I find mine sometimes locks up if I've been riding on wet or damp roads, just a small amount of grit is enough to stop it from releasing. Obviously the positioning of the brake close to the road surface has a lot to do with this, and the grit is hard to remove without actually getting in there and wiping it off.

I gave my brake an overhaul recently. Just took it out, cleaned it, and also took the return spring/bar cresent shape thing (whatever it is called), bent it to more of a half-cresent shape, then put it back in. Opening this up should help it return a lot better. It's been magic ever since. Taking the return out also opens it up a lot more for cleaning. Give it a crack!

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http://www.josh-amberger.com/

What did u end up doing to fix the problem, I tried bending the spring, but it seems like it's the cable not wanting to return into the housing. It's my second cable. It's doing it on my ia and my wife's ia.

Contact Ron Schmid at Frazier bikes frazier mi. at 586 294 4070. It took him quite a while to solve the problem. That was in oct. have many miles on the bike down here in florida no problems

Do you know what he did?

not exactly but it did he did use one of shimano's most expensive cables

99% of the time it is cable housing related.
When that is not the issue, be certain the brake wasn't compressed fully by hand as it could set the spring. Be sure the spring "tips" are ~94mm apart when relaxed.
Ensure the brake roller/trolly is clean and dry in the track.

-SD

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https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

Not IA but had that on my road bike after brake upgrade.
The housing was about half inch to long for the new brake which lead to the probs you mention.
Once shortened to the right length, so being more straight than slightly bented, helped 100%

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-shoki

can you fit a eebrake on the rear of a IA?

It is possible without the rear brake cover installed and using linkage cable housing I presume. It is not a task I'd take on without the resources of a bicycle fabrication facility.
-SD

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https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

With the cam surface on my brake arms there's a couple sections where the finish has started to come off. Is there anything that can be applied to them to add back the finish in those areas?

It's occurred from grit getting into them riding in the occasional rainy weather which unfortunately is unavoidable where I live.

Keep chain lube on the rollers and dry lube on the slider and arms.
The wear items are also replaceable if needed.

-SD

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https://www.kickstarter.com/...bike-for-the-new-era

Great, I'll give that a try. Thanks Dave.

I had the same problem and noticed that it didn't happen when the aero brake cover was removed. I tried with aero cover on but loosened slightly. Fixed it for me. Cover is still secure.

I put a shim on each bolt of the fairing and that gave it just enough clearance to not hinder the brake. Without the shims, when tightened down the fairing pushes on the brake. This in turn does not let it fully release

I am in Boulder, CO this week, brought my 4 week old Felt IA4 to ride. It has rained everyday and they have more sand/grit here than every beach in Florida, Texas, California combined. My front and back brakes have locked up. Back is worse than front. Took it to a local shop to have them fix (replace cables/housing). To me this shouldn't happen period. A bike is meant to be ridden, in pretty much any condition, yet the first days it meets rain and sand, it locks up.

I guess my question is that is it the rain/sand/grit or were the brake cables/housing bent or not installed correctly? Is the new Shimano $20 cable/housing the answer?

Sorry for the rant, I do really love the Felt IA bike, it rides great, just pi$$ed that I have to take it in for service already.

I've had my IA FRD for a year + and I have the same EXACT issues you have. Rain especially causes havoc w my rear brake. Cable housing is not the issue I have found.

Seems like gunk and sand and moisture get inside the rear brake housing and the brakes lock up. Local shop removed the rear brake cover and cleaned it out which helped but I do my best to avoid the rAin. Stinks but that's the way it is it seEmS

We tried to install dura ace brakes but the felt brakes are proprietary and nothing else can be installed.

After returning from florida in may I got caught in a couple michigan rains and the rear brake lock up again. Took it all apart cleaned everything still locking up. Back to Fraizer bike they tried everything including ordering new parts [slider ,spring] still did not work right. Finally I asked them to borrow a whole rear brake off one of the Felts on their showroom floor. Fixed...... now I do not know if my brake was bad from the start and they got it to work by luck the first time..............but with the brake detached from the cable it did not work right. I am hoping the whole new brake solved the problem. I have not had any problems with my front brake [knock on wood] Once the brake starts locking up the only way to free it with the cover on is to bounce the rear wheel on the pavement and do not use the rear brake

1) My LBS just got a stronger spring from felt... that helped a bit.
2) After rain last weekend, I had the same thing. one thing we noticed is that there is a fair amount of friction coming from the metal arch that goes on top of the pivot arms. We made sure to clean that out (and things got better). For now there is a little grease, but next up is finding an appropriate delrin washer to sit between those two parts. I think that should give it a smoother surface.

I should mention, Im still not perfect yet... but slowly getting better. Also, Im curious about seeing if the bontrager direct mounts would fit... they seem narrower than the shimano

So, on their highest-end triathlon bike, Felt has fitted a proprietary rear brake that is difficult to adjust and set up, is liable to gunk up in inclement weather, and then (!) fitted it under the chain stays so it gunks up faster and more often??

Has the world gone completely barmy? Aren't brakes a fundamental safety item?

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´Get the most aero and light bike you can get. With the aero advantage you can be saving minutes and with the weight advantage you can be saving seconds. In a race against the clock both matter.´

BMANX

Brakes should be moved away from the bottom bracket and put back on the seat tube like the Venge

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

x2... it is just a PITA to work with those brake and if something goes wrong on race day then u are pretty much fucked

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

On my local group ride, the rider in front of me had a rear brake on the bottom bracket. It was interesting to watch how close the wheel came to the brake pads as the wheel flexed a bit. It just seems like a terrible place for a brake. Chris Yu at Specialized mentioned the airflow accelerates under the bottom bracket and a bottom bracket brake may not be as aero as people once thought. Not only that, with their wheel flex measurements, they pretty much confirmed that it's a terrible place for a brake.

Industry designers reading this thread....please move the brakes

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

don't get me going with my shiv bottom bracket brake... PITA x100000000000000

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

Under the BB brake on the Speed Concept 9 (2012 model in my case) seems to work great, but there is a pretty big cover that fits over it to protect it.. :)