How to Adjust the Brakes on Your Bicycle
Video transcription
Hey, this is Jeff with the Two Wheeler Dealer. Today I'm going to talk with you about how to adjust a set of V brakes. Now first thing to do is to loosen the cable. You're going to do this by pulling this bullet shaped piece out of the holder, like so, and then reach behind these brake arms and remove the return spring--it's just a little clip, pop out like that. This will allow the brake arm to move freely. From there you can go and begin adjusting the alignment of the pads to the rim. That's done with a five millimeter Allen wrench. In the end you loosen it, and while pushing it against the rim, hold it in alignment, make sure it's not hitting the tire, and it's not hanging off the bottom of the rim. And then tighten that back down. Do the same on the other side. Then you can set your cable tension. You do this by clipping that quick release back together. And then, without clipping the return springs back in, loosen this five millimeter pinch bolt that holds the cable. Pull that cable all the way tight so the rims are against the rim--or the pads are against the rim. And then, pull the brake lever back while holding. Allow it to slip through your fingers a little, to about halfway--the point where you want the pads to engage. Release the lever, and set your pinch bolt back tight. At this point you can check and see if that's where you want it. And then you can clip these return springs back up, and squeeze the brake. Make sure that the arms pull evenly, and that they're centered. Both are pulling back away from the rim. If they're not, take a flat screwdriver, and there should be a small screw at the bottom. You can either tighten or loosen these screws depending on which way it needs to go. If you tighten it, it's going to increase the return spring, so it's going to pull it off the rim. Right now this arm is not returning very well. This one's doing all the motion. So I'm going to increase the spring tension on this side to allow it to pull away. Let's give that a couple turns. Check it. That's pretty good right here. They're both returning. They're both pulling evenly. And that's how to adjust a V brake.