The MTB thread

Originally Posted by Mr Speirs

I wonder if anyone can help though. I've got a lot of play on the front brake lever. The brakes don't engage until about 2cm of travel whereas tr rear is 1 cm. I'd prefer it to be about 1cm. Is there something I need to do to change it? I've got an adjustment on the lever but that just moves the starting point of the lever rather than adjusting the play.

There seems to be a bit of a gap between the pads and the caliper.

Looks like a nice bit of kit

Are the brakes hydraulic? Might need the reservoir topping up with mineral oil/brake fluid if theres no adjustment to move the lever back to remove the 'slack'

Originally Posted by Mr Speirs

Im yet to ride the thing properly. Just been messing around in the warehouse so far.

Think i've solved the front brake problem. Just took the caliper off and pressed the lever a few times to get the pads closer together. Put it back on a its loads better. Although it does seem a bit off. One pad is definately closer/slightly rubbing than the other. In fact before I took the caliper off pulling the lever would engage one pad before the other and was bending the disc slightly.

Just seen this reply, you need to get some caliper spacers/washers to offset the caliper from the fork bracket so the disc sits in the middle of the two pads, rubbing pads/discs on a push bike is a leg killer

[Mr Speirs]

It's an off the shelf model so wouldn't have thought I'd need to do that. I'm more inclined to say it's a set up issue myself. The washer/spacer would need to be about a quarter of a mm so I think it's just a case of needed to settle in the middle. Will have another play with it in a moment to see if I can set it right.

yeah, go back to halfrauds to get them to sort it, they sell packets of the spacers/washers

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/s...egoryId_165608

[Mr Speirs]

Na it's cool I just sorted it out. Just loosened the caliper bolts, wiggled the caliper a wee bit and pressed the lever down hard whilst tightening it up. Wheel spins freely without any pad interference and brake travel/play is good.

sorted

[G]

Originally Posted by Mr Speirs

Na it's cool I just sorted it out. Just loosened the caliper bolts, wiggled the caliper a wee bit and pressed the lever down hard whilst tightening it up. Wheel spins freely without any pad interference and brake travel/play is good.

Yep this is the recognised way of doing it quickly, and it works most of the time.

What bits are you wanting to swap already? lol

[Mr Speirs]

Pedals mainly. Maybe new handlebars. Will see how the brakes go but wouldn't mind a slightly nicer front.

[northwind]

Pedals are generally a good idea... Don't have to be expensive either for a good result, you can get brilliant pedals like the wellgo MG1s for £30 or so but you can get perfectly decent ones for less.