Replacing Sram Red Aerolink rim brakes.

gsk82

I currently have the Sram Red Aerolink brakes on my bike. They work really well, but I hate the set up. You centre them by adjusting the outer cable length, instead of using the bolt and tightening. This causes a problem as when the cable bends or moves, like in a bike box, your brakes are no longer centred and start to rub/ screech.

Does anyone have any recommendations around £200 that won't have this same problem.

Cheers

cougie

Have you read the manual ?


Center the brake pads on each side of the
rim by adjusting the spring tension bolts.
To move the brake pads to the left, rotate
the left bolt clockwise. To move the brake
pads to the right, rotate the right bolt
clockwise.

manglier

Carry a 13mm open ended spanner in your bike box to roughly align the brake body and fine-tune the centering using the spring tension bolts.

gsk82

cougie wrote:

Have you read the manual ?


Center the brake pads on each side of the
rim by adjusting the spring tension bolts.
To move the brake pads to the left, rotate
the left bolt clockwise. To move the brake
pads to the right, rotate the right bolt
clockwise.

Hi Cougie.

Yeah I've tried that.

The rear brake was fine before the bike went on the turbo trainer for the winter. It's come off way out of line. I've then bent the cable a little and it's way out the other way. It's an awful design

turbotommy

I’ve found them a pain too. They work well enough when they’re set right but... yeah I got fed up with them. Dura ace seems like the obvious answer no? Is there a better rim brake calliper out there performance wise? If you have a sram groupo and don’t want to mix and match then that’s a whole other can of worms and can get expensive quickly!

norvernrob

I’ve had them 5 years and never had a single issue with adjusting them. If they’re that far off centre, then surely they’ve been knocked and they need adjusting with the main fixing bolt. Minor adjustments are done with a 2.5mm Allen key and the adjustment bolts.

pauly69

cougie wrote:

Have you read the manual ?


Center the brake pads on each side of the
rim by adjusting the spring tension bolts.
To move the brake pads to the left, rotate
the left bolt clockwise. To move the brake
pads to the right, rotate the right bolt
clockwise.

...this. I've had the same issue, usualyl after travelling with bike in a box. But once you get used to those spring tension bolts it's all good. What I tend to do is fully loosen both of those bolts, undo the fork brake bolt, manually hold the pads against the rim while tightening the fork brake caliper bolt up, then release the pads, take up some slack (at least 1 full turn) on both tension bolts, then adjust whichever side needs it - works every time and takes about 2 minutes.

step83

pauly69 wrote:

cougie wrote:

Have you read the manual ?


Center the brake pads on each side of the
rim by adjusting the spring tension bolts.
To move the brake pads to the left, rotate
the left bolt clockwise. To move the brake
pads to the right, rotate the right bolt
clockwise.

...this. I've had the same issue, usualyl after travelling with bike in a box. But once you get used to those spring tension bolts it's all good. What I tend to do is fully loosen both of those bolts, undo the fork brake bolt, manually hold the pads against the rim while tightening the fork brake caliper bolt up, then release the pads, take up some slack (at least 1 full turn) on both tension bolts, then adjust whichever side needs it - works every time and takes about 2 minutes.

Have to agree with this, spanner an some allen keys, though I would probably recommend a pair of safety goggles as the "spring" sometimes likes to ping out if you get the tension wrong.

Usually if the spring tensions correct your just need to recenter it with a 13mm spanner and allen key in the back of the mount.

cougie

I think my force calipers have the conventional adjustment. I've never had problems with alignment anyway but not ridden them since last year now.

step83

The red's are single pivots so a little different in setup, plus a little more fussy if they take a whack from say a baggage handler.

philbar72

TurboTommy wrote:

I’ve found them a pain too. They work well enough when they’re set right but... yeah I got fed up with them. Dura ace seems like the obvious answer no? Is there a better rim brake calliper out there performance wise? If you have a sram groupo and don’t want to mix and match then that’s a whole other can of worms and can get expensive quickly!

agree about the dura ace stuff being pretty great. 9100 is really really good, and offers a fair bit of adjustability.

the_jackalcp

As you are on SRAM currently I'd suggest some TRP 970EQ or the new FSA k force. Both available new on eBay around your budget