I'm having trouble aligning the brakes on my 'new' gravelbike. It has mechanical Tektro disc brakes. It seems like they are or rubbing or my levers hit my handlebar. I noticed that it takes quite a while for the lever yonengange the cable, is this where my problem lies? How do I fix it? Any other tips?
All help is appreciated
Is this a normal amount of "dead zone"
byu/spartan_smyfox inbikewrench
by spartan_smyfox
6 Comments
I’d say too much wiggle room. I hate tektro brakes. One suggestion is that you partially depress the brake caliper manually while you attach the cable. That’s the purpose of the barrel adjuster but in my experience it never gives you enough on these
Yep, too much deadzone. I assume the cable is not constantly under tension. retighten the cable at the caliper, and check that that the cable glides smoothly through the housing
Too much. I’d suggest seeing if you can smooth out the cable routing at all. Maybe see if you can widen the openings of the housing . Also, WD-40 on the cable helps it move through the housing with less resistance
too much. watch out for the ends of cable housing, effort should be made to make sure they are trimmed flat and pushed flush to their stops; with thick compressionless housing i use a sacrificial piece of cable and a 4th-hand tool to really squeeze the ferrules on there. isolate the problem by unbolting the cable from the brake and holding it with your fingers under tension, and give the levers a squeeze- that should narrow down where the lost tension is coming from.
Mechanical disc brakes have a lot of travel but this is too much. Like what others said, check cable length but after you look for any reach adjustment on that lever. FYI reach adj shouldnt introduce dead space either
If there’s a bit of corrosion it’ll drag the lever, stop it from fully returning.