Useless v-brakes are useless..

[Coopz]

I bought an Avanti flat bar road bike recently that wasn't ridden for a few years. Replaced a few parts and have it a good clean up and it looks like new but the issue I'm having is the front brakes. They barely work and I'm running out of ideas.. I've tried the following....
-Cleaned the rim with alcohol, simple green, brake cleaner, holy water, only made a minor improvement.
-replaced the pads, reseated the pads, no real improvement
-cleaned and oiled the cable, triple checked the tension.

The brakes feel strong and engaging with the pinch force they just won't bite. The rear brakes work fine though.
My wife has a similar spec road bike with Tektro vbrakes and it stops like its got 4 piston calipre hydraulic discs...

 

[creaky]

Are the pivots free moving?
Cable running properly through the brake?

 

[Jrok]

Did you allow for toe-in? I put a cable tie on the leading edge of my brake pad when setting them so they grab nicely and dont squeal

Sent from my Redmi Note 8 Pro using Tapatalk

 

[Labcanary]

I bought an Avanti flat bar road bike recently that wasn't ridden for a few years. Replaced a few parts and have it a good clean up and it looks like new but the issue I'm having is the front brakes. They barely work and I'm running out of ideas.. I've tried the following....
-Cleaned the rim with alcohol, simple green, brake cleaner, holy water, only made a minor improvement.
-replaced the pads, reseated the pads, no real improvement
-cleaned and oiled the cable, triple checked the tension.

The brakes feel strong and engaging with the pinch force they just won't bite. The rear brakes work fine though.
My wife has a similar spec road bike with Tektro vbrakes and it stops like its got 4 piston calipre hydraulic discs...

Are the rims and brake pads the same front and back? Not all braking surfaces and pad materials are created equal. Cheaper pads are often a harder compound and feels like you're braking with wooden blocks. A softer pad compound will brake much betterer (but also wear faster).

 

[ausdb]

Plus one on the cable tie for toe in. I just tape two thicknesses of business cards to one end myself. But if it's old and hasn't been ridden for a while the pads may have just hardened up with old age. Maybe time for new pads?

 

[Flow-Rider]

Try high quality brake pads on it and roughen up the braking surface on the rim, also check that someone hasn't changed the brake levers or calipers to an unsuitable match.

 

[Coopz]

Are the rims and brake pads the same front and back? Not all braking surfaces and pad materials are created equal. Cheaper pads are often a harder compound and feels like you're braking with wooden blocks. A softer pad compound will brake much betterer (but also wear faster).

I bought new pads for the front and back, I just tried switching them over and it's a noticeable improvement in braking. Still not amazing but at least the bike is safe to ride now. Think the pads I bought on the weekend are dodgey.

Are the pivots free moving?
Cable running properly through the brake?

Yes they are nice and smooth and I checked the cables.

 

[link1896]

use a wire brush on the angle grinder to add texture to the breaking surface across the braking surface for micro roughening, and a screw driver to add big gouges to the surface for macro texture. won't be smooth, but doing this on mavic rims with XT v brakes got close to dry disk braking on 160mm rotors back in the day (rose colour goggles on mind you)

 

[hellmansam]

I put a cable tie on the leading edge of my brake pad when setting them

The gap needs to be at the trailing edge for toe in and no squealing.

 

[The Duckmeister]

....add texture to the breaking surface....

If the surface is breaking, it's fucked. Adding texture won't help, probably break it more....

 

[Jrok]

The gap needs to be at the trailing edge for toe in and no squealing.

Im sure we mean the same thing, just lost in translation. Like this:

 

[Dales Cannon]

Back in the bad old days... clean the braking surface with isopropol alcohol before scuffing the surface and then clean it again after. You can easily embed grime and stuffs in the texture on the rim. Same applies to using adhesives on aluminium, clean it thoroughly first, then roughen the surface.

 

[rowdyflat]

Good soft brake pads like Swissstop toed in , clean rims, lube cables and get the thought out of your head that they will be nearly as good as discs.

 

[DougalStrachan]

Im sure we mean the same thing, just lost in translation. Like this: View attachment 381208

Not sure why that pic annoyed me - should be flipped

 

[Jrok]

Not sure why that pic annoyed me - should be flipped

Why?

 

[DougalStrachan]

Why?

Front of the bike to the left then rim direction runs left to right - I swear I'm not typically OCD - like I said not sure why this bothers me - maybe I acquired a brain injury?

 

[Dales Cannon]

Not sure why that pic annoyed me - should be flipped

I thought, that is the fucking same innit? Then of course it aint. Fixed it for youse.

 

[Freediver]

Front of the bike to the left then rim direction runs left to right - I swear I'm not typically OCD - like I said not sure why this bothers me - maybe I acquired a brain injury?

Are your feet on backwards and are they your reference point? My toes are at the front and my heel is at the back.

 

[Jrok]

 

[Flow-Rider]

Good soft brake pads like Swissstop toed in , clean rims, lube cables and get the thought out of your head that they will be nearly as good as discs.

SwisStop and Shimano for the win.