No Brakes !!!!!

mr_eddy

Ok so I bought a old Dawes Windsor touring bike as I am planning on doing a mini Peak District tour this summer and my single speed won't cut it. The Dawes is great, I had the LBS re-index the gears and now she runs fine the only problem is the brakes.

It has a set of Weinmann 730 long drop brakes with suicide levers, When I did a quick test ride the brakes were basically non-existent. I assumed that it was probably down to old pads and worn cables so I popped on some brand new Shimano brake pads with new cables but still nothing, I literally mean nothing with the brakes on full you can still push the bike along without much effort.

I checked the pads and the clearance is super tight and the pads are defo engaging the rims. I should mention at this point that the bike has some fairly new Alex wheels (aluminum with machined braking surface - They run straight and true and the braking surface has been cleaned with alcohol wipes).

I suspect that the problem is the 730 single pivot brakes but before I drop £40 on some Tektro R559's I just want to make sure I have not missed anything obvious ?

Ta

sungod

pads should usually have a couple of mm clearance otherwise the leverage isn't as good, maybe even worse with suicide levers

try using the adjuster on the front to completely close the caliper, then also squeeze the levers, can you still push the bike and rotate the front wheel? it's hard to see the calipers being so flexy that they would be that bad, i'd check that outers are ok and ferrules seated

i assume the suicide levers are interrupters between the brakes and the main levers, if so you've got an extra point of compression, unless you really need/want them i'd just remove them

basic shimano pads are not the best, swissstop and koolstop for instance are generally much better

mr_eddy

Thanks for response , I tried setting the pads so that they actually just kiss the rims so they cannot get any closer and still the brakes are awful even when using the normal drop levers (rather than the suicide lever attachments). I get what your saying about the pads but they are the same pads that are on my Single Speed (this uses Sora calipers) and they can send me over then handlebars with ease.

Further investigation shows that when applying the brakes there is lots of forward movement of the brake arms despite the securing nut being tightened as much as I can - I think I have no choice but to try some new dual pivot calipers.

If these also make no difference I can only assume its the wheels

Ta

sungod

bear in mind that very close pads usually means worse braking performance, the leverage is best with more of a gap, but if you can see the calipers flexing then they are at least part of the problem

haven't used the tektro ones you mention, but the shimano r650 deepdrop (57mm) are good, i replaced the brakes on my commute bike with them and removed suicide levers, the improvement was dramatic (binned the shimano pads though as they were poor in the wet), so far they've done five years, no corrosion etc. in spite of all the wet/winter rides

svetty

I'd agree that having a minimum of 2-3 mm gap between rim and pads is optimal but TBH I think you'll find that new calipers is the way to go - those old brakes were crap back in the day and when compared to modern ones are simply not acceptable nowadays.

kajjal

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19639061#p19639061]sungod[/url] wrote:

bear in mind that very close pads usually means worse braking performance, the leverage is best with more of a gap, but if you can see the calipers flexing then they are at least part of the problem

haven't used the tektro ones you mention, but the shimano r650 deepdrop (57mm) are good, i replaced the brakes on my commute bike with them and removed suicide levers, the improvement was dramatic (binned the shimano pads though as they were poor in the wet), so far they've done five years, no corrosion etc. in spite of all the wet/winter rides

R650's are very good brakes for the money.

Monty Dog

Rubbish, low-rent brakes - brakes have improved significantly in the last 30 years. Suicide levers won't help either - swap to modern calipers and levers.

mr_eddy

Yep as per last post I got my Tektro brakes and they completely transformed the braking, its at least 10x times better than it was. Thanks for all the advice

mr_eddy

Should also add that I added on some R400 Shimano levers too. Total cost was about £60 (more than the bike!) but defo worth it considering I can now actually stop.