Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Brakes & chain guard adjustment

I replaced the rear brake cable and cable housing.  The way the brakes are set up on this bike is called a U-brake.  See  http://www.sheldonbrown.com/canti-u.html

Sheldon Brown only says there was a fad for them in around 1986-88 on the back brake of mountain bikes.  I would agree with his view that adjusting the rear brake under the lower chain stays is difficult.  I removed the pads completely (he calls them brake shoes), held the brake arms as close to the wheel as possible, pulled the cable tight, and tightened the nut.  Exactly how I managed this with only two hands I can't remember.  It slacks off a bit, then the pads/shoes can be installed.  The rear pads are like this:


As above, they can be moved in and out to get closer to the wheel rim.

The front pads and brake arms are different, the pads have a threaded section on top, they cannot be adjusted in the same way as the rear ones can.

Chain-guard.  It was getting hit by the crank.  Where it is connected to the frame, near the bottom bracket, I used a longer bolt and inserted a 1/4" nyloc nut with it thread drilled out, so it acts as a spacer, pulling the chain-guard about 6mm to the port side.  Now the guard is a little close to the chain ring and barely touched it at times, I just gave it a bit of persuasion and it seems OK now.  I have a feeling if this bike is folded and loaded on and off trains, planes and automobiles, the chain-guard may need adjustment from time to time.

I have also now installed a vintage Cateye Vectra computer, CC-7000, it needs a new battery.  I think this might be 20 years old:




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