Sorry, to take this old post, but seems more right than create a new one for the same problem.

I have tried everything from this post, and use the best suited brake levers commented here, but i just cant tune this brake and work with it.

Some years forward, does anyone find another brake system (caliper), that can work with this frame???

I just adore this frameset, but the rear brake takes me to hell and back :)

thank you in advance.

To get the brake right

I took the crank off to get as much room to work on the brakes as I could.
I took the arms off, cleaned them up and lightly greased the pivot points.
I put the springs back into the holes that gave the most tension.
I backed off the spring adjustment set screws as far back as I could but still contacted the spring.
I replaced the brake levers with Dura Ace levers.
With the crank off I would feel the tension each arm had and tried to make them as close to eachother as I could. I used a force gauge but could have done it by hand.
I ran new cable and housing to the noodle.
I installed an inline adjuster for the brake so I can release the tension to change the rear wheel.
I replaced the noodle with a new one as mine had a bad liner.
While running the housing to the brake, I made sure that there is nothing holding the housing from moving around.
With the bike upside down and the rear wheel in, I put in new brake pads (Jagwire Salmon) and adjusted them for the correct angle and tow.
I adjusted the spring set screws to even the gap between the rim and pads on both sides.
Tested for operation many times.
Put crank back together and looked for interference between the right brake arm and crank when loosened up with inline adjuster.

Hope this helps.

I actually just washed and recabled mine last week. It was a bit annoying but not bad. Mine was so dirty that I understood why the brake didn't move much. Make sure you clean it well then also make sure the spring is the right way. I believe the longer side should be going in to the brake and shorter side into the holes ini the frame. Then I just had to fiddle to see which of the holes to put the spring in for the best fit for both sides. It was still a bit annoying but not as bad as it was the first time I did it.

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Everything is second to brake levers with the right leverage ratio. In this case Shimano DA. It is unacceptable that felt sold this frame with the wrong levers, such as trp or SRAM.

I’ve always thought that the rear brake lever was just wrong for the brake. The rear brake being a class 2 lever needs more cable pull than the front brake which is class 1 lever. I accept that I ride a triathlon bike that has 1 good brake and one barely adequate brake. I brake early and keep my weight way back and races turn out alright. I suppose one day I will replace this bike but it is only 2nd or 3rd on my “to buy list.” So it could be a while.

This really is the major fault of this frame.
Is there another caliper that can work on this frame?
A double pivot one?

It would be nice if we could take the rear brake off the felt ar and use it on the DA.

Just purchased a used Felt DA4 with this brake setup. I noticed one of the fine adjustment screws is missing. Doesn't anyone know the size / part number of the screw so I can replace it?

I know this was posted years ago, but thank you oceanlife! You just saved me a lot of trouble with my first DA build!

Isn't directed to you Rock but I am looking to replace my rear brake pads on my DA. Will any pad fit the brakes or do I need to be searching for something in particular? Any recommendations for good pads. I only have aluminum brake tracks on all my wheels.

Fuzzy,

When I first set up my brake I replaced the stock Felt pads with SwissStop BXP Flash Pro pads, which turned out to be thicker than the stock Felt pads. It is a pretty tight fit using those pads with my HED Jet Plus (aluminum track) wheels. It's tight enough that I'm considering putting the stock Felt pads back on just to give me more wiggle room when adjusting the brake (I might also have some spacers that can be removed but I'm not sure, that's a project for this weekend actually). Otherwise just make sure to get pads that fit Shimano/SRAM brakes.

I use the Jagwire Salmon or Black pads. If I had standard Shimano ones on hand I'd have used those. This is using the stock Felt DA4 wheels or HED Jets (C2). I had to let a little bit of cable out for the Jets though.

Getting the spacing right is definitely a job.

Thanks for the information! Yea looks like from both responses I should stick with a basic shimano pad. Once I did a small adjustment to the springs I've had good luck with adjusting the brakes as needed for my two different wheel sets.