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Mid-school brake problems 😩

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mivvi:
Hi all, I'm an old school guy but built a mid-school as a rider to see how I get on. Anyhow, managed to get mostly everything to fit and work but the rear brake ain't happening. It was missing the bridging cable and little clamp bit, so made a cable up and bought a generic clamp but its rubbish. I have tried to track down the correct bits but no luck. Do I need to just replace the whole brake? Any info would be much appreciated 👍

Wayne Ryder:
I'd say lengthen the bridging cable. Doing that will allow the arms to squeeze together more, as it is they're being pulled almost in a straight line towards the seatpost because the cable's not long enough to bend either side of the clamp. It's hard to describe.
Try to get the cable bolt on the clamp to go quite close to the seatpost when you pull the brake.
I'm sure I saw some formula about this somewhere, probably by George French.

mivvi:
That's some great advise Wayne. The cable I made is non-adjustable but have seen cables on the bay (quite long) but no adjustable clamp. Totally get what you are saying, I have made the cable so short, it is stopping the brake from functioning correctly. I will buy one of the long cables and see if I can get some suitable clamp to allow some adjustment. Thanks Wayne, much appreciated


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Wayne Ryder:
No problem, I've battled these things many times and sometimes it's just a case of fiddling till it works.
I've used narrow and broad clamps like yours, fancy aluminium ones with grub screws to lock the straddle cable in place, clamps that have a pulleywheel so they stay centred (in theory), even spokes instead of a cable. After all that I'm back to a simple setup like yours because it works just fine once it's dialled.


A borrowed pic of the spoke mod, in case you wondered. Didn't improve anything for me:

mivvi:
Ha some ingenious ideas there Wayne! Well been doing a bit of research and like you say a longer cable looks like the answer. I'm going to order one up and make some kind of clamp, so I can adjust the length and it will be a case of trial and error. I thought things would have got simpler as time moved on from old school but obviously not lol. Thanks again Wayne, yr a star


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