# Brake Lever adjustment



## Erion929 (Jun 10, 2010)

My front brake lever touches the bar when pulled all the way in....how do I adjust it "out" a little? 

The guy who set up my bike said the levers should be set up this way, i.e., so that the lever pulls the brake calipers SLOWLY, all the way to full stopping power, because there is a mechanical advantage that way. In other words, the brakes should NOT engage when you just start pulling the lever. Not doubting this, it's just that the lever goes so far as to touch the bar and it bugs.

~thanks~

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## Mr. Versatile (Nov 24, 2005)

There's probably an adjuster that looks like a plastic wheel just where the cable attaches to the brake. These are called barrel adjusters. Sometimes they have a lock nut against them. Just turn it with your fingers & watch the distance between the brake pad & the rim. Try the lever along the way & when it gets to the place you like you're done. Snug up the lock nut if there is one using your fingers & you're good to go. Personally I don't like to have my brakes too tight. I like a little play because I feel it lets me feel & control the brake more easily.


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## FBinNY (Jan 24, 2009)

Erion929 said:


> My front brake lever touches the bar when pulled all the way in....how do I adjust it "out" a little?
> 
> The guy who set up my bike said the levers should be set up this way, i.e., so that the lever pulls the brake calipers SLOWLY, all the way to full stopping power, because there is a mechanical advantage that way. In other words, the brakes should NOT engage when you just start pulling the lever. Not doubting this, it's just that the lever goes so far as to touch the bar and it bugs.
> 
> ...


Maybe you should exercise your natural skepticism a bit. I'll try to be polite here but what he told you could be described as male bovine excrement. It doesn;t matter when the brake begins to engage, though most experienced riders prefer an absolute minimum dead travel when they first apply the brake.

What does matter is that it should be nearly impossible for the lever to ever touch the bar, since at that point you can't get any more braking power. Would you accept a car if the brake pedal went half way before the brakes started to engage? or one who's pedal pressed all the way to the floor?

I suspect the dealer fed you this line of MBE (BS) because adjusting the brakes close requires that the wheel is aligned well. Poor wheel alignment requires that the brakes are kept looser as yours are.

Adjusting brakes varies type to type, but their all similar that there's a threaded adjusted somewhere between the lever and brake which is turned to tighten the cable, thereby reducing lever travel. A quick search of the internet for "adjusting bicycle brakes" will get you lots of links and then it's only a matter of finding one for your type of brake. You want to get the shoes as close as possible, yet never touch the rim until you want it to. The limiting factor will be the alignment of the wheel, which might have to be improved for a perfect adjustment.


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## Erion929 (Jun 10, 2010)

FBinNY said:


> Maybe you should exercise your natural skepticism a bit. I'll try to be polite here but what he told you could be described as male bovine excrement. It doesn;t matter when the brake begins to engage, though most experienced riders prefer an absolute minimum dead travel when they first apply the brake.
> 
> What does matter is that it should be nearly impossible for the lever to ever touch the bar, since at that point you can't get any more braking power. Would you accept a car if the brake pedal went half way before the brakes started to engage? or one who's pedal pressed all the way to the floor?
> 
> ...



Interesting, indeed, to see different opinions. Just have to say that the guy who adjusted my bike is a nationally known, 50-something yr. old, ex-racer who is VP of the road bike division at Shimano. Maybe it's just the way he likes it, dunno....maybe it's just a personal preference. The rear brake lever is nice, but maybe he overadjusted the front lever and didn't notice it hits the bar.

Thanks for the replies, I should be able to figure that one out....just didn't know what kind of adjuster to look for.

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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

Erion929 said:


> maybe it's just a personal preference.


It pretty much is. There are those who like the feel of instant engagement you get when the pads are as close as possible to the rim. Others (like myself) prefer the lever to _almost_ touch the bar at full-force pull. I seem to be able to modulate my brakes better this way, as well as exert more force on the lever in an emergency situation. But I have small hands, so perhaps that's why.

For what it's worth: people new to the sport test-sqeezing brakes in a bike shop almost always like that hard instant-engagement feel. They mistakenly believe that this is a sign of powerful brakes.


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## FBinNY (Jan 24, 2009)

As I said, the point at which brakes engage doesn't matter, and is subject to personal preference. But however they're adjusted, the lever should never be able to touch the bar except at a force greater than you'd ever use to apply the brakes.

Once the lever touches the bar you are unable to apply any more braking force so you'd never want to see that in use.

Factors that might affect the personal preference in the lever travel range include things like small hands where it's easier to get the fingers wrapped lower for better leverage as in Wim's case. 

OTOH folks that do lots of riding on the hoods usually want minimum travel because it's awkward to press the lever very far.

With aligned wheels there's plenty of room within the working range to adjust the throw to suit ones preference. Read one of the available tutorials so that you know how to adjust the brakes to yours.


BTW- I maybe shouldn't have come down so hard on the mechanic, but I see so many instances where sloppy mechanical work is covered by the "that's the way it's supposed to be" explanation. So if it smells like BS I tend to think it is. If your wheels are aligned well enough so the brakes can easily be adjusted tighter, then it's purely a preference issue.


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## Bridgestone (Sep 6, 2007)

FB is right. Lever should NEVER hit bar. It sounds like it was set up to take advantage of mechanical advantage of a long throw and then the cable stretched.


