Hey again. Recently I've upgraded almost everything on bike and I've done almost everything myself. I have to say I'm pretty proud considering I'm not much of a handyman...The bike is ready to go, but I can't seem to get any stopping power out of my BB7. I've fiddled with the dials and it seems nice and tight when the bike is idle. But when riding I get nothing except for what sounds like the rotor being lightly scraped. Anyone have any tips? No offense to my LBS, but I don't want to spend $30 for what seems like an easily resolvable problem.
Maybe you did install them right, but the pads haven't been "broken in" yet. With my bike (which has BB5s) there was a short period of use before the brakes started working really well.
Just sounds like you haven't bedded your pads in, and hopefully your LBS would have told you as much had you asked without charging $30....but maybe you are in actual LBS hell, I don't know. Get yourself to the top of a longish hill descent, road or trail, and do some nice gradual stops several times is a good way to bed them in. Another possibility is you've contaminated your pads/rotors with lube or something, but you probably know better... You might try to read the disc brake FAQ in the upper right corner of the Brake forum page, too.
Just sounds like you haven't bedded your pads in, and hopefully your LBS would have told you as much had you asked without charging $30....but maybe you are in actual LBS hell, I don't know. Get yourself to the top of a longish hill descent, road or trail, and do some nice gradual stops several times is a good way to bed them in. Another possibility is you've contaminated your pads/rotors with lube or something, but you probably know better... You might try to read the disc brake FAQ in the upper right corner of the Brake forum page, too.
Alright, more from the dept. of noobery... Both brakes are broken-in now, but the front felt a little funky. I figured I touched the rotor a little by accident so I rubbed some iso. alcohol on the rotor thinking it would take care of it. Now the brake squeaks awfully. And not like it would in wet conditions, it downright screeches. Any tips?
When you clean the rotors you basically remove some of the pad material that transfers to the rotor and now have to bed that material back onto the rotors, should be fine with a little use.
I've got the BB5s on my bike and they are finicky to say the least. I had to adjust them after the first 5 rides since the discs would rub the pad. Eventually, I loosened the bolts that hold the caliper in place and adjusted from there, centering the disc between the pads/calipers, then depressing the brake and holding it down while tightening the bolts.
One ride later, I had to adjust the pad settings with the wheel, but since I've had 0 issues and the brakes clamp down well, to the point that I can easily lock up the wheel if I'm not careful.
With the BB5's I use a feeler gauge of about .015" in between the rotor and the outboard pad. Tighten the inboard adjuster and squeeze the brake lever. Tighten the caliper mounting bolts by alternating back and forth between the two, tightening about a 1/4 turn each time until they are tight. Back off on the adjuster enough so the rotor doesn't rub and you should be good to go.
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