Bicycle Tutor

http://imgur.com/a/SGOXi#0

I have a bike I've been using for a year that I got for free. Recently the brakes stopped working. I'm a poor-of-the-poor college student majoring in something totally unrelated to bicycle repair and don't know what I'm doing.

The not-well-treated-before-I-got-it bike was a Huffy Stalker (thus why I got it for free). It has no cantilever mounts, thus the adapter plate.

I don't know what I'm doing. The paper instructions are esoteric and now I don't even understand videos online.

Help meeeee. I mean, uh, please.

Right now I have $35 as my spending budget and may or may not get any more for the next few months.

If you'd like the images inline here I can put them in image tags, too.

Hi,

Basically you fit the U shaped part to the standard brake hole at the top of the forks, or on the seat stay bridge, if it's being fitted to the rear, using the long bolt. The V brake arms then fit on the cantilever bosses on the U shaped part, then set up as normal for V brakes.

Brakes can be fiddly to set up if you're not sure what you're doing, do you have any friends or relatives that are cyclists and that might be able to help you out and give you some pointers?

BTW, it looks to me like you have one brake cable and one gear cable in your pictures. Make sure you use the thicker brake cable, not the thinner gear one.

Also, did you get a lever with the kit? V brakes need a specific V brake lever, the pivot is in a different place to other brake levers and if you use a standard brake lever with a V brake it will work, but you have to pull the lever a lot further and it will possibly touch the handlebar before the brake is fully applied.

(Aug 24, 2012 12:18 PM)xerxes Wrote:  Also, did you get a lever with the kit? V brakes need a specific V brake lever, the pivot is in a different place to other brake levers and if you use a standard brake lever with a V brake it will work, but you have to pull the lever a lot further and it will possibly touch the handlebar before the brake is fully applied.

I don't think so. Are you referring to the lever you physically pull? If so, I didn't. Would it be recommended that I invest in those?

(Aug 24, 2012 12:09 PM)DaveM Wrote:  BTW, it looks to me like you have one brake cable and one gear cable in your pictures. Make sure you use the thicker brake cable, not the thinner gear one.

Yeah, I got a cable kit, not just a brake cable. Thanks for clearing up which it was. I was still unsure.

(Aug 24, 2012 11:22 AM)xerxes Wrote:  Hi,

Basically you fit the U shaped part to the standard brake hole at the top of the forks, or on the seat stay bridge, if it's being fitted to the rear, using the long bolt. The V brake arms then fit on the cantilever bosses on the U shaped part, then set up as normal for V brakes.

Am I supposed to remove this part?

EDIT: OH GOD WHAT HAVE I DONE I'M SORRY

edit: removed image tags i dont know what im doing

http://i.imgur.com/npo4F.jpg

(Aug 24, 2012 11:22 AM)xerxes Wrote:  Brakes can be fiddly to set up if you're not sure what you're doing, do you have any friends or relatives that are cyclists and that might be able to help you out and give you some pointers?

I just asked on Facebook, I'll see how that turns out I've been pretty confident with everything I can find on video, but I don't know why my adapter plate seems to have nowhere for the v-brake "nubs" down by the hinge point, mentioned here at 1:47.

Quote:Am I supposed to remove this part?

Yes, remove that and use the one with the kit, the long bolt shown at the bottom right of your fist picture.

Quote:I don't think so. Are you referring to the lever you physically pull?

Yes, the lever that fits on the handlebar:



With regard to the "nubs", did you buy this as a complete kit? Looking at your original pictures, the U shaped bracket, has no holes to fit the "nub" into. Also, that U bracket isn't long enough, for V brakes the pivot point is well bellow the rim, whereas that U bracket will be too short, look at the one in the video, it's much longer.

(Aug 25, 2012 03:23 AM)xerxes Wrote:  With regard to the "nubs", did you buy this as a complete kit?

No - the brakes were one kit, the cables were another kit, I ordered the plate from Dans Comp (after I had the rest) when a cyclist suggested it, and I already had these tools.

(Aug 25, 2012 03:23 AM)xerxes Wrote:  Looking at your original pictures, the U shaped bracket, has no holes to fit the "nub" into. Also, that U bracket isn't long enough, for V brakes the pivot point is well bellow the rim, whereas that U bracket will be too short, look at the one in the video, it's much longer.

Ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff.

Yeah.

Dans Comp is probably the Worlds Greatest online resource for BMX bike parts! And they do BMX parts very well. BUT - that's ALL they do.
Hard to tell by the discussion but, it sounds to me as if you accidentally ordered a U-Brake kit? As differant as a Zebra and a Tiger even though both are striped.

(Aug 25, 2012 06:37 PM)RobAR Wrote:  Dans Comp is probably the Worlds Greatest online resource for BMX bike parts! And they do BMX parts very well. BUT - that's ALL they do.
Hard to tell by the discussion but, it sounds to me as if you accidentally ordered a U-Brake kit? As differant as a Zebra and a Tiger even though both are striped.

Yeah, I've just ordered my V-brake plate. It should be here in time for next week's classes. Hopefully that's all I end up needing.

I have to decide whether to keep or return my U-brake plate now. It's rather inexpensive relative to its weight, so shipping might be killer.

No worries we all get excited and made mistakes like sometime in our life. Always use the extra plate for a practice Horse Shoe

I found this: http://www.danscomp.com/products-PARTS-BRAKEACCESS/489051/V-Brake_Plate.html

It's much longer than you're original, it has the holes for the "nub" on the brake arms and it also has two slots on the lower part of the "U" so that you can tie it to the fork legs/seat stays. I think you're supposed to use hose clips, like this: