Setting Up Bicycle Brakes Effectively

Regardless of the cost and performance of your bicycle brakes, if you’ve not got the set up correct, all that money will be wasted.

Brakes set up correctly should:

• ‘Bite’ instantly.
• Work smoothly and easily.
• Be fully controllable and predictable.
• Provide good feedback in the dry or the wet.

So to set everything up correctly, let’s try the following simple steps:

1. Make sure the brake pads and rims of the wheels are clean. You’ll be surprised how quickly dirt accumulation starts to affect braking performance.

2. Make sure your pads are not completely worn.  If they are, replace them as soon as possible.

3. Adjust the pads so they line up exactly with the rim.  This will ensure maximum pad area hits the rims – this will improve power, and reduce wear.

Looks ok now from this angle…

and

…and from this angle too…

4. Adjust the toe-in (if your calipers allow) of the pads; this makes braking much more progressive and easier to control, and it also prevents “squeal”.

Toe-in can be seen here

5. If necessary, replace your brake cables, and oil the insides of the outer cables before fitting. You’d be surprised how much this improves the easy and control of your braking!

6. Make sure every length of outer cable has a ‘terminator’. This simple metal part is the key to ensuring the outer cable does not ‘compress’ in use. This compression can reduce power and feel dramatically! The metal casing prevents this, and makes the brakes highly responsive and powerful.

7. When using new cables, it’s important to wind down the adjuster on the caliper itself, and to ensure you select enough outer cable to ensure the caliper can ‘move’ without pulling the cable too short. Like this:

8. When fitting new brakes and new cables, compress the pads onto the rim, and pull the inner cable tight before tighting the bolt onto the brake cable.

9. Then, fully pull the lever to the bar aggressively for 5-6 attempts. This will stretch the cable. All new cables stretch a little before settling in.

10. Undo the cable bolt, and repeat the above step; you should find it can no longer stretch. This cable is now complete – repeat it for the other brake too!

11. Finally, use the adjusters on the calipers to move the pad close to the rim; you still need to leave around 2-3mm of a gap though, to accommodate any flex in the wheel (eg when climbing out the saddle), or any small buckles.

That’s all you need to do to gain excellent braking performance!

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