Adjusting brakes on a Raleigh

Actually, my bicycle is a Rudge, but Raleigh sounds better ...

A very ignorant question -
should one be able to adjust the front brake "stem",
going down from the handlebars to the brake?
There is a join in the middle, with a little nut and bolt,
but I am not sure if it is meant to be adjustable -
I can't move the two parts together or apart, in any case.

Any suggestions or advice gratefully received.

Also please let me know if this is not an appropriate newsgroup
for this sort of question,
or if there is a better newsgroup of mailing list for ancient bicycles.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail (80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

A very ignorant question -
should one be able to adjust the front brake "stem",
going down from the handlebars to the brake?
There is a join in the middle, with a little nut and bolt,
but I am not sure if it is meant to be adjustable -
I can't move the two parts together or apart, in any case.

I'm assuming that you are talking about rod brakes and stirrup callipers.
Yes the join in the middle is the means of adjustment. One of the rods is
hollow and the solid rod slides inside it. Loosening the adjuster in the
middle allows the rod length to be lengthened or shortened to accommodate
the fitting of new brake blocks or the wear of existing blocks.

Your message is entirely appropriate for this newsgroup.

In article , Timothy Murphy
wrote:
A very ignorant question

not at all

- should one be able to adjust the front
brake "stem", going down from the handlebars to the brake? There is
a join in the middle, with a little nut and bolt, but I am not sure
if it is meant to be adjustable - I can't move the two parts
together or apart, in any case.

Any suggestions or advice gratefully received.

Loosen the nut and put a block of wood between the brake blocks and
the rim - pull the brake lever on hard and the joint should separate.
After that a wee drop of oil and it should be easily adjustable. If
the top pull rod bottoms in the tube part you may have to take it
apart and shorten the top rod.

hth and if you get stuck I might still have some spares left - I am a
magpie :-((

--
A T (Sandy) Morton
on the Bicycle Island
In the Global Village
http://www.millport.net

"vernon" typed


A very ignorant question -
should one be able to adjust the front brake "stem",
going down from the handlebars to the brake?
There is a join in the middle, with a little nut and bolt,
but I am not sure if it is meant to be adjustable -
I can't move the two parts together or apart, in any case.

I'm assuming that you are talking about rod brakes and stirrup callipers.
Yes the join in the middle is the means of adjustment. One of the rods is
hollow and the solid rod slides inside it. Loosening the adjuster in the
middle allows the rod length to be lengthened or shortened to accommodate
the fitting of new brake blocks or the wear of existing blocks.

Your message is entirely appropriate for this newsgroup.


Indeed. Given the age of the bicycle, it's possible that the bolts/rods
have seized up. There'll be somebody along in a minute to suggest how
best to deal with this...

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Sandy Morton wrote:
After that a wee drop of oil

Should be obvious but just in case... take care to keep the oil off the
rims! ;-)

Jon

Sandy Morton wrote:

- should one be able to adjust the front
brake "stem", going down from the handlebars to the brake? There is
a join in the middle, with a little nut and bolt, but I am not sure
if it is meant to be adjustable - I can't move the two parts
together or apart, in any case.

Loosen the nut and put a block of wood between the brake blocks and
the rim - pull the brake lever on hard and the joint should separate.

Thanks very much - I'll try that.

After that a wee drop of oil and it should be easily adjustable. If
the top pull rod bottoms in the tube part you may have to take it
apart and shorten the top rod.

hth and if you get stuck I might still have some spares left - I am a
magpie :-((

Thanks for the offer - hopefully I'll be able to free it.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail (80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Timothy Murphy wrote:

Sandy Morton wrote:
Loosen the nut and put a block of wood between the brake blocks and
the rim - pull the brake lever on hard and the joint should separate.

Thanks very much - I'll try that.

And it worked perfectly.
Tnanks again.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail (80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

In article , Timothy Murphy
wrote:
Loosen the nut and put a block of wood between the brake blocks
and the rim - pull the brake lever on hard and the joint should
separate.

Thanks very much - I'll try that.

And it worked perfectly. Tnanks again.

Nae panic - just a wee pity that I remembered how to do it :-((

--
A T (Sandy) Morton
on the Bicycle Island
In the Global Village
http://www.millport.net