too close?

[Peanut]

I tried something last night and think I may have found my brake problem. I've been running the pads very close to the rims, theory being that the closer they are the more pressure I can impose with the levers. Tried slackening them off a bit last night and they now bite the rim.

Is there an optimal distance for brake pads??

Or am I just a tw@t?

[Sanmarcopizza]

There is a chance that your little digits are not applying their maximum pressure at full stretch, so now that the lever travels closer to the bar them pinkies can pull harder.

[theRuler]

Or am I just a tw@t?

its trial and error.
you do need a little gap, to get more feel to the brake

[TwoBobRob]

Yeah, I'd agree with them two  ^^^^^^^ 


A clear air gap is needed for sure. What you could do is set that gap and then give your levers a bend if you want more space between your bars and levers.  If you see what I mean... 

[Nana]

Are you using oddys as i found this that the bigger the gap the better the feel and more bite weird huh also found if you tilt your pads so every part of the rim gets hit they work better