isn't t annoying how when you start 1 job, other jobs become apparentl?

I now need new brake cables because I tightened me old cables too hard and cut through some of the threads (3 threads now gone on front cable)

Also for some reason my front brakes do not sit true with the front tyre which has me stumped?

I'll post a picture in a few mins, just got to get it uploaded to server.

webbhost

brake from left: almost touching wheel at bvack, but a good few MM away at the front



Brake from right: back a good few MM away from wheel, almost touching at front.



Can anyone explain why??

sicknote

HI webhost
I had the same problem and had a look on youtube.
You will find lots on there for sorting this problem out.

webbhost

happen to know any links sicknote? Not sure what to call the problem really... perhaps brake and misaligned?

I'll do some searching incase I find anything.

sicknote

HI webbhost
Here is one of the links that helped me but you should find a few more from there

Plus I think there are the same brakes as yours

Al_38

looks a bit odd... could be a few things:

1.) The hole through the forks could not be plane with the wheel. Unlikely seeing as you presumably just took some brakes off.

2.) The bolt on the brake caliper could be slightly bent causing the brake to not sit square to the fork, unlikely too as this would require a lot of force to do.

3.) Have you set the brake pads up yet with respect to the rims? It looks like you have the usual convex-concave washer system - so when you loosen the nut holding the pad in place you should find you can move them so that the pads are parallel to the rims. When you do this it is common to toe the pads in a touch, put a thin piece of cardboard between the back edge of the pad and the rim. For maximum effiency, the central axis line of the bolt for the pads should be perpendicular to the brake rim when the brake is fully applied and both brake pads should be at the same height in the brake caliper.

Horton

looks normal to me - called toe-in...

Check Park Tools:

http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=20

webbhost

AI_38

1) doubtful... However for some reason made em think... I had to do alot of work tightening spokes up because they had become loose (some just flapping about - not good) but I got them true with the brake in the end and I dont believe they were misaligned.

2) Looked fine to me and these are brand new brakes so they shouldn't be defected.

3) - I have not actually touched brake pads. They came assembled to the calipers so I jusdt left them that way... I can try messing with them a little but uncertain as to what use this will be but you somewhat lost me with what you are trying to tell me.

Just a thought that skipped into my head, but I think I might have had this problem once before... and I "possibly" fixed it by rotating the brake pad 180 degrees?

I'll have a quick mess and tell you if I have any luck.

webbhost

I undid the bolt that holds the brake on and rescrewed it up after I moved it about and lined it with the rims... it helped (a bit).

If all else fails, I have to goto the bike shop monday to pick up some new brake levers anyway, so I can always ask whilst i'm down there.

webbhost

I undid the bolt that holds the brake on and rescrewed it up after I moved it about and lined it with the rims... it helped (a bit).

If all else fails, I have to goto the bike shop monday to pick up some new brake levers anyway, so I can always ask whilst i'm down there.

Al_38

Okay - then it will be the pads No.3. Here is what to do:

1.) roughly set up the brake cable length so that you can squeeze the pads against the rim.
2.) on the side of each of the arms there will be a nut you can loosen. - loosen one side but not much. Should now be possible to wiggle the pad about a bit.
3.) get some card from a cereal packet or something, and put it between the loose pad and the rim.
4.) gently squeeze the brake lever so that the brake pads holds the card against the braking surface
5.) adjust the brake pad so that the top and bottom edges are parallel to the top and bottom edges of the braking surface - keep squeezing that lever but you will have to release pressure slightly to move the pad
6.) looking from the front of the bike towards the forks, imagine a line along the centre of the bolt which is connecting the brake pad to the brake calliper. Keeping the pad aligned as in step 5, move the bolt end of the pad up and down in the slot on the brake calliper till that imaginary line is perpendicular to the braking surface.
7.) squeeze the brake lever hard and tighten the nut you originally loosened in step2, be careful that the pad doesn't twist as you tighten it. you could also get someone to help who squeezes the lever while you tighten the nut, so you can use your free hand to try to hold the pad still too.
8.) repeat for the other side. in step 6, the two imaginary lines for the brake pads should line up together.

Edit: 9.) then set up the brake cable length so the pads are 1mm away from the rim (if not perfect)

hope this helps
Al

webbhost

On step 2 you mention about that nut... is this the nut that holds the brake pad to the calipers or am I thinking in the wrong area here?

Sorry for sounding dumb!

Al_38

yep thats the one!

the parktools website is normally very good for having step by step instructions with pictures so that might help too

webbhost

I'll take a look.

The brakes dont look "too" bad right now after fiddling but they're not exactly perfect. I have already done what you said (without using any cardboard), and I tightened when the brake is flat against the rim, but once I release the brake lever, it moved into its original state.

What a bummer..! I could just let the brake wear itself flat against my wheel lmao!.

Nah but seriously I'll find the culprit and hammer it cause i dont like things being wrong!

loz*

John.T wrote:

Have you got Campag brake levers. If so then you will find a button on the lever section that can be slid across to let the lever move up to release more cable. If not running Campag I'm afraid you have the wrong brakes.
As regards Loctite, use it if you want. Not necessary though.

Hi, i've got veloce brake levers but i've never found a button to loosen the brakes! where abouts is it? Is it hidden somehow??

thanks

John.T

http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=114
Scroll down to the Campag lever. It is the small silver button on the LH side of the lever.

croggy

loz* wrote:

John.T wrote:

Have you got Campag brake levers. If so then you will find a button on the lever section that can be slid across to let the lever move up to release more cable. If not running Campag I'm afraid you have the wrong brakes.
As regards Loctite, use it if you want. Not necessary though.

Hi, i've got veloce brake levers but i've never found a button to loosen the brakes! where abouts is it? Is it hidden somehow??

thanks

RTFM
You should have got fitting instructions with the levers.Have a look at page 26,lower illustration.