I don't remember your username so I'm just putting this out there.
Last week I tightened my disk brakes, specifically at the cables. They had gotten to the point I had to pull the levers all the way to the handlebars and were still feeling weak.
After a little adjusting (I made the front one a little too tight at first) they started feeling great, but this morning on the way to work they started feeling really weak again, like they were barely engaging. Only this time, the levers don't go all the way to the handlebars, the travel distance is the same as when they were doing fine, so it's not that the cable has slipped.
I don't want to over-speculate since I haven't really done this sort of thing before, but I'd appreciate advice on things to check. My workplace has a ton of tools I can borrow if need be.
I'll certainly look into that.
I'm concerned it's a mechanical issue though, since it's going back and forth between engaging fine and barely at all, rather than a gradual loss.
Definitely sounds more like a mechanical issue if it's the amount of travel that is changing. Kinda silly question, but is the bolt that clamps down on the brake cable on the caliper side tight enough / have the washer in the correct orientation? It sounds like you adjusted them correctly, then the cable slipped a bit causing you to get more play in the system.
I tightened it down a lot, so I doubt it. To be clear, the lever's travel distance hasn't changed, it still could move the same distance (to about 2 finger width) as when it worked fine, but the brake isn't fully engaging. My understanding is that cable slip would have caused the levers to depress all the way back to the handlebar again, or at least a lot closer.
How old is your bike? Like others said brake pads might be the culprit. I tended to ride on my brakes so I needed to get them replaced pretty frequently.
I really want a bike again haha.
Had it coming up on two years, been commuting with it daily for about one and a half of that.
Mm, okay I'll pop them open and have a look. Will have to bring her to the bike shop and get some replacements. Are they standardized or do I have to look up an exact model?
I’ll defer an answer I’m not sure, honestly my bikes were rim brakes but friction is friction.
I found this article though - look and see how much material you have left on your pads. https://totalwomenscycling.com/road-cycling/maintenance/ask-expert-know-brake-pads-need-replacing
Okay, final (I hope) update: there was a very well hidden knob that adjusted the position of the brake pad, which is what I actually needed to adjust the whole time. Thank you all for your advice and suggestions, I learned a lot about bike maintenance and I apologize for being a stressed out mess. Yall are cool.
Update: A readjustment at work has things working fine again, but I'm still very nervous about it failing in the same way unexpectedly.
I'm with the other post on this that you should check the brake pads.
Is there any hydraulics involved in the braking system? If air gets into those, you can get a wandering brake point which might produce what you said in your other comment about it being a bit all over the place.
Not hydraulic. "C-star mechanical disk" according to the manufacturer website. If I end up needing to buy new ones, what's the best way to figure out what specific brake pads I need for those? I get a lot of different looking ones when I google that term + "brake pads"
Huh, never heard of those. I did check all the models on the website for that category so hydraulic issues is out because they're all pure cable accentuated.
As for the bad news, that brand seems pretty off the beaten path cheapo in the not good way. Instead of just aping either the Shimano or SRAM ones, they seem to have straight up went their own way. Compare how the Shimano one looks to how one of the C-Star ones look .
Best way would be to figure out which model you have exactly, should be printed on there somewhere. Maybe this product overview of some random italian website could help, too.
Once you got that down, try and see if you could find ones that advertise as fitting. If you can't, and I couldn't except for those BX-350 Pads up there, try those because I can't imagine the company behind this bothered to design yet another set of brakepads.
Availability might still be an issue, I can't even scrounge up one vendor to sell me even the BX-350 pads and even aliexpress.com doesn't have anything that looks like that from what I can tell.
Seriously I'd advise investing into a set of like Tektro brand mechanical disc brakes on short notice if that is an option to you. Current brakes might work fine but that's a bit of a moot point if you can't get the oddly shaped brakepads. Tektro just basically uses the shimano designs and you can actually get parts for them.
Damn I did not know this when I got the bike, I hope it's not going to be super expensive to fix this. How much would it cost to replace a whole ass set of brakes?
