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#1
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How long should caliper brake springs last?
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. Went to a bike shop this morning and the shop was closed but the service area had an open door and I asked the mechanic about replacement springs. These are for Dia-Compe Edge brakes that came with the bicycle, circa 1987. The mechanic told me to just replace the brake set. I ended up buying a set of Ultegra 6800 calipers from him, with pads, that he had taken off a bicycle where the owner was upgrading. At first he wanted to sell me the whole Ultegra group for $300, which had a FC-6703 triple crank, but he sold me the brakes only, for $50. This is a much better brakeset than the original, but really I only needed the springs, I was just in a hurry. 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 |
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#2
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How long should caliper brake springs last?
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. Cheers |
#3
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How long should caliper brake springs last?
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. -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org/ Open every day since 1 April, 1971 |
#4
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How long should caliper brake springs last?
On 7/26/2017 7:40 PM, sms wrote:
Since this road bicycle is about 30 years old I figure that the springs do fatigue over time. Sorry, you're wrong. You probably had a grungy pivot. -- - Frank Krygowski |
#5
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How long should caliper brake springs last?
On 7/26/2017 10:36 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 7/26/2017 7:40 PM, sms wrote: Since this road bicycle is about 30 years old I figure that the springs do fatigue over time. Sorry, you're wrong. You probably had a grungy pivot. #1 reason for spring replacement is aesthetic = flaking chrome, rust etc not dysfunction. -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org/ Open every day since 1 April, 1971 |
#6
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How long should caliper brake springs last?
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. |
#7
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How long should caliper brake springs last?
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#8
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How long should caliper brake springs last?
On Thursday, July 27, 2017 at 7:08:07 AM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 7/27/2017 8:30 AM, wrote: 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. Well, I haven't seen the spring reduced in spring power, but I have seen it drag against itself so much that it effectively reduced the spring pressure. But perhaps I've seen a whole lot more junk than you have. People aren't going to bring equipment like that to a mechanic. |
#9
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How long should caliper brake springs last?
On Wednesday, July 26, 2017 at 8:36:13 PM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 7/26/2017 7:40 PM, sms wrote: Since this road bicycle is about 30 years old I figure that the springs do fatigue over time. Sorry, you're wrong. You probably had a grungy pivot. That's what the man said. All those darts and mustangs you saw in the 70's with their asses sagging didn't get that way because of gravity over time, they got that way by hitting a speedbump while heavily loaded. |
#10
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How long should caliper brake springs last?
On 7/27/2017 7:08 AM, AMuzi wrote:
snip 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. The spring is not rusty. But it pops out with no effort, it's just not springy anymore. It seems to be fatigued. The brake sets are cleaned and lubed. I may still order some springs to use these brakes on another road bike which has lower quality brakes. If I were in Wisconsin, I'm sure that AMuzi would have the springs in stock, but the shops in Silicon Valley have little interest in stocking and selling little parts like this. |
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