this is my son's bike, which he rides on some busy streets to and from school and the park everyday. his front rim brakes and brake lever are not bouncing back to their open position unless manual reset, which as you can imagine causes me some cardiac irregularity. tightening the bolts at top of the inverted-brake-triangle (where it attaches to the fork) just makes the brakes not work at all. any ideas what I should be looking at here? dead spring? dirty cable? thanks, you guys.
rim brakes not springing back the way they should
byu/Emilio___Molestevez inbicycling
by Emilio___Molestevez
7 Comments
Trying changing cable and cable housing. If that doesn’t work possibly need to change the brake arm. Let me know if that helps 👍
Probably too much friction somewhere, either in the cable (common of the bike is stored outside, or just old) or in the brakes themselves (this style of brake is adjustable, and could be maladjusted when new, if bought from a big box store).
Also could be a damaged spring.
It looks like the cable might be getting caught somewhere. Where the cable enters the adjuster does look a bit wrong. The cable should be going straighter as it enters. But it’s hard to tell from the video.
https://preview.redd.it/cukx8y8iunpg1.png?width=316&format=png&auto=webp&s=a4704158772d47498b48e2aef7aeacbe2a10024c
r/bikewrench
r/bikewrench might be more helpful, since they’re dedicated to repairs
Squeeze the brake caliper shut with your hands and see if it springs back. If it does, then it’s the cable, if not, it’s the caliper.
Disconnect the cable entirely and test them separate. The spring that returns the cable to resting position is inside the brake caliper, not the lever. The lever just flops around when not under tension. Actuate the caliper by hand and see how strongly it is able to return to its resting position. It should open completely, smoothly and with some force when not connected to the cable.
You can then test for friction or kinks in the cable separately and isolate the issue.