Rail-trail riders and V-brakes seen today.

it was about 70F here today and a lot of people were on the trails and there were swarms of bicyclists out too. I did a 60 miles ride on one of the rail-trails today and i noticed something again about a lot of people that have bicycles with V-brakes. that something is that a lot of these casual riders have no idea at all on how to adjust their V-brake to stop it from rubbing. What they do when a V-brake starts to rub is disconnect it! I adjusted 7 riders V-brakes today. Six of those were just a simple matter of adjusting the spring tension via the adjusting bolts on the side of the V-brake caliper. The other one was a case of the brake pads have been set too low and a lip forming at the bottom of the pad and the lip catching on the rim. That's just the ones i saw. i often wonder just how many V-brake equipped bicycles out there are being ridden with a V-brake disconnected because of a brake pad rubbing.

Cheers

On 4/16/2016 1:43 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
it was about 70F here today and a lot of people were on the trails and there were swarms of bicyclists out too. I did a 60 miles ride on one of the rail-trails today and i noticed something again about a lot of people that have bicycles with V-brakes. that something is that a lot of these casual riders have no idea at all on how to adjust their V-brake to stop it from rubbing. What they do when a V-brake starts to rub is disconnect it! I adjusted 7 riders V-brakes today. Six of those were just a simple matter of adjusting the spring tension via the adjusting bolts on the side of the V-brake caliper. The other one was a case of the brake pads have been set too low and a lip forming at the bottom of the pad and the lip catching on the rim. That's just the ones i saw. i often wonder just how many V-brake equipped bicycles out there are being ridden with a V-brake disconnected because of a brake pad rubbing.


Huh that's unusual.

I would have guessed many would have the front wheel not
centered and/or QR unlocked.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Saturday, April 16, 2016 at 3:35:18 PM UTC-4, AMuzi wrote:
On 4/16/2016 1:43 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
it was about 70F here today and a lot of people were on the trails and there were swarms of bicyclists out too. I did a 60 miles ride on one of the rail-trails today and i noticed something again about a lot of people that have bicycles with V-brakes. that something is that a lot of these casual riders have no idea at all on how to adjust their V-brake to stop it from rubbing. What they do when a V-brake starts to rub is disconnect it! I adjusted 7 riders V-brakes today. Six of those were just a simple matter of adjusting the spring tension via the adjusting bolts on the side of the V-brake caliper. The other one was a case of the brake pads have been set too low and a lip forming at the bottom of the pad and the lip catching on the rim.. That's just the ones i saw. i often wonder just how many V-brake equipped bicycles out there are being ridden with a V-brake disconnected because of a brake pad rubbing.


Huh that's unusual.

I would have guessed many would have the front wheel not
centered and/or QR unlocked.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

Hi Andrew.

It's not that unusual on the cheaper poorly setup/adjusted department store bikes I see arond here.

One department store I was in had a bicycle repair stand set up at the rear of the bicycles aisle. The guy working on bicycles had no wrenches per se but was using an adjustable wrench and a vice-grp type pliers for most of the assembly or adjustments. A LOT of the quick releases on the front wheel had been set up as if the lever was a long wingnut. If the brakes were hard to center they were just left uncentered. I shudder to think what'd happen with some of these bike if the purchaser rode them without having them looked over by someone who knew how to set up a bicycle properly. Then again, I suppose that such bikes bring you a lot of business?

Cheers

On Saturday, April 16, 2016 at 1:43:57 PM UTC-5, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
i often wonder just how many V-brake equipped bicycles out there are being ridden with a V-brake disconnected because of a brake pad rubbing.



I suspect all types of brakes are poorly adjusted on bikes ridden by non mechanical cyclists. If cars required constant adjusting and tuning like bikes seem to require, I would guess we would have a flourishing public transportation system all over the country. Once you get beyond changing filters and fluids, how many people work on their cars? Taking the front wheel of a bicycle off is analogous to removing the front wheel of a car and disconnecting and rehooking the brakes. How many people can do that? Rotating tires is a foreign concept to many. Changing oil and filter is also unknown to many.

On Sat, 16 Apr 2016 15:11:23 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Saturday, April 16, 2016 at 1:43:57 PM UTC-5, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
i often wonder just how many V-brake equipped bicycles out there are being ridden with a V-brake disconnected because of a brake pad rubbing.



I suspect all types of brakes are poorly adjusted on bikes ridden by non mechanical cyclists. If cars required constant adjusting and tuning like bikes seem to require, I would guess we would have a flourishing public transportation system all over the country. Once you get beyond changing filters and fluids, how many people work on their cars? Taking the front wheel of a bicycle off is analogous to removing the front wheel of a car and disconnecting and rehooking the brakes. How many people can do that? Rotating tires is a foreign concept to many. Changing oil and filter is also unknown to many.

To a large extent you are correct, but this isn't really a new thing.
I really can't remember very many people that changed their own oil
and filters, or rotated their tires either.

For one thing you get your hands dirty and secondly whatever are you
going to do with that pan full of dirty oil? Your wife will get really
excited if you pour it down the kitchen drain :-)

But even more important it is really so cheap to have someone change
your oil for you. In fact there are places not far from my house that
will change oil and filter free, assuming that you buy the oil and
filter from them and the cost of the oil and filter will be just about
what you would pay at any shop in town.

