V-Brakes - Maintenance

Brake Maintenance is simple (can be done by anybody) and is important for ensuring that you stop when you want to

Brake Maintenance

1. First Step, unhook the brake cable from the guide so the the brake arms hang free and come apart.

2. You may want to make sure that the brakes are properly lubricated at the mount's, in order to do this you will need to remove the brakes form the forks (frame if rear) and lubricate the mounting post.

3. If you are fitting new brakes or you have removed the brakes from their mounts check that the mounting pillars are 80mm apart (centre to centre), this is the width that Shimano brakes are designed to work at, if the mounting pillars are a different width apart you may be able to correct the distance by swapping the spacers  on the brake pad post, you have one large behind the post and a small in front, if the gap is greater than 80mm try placing the larger in front of the post (the side with the brake pad). If you do adjust the spacers you will need to check that the space between the cable guide and the brake cable fixing bolt on the other brake arm is at least 40mm.

4. If you have removed the brakes from the bike or are fitting new ones put them back together before continuing any further

5. Loosen the brake pads with a 5mm Allen key.

6. Push the brake arm against the wheel and align the brake pad so that it lines up perfectly with the rim of the wheel, tighten the brake pad back up. Do this for both sides.

7. Pull the two brake arms back together and reconnect the guide so that the brakes are in working position.

8. If the brakes will not come together then you will need to adjust the barrel  adjusted on the brake lever, if not enough adjustment is available in the barrel adjuster then you will need to reduce the length of the brake cable by pulling the cable shorter at the wheel end through the cable clamp bolt.

9. Adjust the Barrel adjuster at the brake lever end to make sure that the brake pads hit the wheel rim about half way though the travel of the brake lever.

10. On the side of the brake arms are two little spring adjustment bolts, these adjust the tension in the brake arm springs and therefore adjust the amount of movement the brake arms perform when being pulled in by the break lever, screw in to increase tension and screw out for less tension , adjust these so that when braking both brake arms move in by an equal amount and when you release the brake lever they move out again by an equal amount..

Squealing Brakes

So far I have found two things that make v-brakes squeal

1. If the brake pad has been incorrectly set up the brake block may become glazed, and or contain ridges, remove the wheel and make sure that the brake pads are not glazed or contain ridges, if they do then use a fine file to remove the ridges. With a light sand paper work your way around the wheel rim to remove the glaze that may have formed there.

2. The toe of the brake may cause the brake to squeal, this is simple to cure, just make sure that the trailing end of the brake (against wheel rotation) meets the wheel rim before the front of the brake pad, toed in brakes should have no more than 2mm deviation between front and back, if you have trouble evaluating the difference try placing a piece of card under the leading edge of the brake when setting up you brakes.