Front brake spacing

Hi there,

Just putting my wheels on - I noticed on the front wheel that there is a !/4" gap between my TLS and the slider - it does close when I tighten the axle bolt up - but I am concerned that I am putting stress on the fork bushes, and I being paranoid? :shock:

Thanks!

Phil
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P.S. The front brake doesn't spring back... unless I push the handle back out. The cables are new and well lubed, springs work inside, one new brake cam, everything lightly greased... any ideas as to the stiffness?

T

Fastback,

Perhaps the reason why your brake lever will not return and the gap between the backing plate and slider are related?

Perhaps there is a spacer missing in the brake assembly. This missing spacer may be causing the backing plate to over travel and pinch the brake shoes when tightening the axle nut.

Jason

Phil,
When you mount the wheel in the forks, slide the axle through from the left and tighten the axle nut. Bounce the forks up and down several times with the front brake locked to centralize the wheel and forks. Then tighten the pinch bolt on the left slider. This will assure that the legs are parallel and not binding the fork bushes.

Make sure you have installed the dust cap between the left slider and hub.

If everything on the brake works easily by hand at the lever on the wheel, and the cable is routed with no sharp bends, the only culprit I can think of is a weak return spring.

Thanks guys,

I will give the front end a good bounce when I get it off the stand (milk crate) and readjust the brakes then.

I took the wheel off to double check the springs and that the cams were installed correctly. I discovered that the problem was that I had the two cams at different angles, so the lever was coming to rest at the flat of the first cam - not the second - which would pull the lever tight. I adjusted the link rod so the two cams were sitting flat on the shoes - lever snapped open. Then I readjusted the link rod as per the manual. My guess is I somehow way over-adjusted the link rod.

Should the front axle be protruding from the axle nut?
It sticks out by about a 1/4" - which is the same gap between the brake and the slider.

Jason, I haven't disassembled the front hub to check that all (any) of the spacers are in there... hmmm.