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## Erion929 (Jun 10, 2010)

Ok, adjusted the throw with the adjusting nut so the braking is a little tighter and no longer comes close to the bars.....gee, that took 12 seconds to figure out :blush2:....should be ready to get my mechanics license by tomorrow . Thanks guys :thumbsup:


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## nhluhr (Sep 9, 2010)

Erion929 said:


> Interesting, indeed, to see different opinions. Just have to say that the guy who adjusted my bike is a nationally known, 50-something yr. old, ex-racer who is VP of the road bike division at Shimano. Maybe it's just the way he likes it, dunno....maybe it's just a personal preference. The rear brake lever is nice, but maybe he overadjusted the front lever and didn't notice it hits the bar.
> 
> Thanks for the replies, I should be able to figure that one out....just didn't know what kind of adjuster to look for.
> 
> **


Hideo Katsuoka (VP, Shimano Bicycle Components Production) and Takashi Toyoshima (VP, Shimano Bicycle Components Engineering) are not internationally known racers but your nationally known racer is full of ****.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Preferences*



FBinNY said:


> most experienced riders prefer an absolute minimum dead travel when they first apply the brake.


Or not. I find that many experienced riders set their brakes up so that the levers almost touch the bars when full pressure is applied. That way you are using the full grip of your hands to modulate the brakes rather than trying to do it with your fingers nearly fully extended.


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## maxxevv (Jan 18, 2009)

Kerry Irons said:


> Or not. I find that many experienced riders set their brakes up so that the levers almost touch the bars when full pressure is applied. That way you are using the full grip of your hands to modulate the brakes rather than trying to do it with your fingers nearly fully extended.


In my experience, its somewhere in between. Really. 

Its important that when I ride, I'm able to bleed off speed as quickly as I can react, such as when I sense a slow down in the peloton. I want the bike to react as quickly as I can tap my brake levers. However, I do not want it to be so close that it becomes a 'on or off' brake system. Where its either locked or no braking. 

Calipers positioned too close poses a different set of issues in that you have almost no feel of the brake response nor can you modulate your brakes enough to bleed speed without locking up accidentally. There's a very good chance of accidental lockup with such a setup as a quick grab may simply mean a flipping front wheel lock. 

On the other extreme, when the calipers are adjusted to have plenty of throw in the levers, it poses the other side of issues in that it takes that fraction of a second longer for me to get a response in the bleeding off of speed from the bike. Making fine control of speed somewhat difficult. And due to the longer pull, the light feathering of the levers cannot be done effectively, making things even more difficult. 

However, in all truthfulness, the type of setup as you described does have its merits and value. Like mentioned, good for people with small hands as the grip leverage is better when your fingers are closer curled up. Its also very useful in long steep descends when you need to spend long periods of time on the brake levers to control your speed. A closer lever pull will require less force, more comfortable and less fatiguing for the hands. Thus, you will feel better coming down a road with loads of steep drops and corners with such a setup. And probably more confident too if it lasts like 20-30 minutes or even more.

So, in general, for most uses, its ( at least in my opinion) something in between a quick and grabby caliper and a pull almost to the end brake lever setup is the best. Either extreme is not really good for general riding.


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## Erion929 (Jun 10, 2010)

nhluhr said:


> Hideo Katsuoka (VP, Shimano Bicycle Components Production) and Takashi Toyoshima (VP, Shimano Bicycle Components Engineering) are not internationally known racers but your nationally known racer is full of ****.



You're off track....on both accounts. Just checked with a friend who has his set up by a local fitter and it's similarly done. It just doesn't hit the bar, but I think mine just got loose at the caliper lever, as it was slightly flipped up.

Kerry Irons also explains the thought, above.

And just to clear the air, my Shimano reference is Wayne Stetina.

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## Kontact (Apr 1, 2011)

In my experience, men's hands are so strong that almost any adjustment will lock up the wheels at speed. Set your brakes where you want, and make sure you have full use of them without being artificially limited by hitting the handlebar. 

As far as setting your brakes loose like this, the dead space before engagement doesn't modulate anything, it just makes the lever into a poor short reach lever. If Shimano meant it to be a short reach lever, they probably wouldn't have built it with all that extra and pointless travel into it. But, again, set it whereever you want, within reason.

I am not 50 or internationally known, however, so...


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

*Strawman.*



Kontact said:


> the dead space before engagement doesn't modulate anything


Am I missing something? No one here claimed that the dead space modulates something.


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## cxwrench (Nov 9, 2004)

nhluhr said:


> Hideo Katsuoka (VP, Shimano Bicycle Components Production) and Takashi Toyoshima (VP, Shimano Bicycle Components Engineering) are not internationally known racers but your nationally known racer is full of ****.


i'm sure you know lots more about shimano brakes than Stetina does


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## nhluhr (Sep 9, 2010)

cxwrench said:


> i'm sure you know lots more about shimano brakes than Stetina does


So you would agree your levers should contact the handlebar? Or is it more likely that the OP made a mistake in his claims? Nobody PROPERLY adjusts a brake so that you can bottom the lever because that is a fundamentally unsafe setup.


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## Erion929 (Jun 10, 2010)

nhluhr said:


> So you would agree your levers should contact the handlebar? Or is it more likely that the OP made a mistake in his claims? Nobody PROPERLY adjusts a brake so that you can bottom the lever because that is a fundamentally unsafe setup.



Relax man, if you read the posts, I found out the little lever for the brake caliper was dislodged a little, which opened up the caliper slightly....that's why the lever started hitting the bar. It wasn't the fault of the setup of the brakes. He didn't set it up to hit the bar. 

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## Kontact (Apr 1, 2011)

wim said:


> Am I missing something? No one here claimed that the dead space modulates something.


No, but it was claimed that the levers don't work as designed. If you read ALL of what I posted, you'll understand that I'm making the point that the lever was designed to work a certain way and there should be no need to add dead travel to the lever throw to make it work correctly. The dead space doesn't serve a purpose, aside from suggesting that you should have purchased a shorter lever if you can't use it as designed. The dead space has no function.

Setting brake levers super loose is the opposite of Zero Loss shifting.


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