I bought an RC520 a couple of months ago from Decathlon. After a while, I noticed my braking performance was sub-par ; The brake lever was very stiff and has very little travel. I then checked TRP’s manual to try and corrrect this issue and I found that the cable wasn’t tightened properly by whoever assembled the bike. With the brake lever fully depressed, the actuation arm does not return to the ‘open’ position. Indeed, the cable was way too tight because the actuator lever was about half a turn away from the correct position…
So I tried to adjust the cable following TRP’s instructions but the cable was cut too short to allow the arm to reach its position. From what I understand, if the actuator arm isn’t set properly, the pistons won’t compensate for pad wear and at some point I will loose all braking power.
Is my only option to get new cables and redo the install ? If so, how can I do that without needing to replace my bar tape.
Ok-Oil7124 on
It’s very tempting to push the lever in further than you should because they have a long throw otherwise. You’re right. If you can’t push that in, it won’t properly self adjust. It won’t feel as nice as it does when you snug it up too far, but it will be correct. You need a new cable.
singlejeff on
Is the barrel adjuster on the brake lever run all the way in?
3 Comments
I bought an RC520 a couple of months ago from Decathlon. After a while, I noticed my braking performance was sub-par ; The brake lever was very stiff and has very little travel. I then checked TRP’s manual to try and corrrect this issue and I found that the cable wasn’t tightened properly by whoever assembled the bike. With the brake lever fully depressed, the actuation arm does not return to the ‘open’ position. Indeed, the cable was way too tight because the actuator lever was about half a turn away from the correct position…
So I tried to adjust the cable following TRP’s instructions but the cable was cut too short to allow the arm to reach its position. From what I understand, if the actuator arm isn’t set properly, the pistons won’t compensate for pad wear and at some point I will loose all braking power.
Is my only option to get new cables and redo the install ? If so, how can I do that without needing to replace my bar tape.
It’s very tempting to push the lever in further than you should because they have a long throw otherwise. You’re right. If you can’t push that in, it won’t properly self adjust. It won’t feel as nice as it does when you snug it up too far, but it will be correct. You need a new cable.
Is the barrel adjuster on the brake lever run all the way in?