How long should caliper brake springs last?

On 2017-07-27 07:08, AMuzi wrote:
On 7/27/2017 8:30 AM, wrote:
On Wednesday, July 26, 2017 at 7:21:03 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 7/26/2017 7:05 PM, Sir Ridesalot wrote:
On Wednesday, July 26, 2017 at 7:40:49 PM UTC-4, sms wrote:
The brakes on my Specialized road bike were not opening all the way
when
releasing the brake levers. At first I thought it was the old brake
cables having corrosion so I replace them, and I also put on a set of
new/used levers, since the springs in the original levers were
weak, but
this wasn't sufficient.

Snipped
How often should I have to replace brake springs. Since this road
bicycle is about 30 years old I figure that the springs do fatigue
over
time.

I think this is what I wanted:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/DIA-COMPE-S-PULL-BRAKE-PART-SPRING-/282571492776?hash=item41ca92cda8:g:LiIAAOSwUFtZaPk c


How often? NEVER! Just unhook each side of the spring from the
caliper arm and then bend the brake spring upwards away from the
caliper arm to increase the tension of the spring and you'd be set
for many more years of use. The shop ripped you off by selling you
new brake calipers you did NOT need.


Right. Besides which the most common problems are dirt/crud
or a bent inner arm.
Dissassemble, clean everything, oil or grease all mating
parts and reassemble such that arms move freely without any
fore/aft slop. Lock adjustment, hook the spring ends in and
you're good for many years.
Bent arms on that class of brake are very easily reshaped.
Hold in aluminum vise jaws, rectify with a crescent wrench
and a straightedge.

Wouldn't you think that after 30 years that it is likely that the
spring is rusted and dragging against itself? If you clean the spring
of it's rust you still have the pitting which reduces the action of
the spring.


In theory maybe but I've never seen that in real life. Rust is ugly but
in terms of % reduction of cross section of a spring, it's meaningless.


I second that. The springs on my 1982 Shimano 600 set feel like they
always did. That bike has seen a lot of miles in hilly areas where I was
in the brakes all the time.

Things do need to be lubed from time to time. I also have to
"de-mud-cake" the works a lot when it hardens after going on dirt roads
in wet weather. Sometimes I take brakes and such apart and brown dried
dust sails to the floor.

--
Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com/