Drive in, sit in an air conditioned lounge, drink free coffee and
watch the TV and 20 minutes later you drive away.

Over here people don't even wash their bicycle. They take it to the
shop and pay about $3.00 to have it done for them. Nor can they clean
and lube a chain, change a tire or as Sir says, adjust the brakes.
--

Cheers,

John B.

On 17/04/16 00:11, wrote:
On Saturday, April 16, 2016 at 1:43:57 PM UTC-5, Sir Ridesalot
wrote:
i often wonder just how many V-brake equipped bicycles out there
are being ridden with a V-brake disconnected because of a brake
pad rubbing.



I suspect all types of brakes are poorly adjusted on bikes ridden by
non mechanical cyclists. If cars required constant adjusting and
tuning like bikes seem to require, I would guess we would have a
flourishing public transportation system all over the country.

As opposed to a national network of car repair garages and roadside
assistance organisations?

Once you get beyond changing filters and fluids, how many people work
on their cars? Taking the front wheel of a bicycle off is analogous
to removing the front wheel of a car and disconnecting and rehooking
the brakes. How many people can do that? Rotating tires is a
foreign concept to many.

Given even Walmart bikes are QR that simply isn't true. It doesn't
require a jack, a specialist wrench and a bleed kit plus fluids. It
requires a hand. Admittedly the average person has less than one, but
still.

Changing oil and filter is also unknown to
many.

This is true, and ime, even calling out roadside repair services to
change a tyre. Even if you have a spare. How many cars come with a
spare these days?

http://goo.gl/DnLGlO

On 4/17/2016 1:49 PM, Phil W Lee wrote:
" considered Sat,
16 Apr 2016 15:11:23 -0700 (PDT) the perfect time to write:

On Saturday, April 16, 2016 at 1:43:57 PM UTC-5, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
-snippy snip-

I remember once helping out a mate who'd assembled a car from parts
and found he had five reverse and one forward gear - want to guess
what the problem was?


Reversed cam from an aircraft engine?

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Sunday, April 17, 2016 at 3:28:16 PM UTC-4, AMuzi wrote:
On 4/17/2016 1:49 PM, Phil W Lee wrote:
" considered Sat,
16 Apr 2016 15:11:23 -0700 (PDT) the perfect time to write:

On Saturday, April 16, 2016 at 1:43:57 PM UTC-5, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
-snippy snip-

I remember once helping out a mate who'd assembled a car from parts
and found he had five reverse and one forward gear - want to guess
what the problem was?


Reversed cam from an aircraft engine?

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

too much Molson's n cheese at 45 degrees

On Sun, 17 Apr 2016 19:49:11 +0100, Phil W Lee
wrote:

" considered Sat,
16 Apr 2016 15:11:23 -0700 (PDT) the perfect time to write:

On Saturday, April 16, 2016 at 1:43:57 PM UTC-5, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
i often wonder just how many V-brake equipped bicycles out there are being ridden with a V-brake disconnected because of a brake pad rubbing.



I suspect all types of brakes are poorly adjusted on bikes ridden by non mechanical cyclists. If cars required constant adjusting and tuning like bikes seem to require, I would guess we would have a flourishing public transportation system all over the country. Once you get beyond changing filters and fluids, how many people work on their cars? Taking the front wheel of a bicycle off is analogous to removing the front wheel of a car and disconnecting and rehooking the brakes. How many people can do that? Rotating tires is a foreign concept to many. Changing oil and filter is also unknown to many.

Rotating the tyres is a stupid thing to do on almost all vehicles -
it's a make-work job created by people who like to boast of how much
work they do on their cars, and serves no useful purpose whatsoever.
If your tyres don't wear evenly on all wheels, you should fix the
reason why they don't (tyre pressure or tracking, generally), not swap
them around to disguise the problem. Many modern tyres are both
front/rear specific and directional, so cannot be safely swapped
around at all.

Actually it is/was a requirement that is/was set forth in many car
manufacturer's user manuals :-) I believe that my wife's Honda Jazz
manual calls for tires to be "rotated".


Oil and filters are generally changed more easily and at least as
inexpensively by taking the car to one of the many quick service shops
set up for the purpose - by buying in bulk, they can offer prices
including labour which are similar to what you'd pay just for the oil
and filter if you did it yourself. About the only things left that
you can do yourself are tyre pressures, wiper blades and air filter,
and sometimes (if it still has them) replacing failed light bulbs.
Cars are just not designed to be home-maintainable any more.
You need the dealer diagnostic computer to reset the in-car computer
just to tell it the work has been done, or it will complain that it
hasn't and go into "limp-home" mode when it reaches the time or
distance that it has been told that service item is supposed to have
been done.
You'll be hard put to find any service or repair job that I haven't
done on a car or motorcycle, in the days it was possible to do so
without investing in a full dealer service computer.
Come to that, I've done many of those repairs on heavy trucks, too,
and where allowed, on aircraft.
I would not expect the average user to be able to panel-beat an
respray their car, nor to be able to change many drivetrain or
suspension components.
I remember once helping out a mate who'd assembled a car from parts
and found he had five reverse and one forward gear - want to guess
what the problem was?

Easy. A bloke who didn't know exactly what he was doing :-)
--

Cheers,

John B.