I called the shop I bought the bike from and they said they don't have it but should be able to get a replacement that fits, but even he said the brakes were kind of weird. God dammit I hate this.
How much would it cost to replace a whole ass set of brakes?
This really depends on which part you can reuse. Just the brakes themselves would be about 40€ if you're going for cheap tektro ones (they're fine, probably better than what you have now tbh). Don't see why this wouldn't work really, might not be the perfect feel in the levers but in the end it's a lever that pulls a cable, not rocket science.
Levers'd be about ~15€ each otherwise, assuming it's flat bar levers.
Maybe the rotors, but that's unlikely, and would be about 10€ / ea.
This is assuming you do it yourself. Labour on top of that.
Allthough I seriously would think about looking for a different bike shop if I'm being honest. Like use them to source a replacement part now but then start looking around for a different one. Maybe it's me, but I think them willingly selling you a bike with cheap knock-off brakes with 0 parts availability is a dick move.
Sorry, totally missed the question in this 'til now.
I wouldn't exactly expect it to not work, I just don't want to stick my head out on it.
I've fucked with some old ass single side pull brakes and those were a nightmare to get into any condition where i wouldn't describe the braking power as dangerously low. From my experience, the deciding factor is the travel of the lever / how much the cable actually gets pulled.
This means you can get some really odd combinations working by keeping everything at close tolerances and more adjusting than would otherwise be necessary, but seeing as I'm not a straight up magician like dallasw I could not tell you how possible this for the brakes in question.
Maybe it’s me, but I think them willingly selling you a bike with cheap knock-off brakes with 0 parts availability is a dick move.
Indeed. I just had no idea at the time, assumed everything was above board.
New development @4bicycles
I found out there's a bike shop right near work. They had a look at my weird brake pads for free and said they're actually not that worn down. Which means the culprit might be something else?
Then, when I was biking back from lunch, my front brake cable makes a twang sound, and all of the sudden it goes from 100% to zero, like no braking power at all. The cable still feels taut, it still pulls the caliper, I can even see the disk move slightly when I pull the handle so I know something is engaging, but it doesn't provide any stopping power. Like it was enough to completely bring me to a stop on its own, then instantly went to nothing. Idk what's happening but I'm taking it back to that shop after work because this bitch is not safe to ride.
Yeah hitting up the bike shop is probably a good idea. I'm out of anything that isn't a shot in the dark at this, allthough maybe @dallasw or @Kissmydadonthelips have an idea
dallasw sent me a video that gave me a flash of inspiration. Going to try one last thing, I think I might have fucked up something with the caliper's lever arm when I first tightened the brake.
if you loosen it completely off the brake caliper you can pull it back and forth by hand through the housing the check for resistance
This is it! I'm pretty sure this is the source of the problem! If I loosen it completely I can't move it at all, even with a pair of pliers. It's super stuck. To tighten the brakes I had to move the caliper's lever arm up a bit which the video you sent said was a big no no. That's why it's having trouble engaging all the way even though the) everything is connected mechanically.
How to fix this is the next big thing because this sounds like a bad development.
Also, I'm not aware of any bike co ops near me but I could see. I'd certainly like to be able to take it to a place that I don't have to be so worried about them trying to oversell me dumb shit
Honestly no idea what it looks like inside the tubes (housing?). There have been a few times where it took a nasty spilll (or some moron knocks it over) and the handlebars got turned all turned around and twisted, but Idk if that caused any damage because none of that was recent.
There is a bike co op near my home but for my own safety I think I should get them fixed asap. Like I got the front brake working again, but who knows how long that'll last.
Okay I actually can move it back and forth, it was just already at its maximum tension. I think I need to just take it in, I'm too unfamiliar with the finer details of the process to really know how to ask productive questions or give sensible answers I guess 😔 Thank you for trying to help anyway.
:sankara-salute:
Allthough this will mean you get @'d next time someone calls my dumbass for help
is the caliper tight? have you checked it’s alignment?
It could be this, see my update comment from just a second ago. Source or advice on how to properly check this?
