Does anyone know how to tighten the brakes on a bicycle without going to the shop?

Question

Does anyone know how to tighten the brakes on a bicycle without going to the shop?

Answer 1

First, look to make sure that your wheel is rather straight. Look at where the wheel goes under the pads and check for deviation. A little is okay, but not much.

The pads should be equidistant from the wheel. You can adjust that but tightening or loosening the screws at the bottom of the brakes, under the binding post. Make sure you brake and release slowly after each adjustment. When they are equidistant, check that they aren't too far from the wheel, otherwise your brake lever will need a lot of travel before the pads are squeezed against the wheel and it won't work well. You can loosen the s***w where your cable is secured to the brake arms, pull slightly on the cable and rescrew. Brake and release slowly to check and retry if it still needs adjustment.

Adjusting brakes can be annoying, but it's not very complicated and you will get better with time. You shouldn't have to go to the shop for that though, unless your wheel is irregular.