please help me stop

[Peanut]

I can do most mechanical things, hubs, sprockets, bearings, chains etc. but I have to confess I'm utterly sh!te when it comes to brakes and all things brake related. Every bike I've ever had has been rubbish at braking and I think I need some help. I have mags wheels, what brake calipers do I need? what brake blocks? what levers? I'm running a gyro and my old mx levers didn't have enough leverage so I've had to change them. What levers did you guys use BITD? did you use them with a gyro?

So many questions.

[Trev]

i only just managed to learn how to get my brakes dialed properly with gyro about 3 or 4 months before i stopped riding..    i used the odyssey brakes back then with an odyssey gyro.

but i'm probably not the best person to ask now as with the state of my brakes, i might as well be brakeless.

[RATTY]

Welcome to old school, where the brakes never work. 

[OrgasmDonor]

i spend hours setting my brakes up, take inner out and grease it and put back in, use masking tape to wrap round the wheel and hold the brake blocks tight to the rim, make sure the pads are square to the rim, use an adjustable hammer with some kitchen roll over the arms to bend em in if need be). put cables in position and feed into brack anchors and pull on the inner with a pair of molegrips like fook and tighten up. then pull the fook out of your lever on and off for a good ten mins or so to try n stretch it as much as possible (the longer you can be arsed to do this the better). then loosen the nut holding the cable to your brake and pull thro again with molegrips as tight as you can taking up the extra you have created with stretching and re tighten and repeat, loosen again pull thro and retighten, then take masking tape off and check clearence from blocks to wheels, if too tight, put masking tape back over to hold to rims and gently loosen nut thats holding cable till you see it slip slightly and retigten and recheck distance from wheel again, my brakes work fookin awesome regardless of what levers calipers etc. but must confess tech3s with asc boas are the daddies, if you can, get some stainless inners from a bike shop they do make a difference and use alcohol wipes on rims n blocks to remove all the crap you cant see. tuff pads (especially the baby blue ones) and the red dia compe pads and the odyssey pads you got with midschool brakes are the best for mags.

also, if you wish, dampen some kitchen roll with non diet coke and dab round the brake surface of the rim, dont soak it, this really does work if ya dont take the piss with it.

mx900s give far superior braking to 1000s also

[Trev]

fook that!!!

i really admire your patience and that is the best way to get the best out of your brakes.  i really should spend a bit of time on my brakes but i'm too impatient / lazy to do so.

i think i'll take a leaf out of your book though and spend about an hour or so sorting out my brakes properly.

[Stodgy]

I've got an awesome way of dialling in brakes and it works everytime, and takes very little effort. I just invite Fuzzynod Mark round and he does them. Perfect.

[Trev]

I've got Trill to sort out my bikes if I'm at home and SuperFly Paul to sort them out when I'm at Charlton.... now all i need is for someone to wipe my arse....

[Lazarou]

Go to your local bike shop and get a 'Third hand' tool it will save your life!

[Peanut]

thanks guys, I think a good couple of hours of tinkering should do it using orgasmdonors guide provided my gear isn't total sh!te. At the moment I have Odyssey 2000 calipers, the brake blocks were cheapo ones but I don't know what blocks to get for mags, I could get tuffpads but they wheels aren't tuffs, and the levers are odd and came from the tip, I think they're off an old townsend. So what equipment do I need? what would be the ideal OS braking system?

If memory serves me well I used to ride with dia compe's and tech 2s (?) I really liked that set up, still couldn't stop but I liked em. also were the hell am I gonna get orange outer cables??

[harris]

mag wheels rarely work well mate,brake blocks are a big key and spring pressure.

[harris]

i sometimes run 2 brakes on the front,i had this conversion btd and still use it from time to time.

[OrgasmDonor]

fook that!!!

i really admire your patience and that is the best way to get the best out of your brakes.  i really should spend a bit of time on my brakes but i'm too impatient / lazy to do so.

i think i'll take a leaf out of your book though and spend about an hour or so sorting out my brakes properly.

i know, i know, but i always had shite brakes BITD untill i switched to mx900s then they were better but still not great, the fookin about pays off tho and its worth it in the end

[Gary72]

Another factor is our WEIGHT, my old school brakes dont really work, but when my 6 year old rides it they do, noticed aswell at the town show demo we did the other weekend all the kids could skid the old school bikes.
Never really used to play with the brakes as a kid and used to be able to bounce on the back wheel no problem.