Rear brakes

christopher247

Hiya

A quick question! There seems to be low tension somewhere in my rear brake system, so when I squeeze the levers to brake, I need to squeeze them quite far in (too far) to get the bike to stop.

However, the brake pads are normally quite near the rim. Does this mean that the cable might have suffered from low tension?

t4tomo

Try taking up some slack on the little threaded screw that will either be on the caliper on a road bike or where the cable comes out of the lever on a flat barred bike.

christopher247

Thanks! I did actually try that and there's a mild improvement, but not as much as I'd like.

dgunthor

if the adjuster won't take up all the slack then wind it back in (not quite all the way) before adjusting the cable at the mounting bolt - pull the cable tight then do the bolt up. You may need to loosen the adjuster a little if the brake blocks are now too close to the rim (hence leaving a bit on the adjuster before doing the cable)

seems odd that you suddenly have very low tension - normally it's just pad wear that causes this. Is the outer cable all seated ok in the cable stops on the frame?