Hey Adam, I've never worked with the Silvers or the Pauls, but I work on a lot of older 80's road bikes and often encounter squishy brakes. Are the levers returning to their position because if not it may be a cable issue, but it doesn't sound like it. Are your wheels out of true? because if so that could keep you from getting the brake pads as close as necessary...
It would be a good idea to get the yokes up as high as you can, but maybe there is still a bit of space between your brake pads and the rim, if that's then case then... what I would try is (and this is easier with 2 people) setting your yokes all the way down, loosening the bolt that holds your brake cable to your Silvers, squeezing the brakes together onto your rims with one hand, and pulling the cable as far as you can with your other hand (easier with a pair of pliers) and then if you can while still pulling the cable retighten the the bolt to your cable... if your wheel can still spin after that, then tighten the yokes until your brakes start rubbing on the rims and then loosen just a bit. A travel agent may do the trick also, but might be unnecessary. Hope this helps, it may be just what I do on the old bikes but with your better equipment, the problem may be as you said with the flexing. Good luck! james (ps. this is my first post, so if it gets past the admins: hello rbw owners, i'm james, i live in st. louis, i work on old bikes a lot and ride a fuji touring series and i like reading and following this group!) -----Original Message----- >From: Adam Kimball <[email protected]> >Sent: Sep 13, 2010 2:21 PM >To: RBW Owners Bunch <[email protected]> >Subject: [RBW] Super-spongy brakes on my AHH - any help? >Wow, I'm not having much luck in the brake department with my new >ride. I set up my Hilsen with Silver brakes and found that they >simply wouldn't stop me - I could have both levers to the tape and >still roll. So, I changed to Paul Racer's on the advice of my LBS and >found that the situation really isn't much better. Here is where my >thinking is at: >* I'm seeing a lot of flex in the brakes themselves and at the cable >hangers. The rear brake is worse than the front (as is usually the >case) but I suspect the inline barrel adjuster and the rear cable >hanger (light-weight aluminum one that hangs of the seat-post bolt) is >flexing too much. >* I've brought the yokes up pretty high - I can get them higher, but >not much. So, I'm not certain this is the problem. >* Brake-pads are the standard black Kool-Stops and I would have to >assume they are not the problem >* My Dura-Ace brake levers are incredibly squishy. This is one piece >of the equation that is common to both setups (Silvers & Racers). The >Racer brakes are indeed short-pull so those road levers should be fine >- but I've suspected them before. >Another mechanic took a look at the brakes and road the bike today. >He agreed that the brakes are massively under performing. He thought >that a "travel agent" might help to pull more cable. He also wanted >to re-cable since I cut the rear cable a little short. He wanted me >to find out if Paul makes a stiffener that attaches to the calipers. >Does anyone have any other ideas for me? I don't have another AHH to >ride, so it is hard for me to know just how bad my brakes are. Keven >at Rivendell didn't think the Racer's are much better than the Silvers >for braking (and he has a pair on his Hilsen) and so he wondered what >the other problem might be. >Any help would be greatly appreciated. >Thanks, >Adam -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
