Brake Lever touching Handlebar

[Steve X]

My wife has a Tour de Fer 10 Flat Bar, bought Brand new, and she mentioned to me yesterday that the Brake lever pulls a long way back. We have not done a huge mileage on the bikes, possibly a few hundred miles. Is this something I can adjust, or should we now get the bikes serviced. At the Jubilee we are doing a short 120 mile trip, in preparation for a longer tour in July, would it be better to leave a service unit after then. Should I really service it my/ our selves. I try to involve my wife in this.
Going back to the dealer for a service is not an option.

[Barrowman]

Should be a simple matter, you don't specify which brakes you have.
Most brakes these days have an adjuster , either next to the brake lever or somewhere on the brake itself. Simply screw this out and adjust the lock ring screw.
Or undo the inner cable at the brake and pull it through the anchor bolt to suit. ( I would do the second, the fist is more for small adjustments 'in the field' so to speak. )

[simonineaston]

As usual, the query will be much assisted by a photograph, if poss.

[Jdsk]

As above.

But if the adjustment doesn't look obvious please add photos of the levers and all of the adjusters that you can find.

Jonathan

Edited: Crossed post.

[Steve X]

Thank you for the replies, I have attached 3 photos.

[simonineaston]

At first glance, I would suggest that the resting distance of the brake actuating cable ie between the two orange arrows, is too large. Check the nut that grasps the cable, arrowed red, and if poss. relax, move the brake actuating arm and retighten. The cable adjustment screw arrowed green, might allow sufficient adjustment but if the brake lever can nearly touch the grip, it suggests that the cable is way too loose.
For a much better description of above, see the Park guidance video here.

picture with arrows

[Barrowman]

I would agree with previous statement. The cable is anchored at the second (lower) orange arrow in the photo, the fixing is the bolt at the end of the red arrow. The cable should just be visible ,it is hidden by the angle of the photo below the nut. I would suggest the 2 elements need to be roughly parralell ( i.e. The arm at the first orange arrow and the second) . If you aren't confident to undo the cable there is an adjuster just above the brake mechanism and another on the lever the 2 vaguely knurled bits in the cable run. If you do go for a cable adjust you only have to loosen the bolt and pull cable through, no need to remove it completely.
(Green arrow and something very similar looking next to the brake lever are the adjusters)
Should be adjustable with your fingers . Turn left to effectively lengthen the cable run. Don't forget to do the lock ring/nut after adjustment.
The cable should move straight away when you move the lever ideally ( a small amount of slack might suit the rider , personal choice. ( Don't forget the brakes have to move before they touch the rims / discs )

[slowster]

The Promax Render disc brake appears to be a mechanical disk brake with a fixed pad adjuster, but not with a moving pad adjuster. Consequently as the disc pad wears, the manufacturer states that the barrel adjuster should be used to maintain the distance between the disc and the moving pad (and the fixed pad adjuster to maintain the distance between the disc and the fixed pad).

https://www.promaxcomponents.com/wp-con ... Manual.pdf

You need to keep a close eye on pad wear, i.e. check the thickness of the pads before using the barrel adjuster to compensate for pad wear, and replace the pads by the point they have lost 1mm of thickness. If you just keep taking up brake lever travel with the cable adjuster, you run the risk of suddenly finding that the pads are completely worn through when attempting to brake.

I suggest you and she watch this generic Park Tool video on mechanical pad adjustment, the first part of which covers measuring pad wear:

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-he ... stallation

You might or might not find the following article on Avid mechanical disc brake adjustment helpful. Unlike her bike, the Avid brakes have moving pad adjusters, but it might help to understand the principles of adjusting these types of brake in general.

https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-he ... adjustment

[Steve X]

Thank you for all the replies. I think I shall take the bike to a friends and get him to oversee me on this task. I am nervous I will get it wrong. I learn best by doing.

[531colin]

The concept is pretty straightforward, even for me as a very late adopter of disc brakes.
The amount of travel that the mechanism in the brake caliper provides is quite small; you (usually) have 3 little ballbearings sitting in dents in 2 plates; the cable rotates one plate relative to the other plate, the ballbearings climb up their dents pushing the plates further apart and pushing the one moving pad against the disc rotor. The brake is designed to exert a lot of pressure on the pads, and the pad travel is necessarily short.

It follows that if you only adjust the cable you can run out of travel in the caliper before the pad is worn out.....there is always a way of adjusting the fixed pad (at least).
Its my understanding that if there is only an adjuster on the fixed pad, you should adjust that and then re-centre the caliper on the disc, and that the cable adjustment is only for temporary use and it should be re-set as soon as practical. ....but the manufacturers instructions should be followed!

[simonineaston]

take the bike to a friends

Good Plan - 2 heads better than one. Stay Calm and Carry On

[PT1029]

Advice upthread is good. Also while looking at the brakes, put the brake on, watch to see if the brake disc flexes noticably towards the spokes side of teh brake caliper. The disc is meant to do this to some extent, ie, the moving LH pad pushes the disc against the fixed spoke side pad.
Much as Coin says, the spoke side pad is designed to be adjusted to some extent as it wears by turning it on it's thread. If the disc has to move quite a bit when the brake is put on, you could try moving the spokes side disc in (ie away from the spokes). Use a 5mm (sometimes 4 or 3mm depending on make/model, sometimes a torx tool) allen key to turn it in, look from the hub side you should see an allen key slot in line with the brake pad. Sometimes you need to undo a grub screw (1.5 - 2mm allen key) to allow the pad mount to turn on its thead. Sometimes there is no grub screw.
Often at work I come across slack brakes, and the spoke side pad has unscrewed to some (or more!) extent.
That said, it is worth looking up instructions for your particular make/model of brake, not all disc brakes adjust in quite the same way, and some are not as obvious/intuitive as might first appear.

Getting the caliper mount central is quite important, I have seen calipers mounted too close to the spokes, spokes them selves are not the issue, but the arm the cable pull then has to move too far for the brake to work, resulting in the arm running out of internal movement (you then loose all braking) or the arm butts up against the cable adjuster/upper yellow line in the annotated photo, again resulting in no braking.

Before any adjustment, make sure the wheel is central in the forks/dropouts, otherwise the disc might not be in the correct position.
If vertical dropouts/forkends, loosen the wheel QR lever, push down vertically on the handlebars and tighten the QR lever. If vertical drop outs, it is vitally imporant the QR lever is done up tight (the braking force wants to push the wheel out of the dropout.....)
If forward facing dropouts/forkends, loosen the QR lever and push the wheel backwards into the dropouts.

[rjb]

Ive never understood why there is cable adjustment at the caliper when flatbar levers generally have it too. Is this to accommodate drop bar levers, but they may not even be compatible as they pull less cable.
Confused.com

[Steve X]

Thanks all, been over to my friends and can now adjust cable disc Brakes.

[Jdsk]

Well done.

Jonathan