Hey all, I recently refurbished a vintage bike an replaced the original drop bars with upright bars. I switched out the road brake levers for Dia-Compe SS6 levers (https://www.rivbike.com/products/dia-compe-ss-6-mtb-silver-brake-levers), but kept the original centrepull brakes. However, after adjusting the brake arms to the correct position with 1-2mm distance from pads to the rim, I found that I was unable to remove the wheels without deflating the tires.
Is there a way I can fix this, or are there any centrepull brakes with a quick release for the brake cable so I don’t have to deflate tires every time?
Thanks
by gromplint
9 Comments
Comes with the territory, I’m afraid. Old brakes didn’t have the release mechanism that newer ones do. You either need brakes with a release, very skinny tires, or you’ll have to do the deflate thing.
those kind of brakes usually came with a release (button) on the brake lever. that should give enough clearance to uninstall the wheel.
Those aren’t centerpull calipers, they’re single-pivot sidepull calipers. They don’t seem to have a quick-release mechanism and neither do the Dia-Compe SS-6 levers (as far as I can tell), leaving you with a rather annoying setup. It’s not necessarily completely unworkable to put just a few PSI in your tires, reinstall the wheels in the frame/fork, and then fully inflate the tires; but if this starts feeling too annoying, you could always switch to modern dual-pivot sidepull calipers, which will have a quick-release mechanism. Not too expensive, either; I think Tektro calipers are ~$25 apiece.
Yeah, changing the old levers with a built in QR put you in this position.
I think there are replacements to barrel adjusters which have a QR unit included. Also, you could get Ritchey Brake Cable Quick Disconnect anchors, which are designed for breakaway bike disassembly. Then you just unscrew the anchors to release the cable.
take off pads
I recommend Tektro R539 or R559 brakes. Measure how much reach you need and pick the appropriate one. Both come in either recessed nut or hex nutted options, pick the appropriate for your frame.
A trick I have, which won’t always work, is to set up these kind of brakes so that I can use both the lever and caliper barrel adjusters to create enough slack that I can remove the brake cable head from the lever. If you align the barrel adjuster and locking ring’s slots with the lever body and squeeze the lever to expose the cable head, it pushes right out. Then the caliper is fully released and hopefully you can squeeze the tire out.
Then put the cable back in and dial the barrel adjusters out to restore proper cable tension.
I have the same problem. I put 34mm tires on my touring bike. They don’t fit past the rim brakes inflated. But they sure do give a nice ride.
This is a common problem with big tyres, but it’s just an inconvenience.
I recently put wider tyres on my high end custom road bike, and wished I had gone with cantilever brakes like Rivendell does on most of their frames.
On my mtn bike with cantilevers my tyres are so big I still have to deflate to remove the wheel.