When I squeeze my rear brake, it’s very slow to spring back. Do I somehow lube the brake cable? I have a Cervelo Dual so it’s internal cabling. Or, do I need to replace the cable? The bike is two years old and has never had the cables replaced.
A sticky brake could be a few things: worn cable, dirty pivots, worn housing etc. You could just try spraying some dry lube (don’t use WD40 as it will just attract dirt) on the brake pivots and where the cable enters the housing. Squeeze the brakes a few times. If you don’t want to bother replacing the cable yourself (super easy to do on non-internal routing), I’d take it a shop. Cables are one the cheapest things to replace on your bike (<$5). I approach them like oil changes for the car, just swap them on a regular basis. Good luck!
1-Go to your LBS and buy a teflon-coated brake cable for $5.
2-Undo the bolt at the brake and remove the cable form the shifter. You’ll have to take a look and figure out how to remove the end inside the shifter, or go online and find it at the mfr’s website.
3-Take a compressor or compressed air can and blow out the cable housing.
4-Drip light-weight chain lube into the cable housing. Hlow into it to get it to drip out the other end. Don’t swallow any lube…
5-Rethread the cable, adjust and tune, and enjoy another year of beautiful braking.
you’re getting alot of different answers because you’re not providing enough info. we need to know whether the spring in the brake caliper is rusted, the brand of brake lever, and whether there is any rust on the cable/housing.
if the brake caliper spring is rusted, changing the cables and housing will do nothing.
and by the way having a non-spring loaded brake lever is not a reason in itself for your problem. The visiontech aero brake levers don’t have springs, and many many pros and amateurs use them just fine.
They are Visiontech Aerobars and the brake housing says “Dia Compe” on it. Not sure if that’s a Vision brand or not. They don’t “appear” to have springs. Jeez, I’m hopeless, but want to learn…
ok… look at the pivot spring on the brake caliper. any rust there? if you manually squeeze the brake onto the wheel with your hand, is it hard to squeeze, and does it release slowly?
by the way dia compe is a brand on its own. those brake levers are pretty bog standard, not great but nothing wrong with them.
Ahh! This is one of my favorite things to fix since it really makes a big difference in how your brakes feel. Here are a few things to consider firstly:
Are you using a brake lever that does not have a return spring? Brake levers such as Dia-Compe 188’s do not use a small spring that assists the lever in returning to the deployed or open position. Some aero brake levers do use a return spring such as Profile and SRAM. The new Shimano Dura-Ace aer brake lever scheduled for release in 2009 will also use a return spring. If your lever does not use a return spring you may want to stay away from brake calipers such as Shimano that are designed speciically for use with Shimano STI dual control levers that do have a powerful return spring. The Shimano calipers are dependant on the powerful return spring in the shift lever/brake lever for them to actuate and de-actuate crisply. Some models of Shimano brake calipers do have an adjustment for brake caliper spring tension but few shops and even fewer consumers know how to use this adjustment. One version of the adjustment, the rotating black block into which the caliper spring is anchored, is very difficult to adjust to the higher spring tension setting (you rotate the black plastic block) and requires a special tool supplied by Shimano. This is why companies like Cervelo and others often spec a higher spring tension brake caliper on their tri bikes when also used with no return spring or weak return spring aero brake levers. If you have no return spring in your brake levers you will need to be extremely particular about your brake cable housing length, end finishing where the housing was cut, ferrules used, internal brake cable routing (especially any stops where the housing stops going into the frame as on Quintana Roo). Be sure your cable hosing lengths are correct: Not too long (excessive loop of cable especially at the rear brake) or too short (housing moves every time you squeeze the lever). When the housing is cut it should be ground flush at a 90 degree angle to the housing itslef at the cut on a fine wheel grinder. Insure the housing end is open by inserting a sharpened awl or sharpened spoke into the opening at the end of the cable housing to for a “funnel” so the inner cable (wire) can slide smottly back and forth at the housing opening when the brakes are actuated/de-actuated. Be sure any housing ends (ferrules) and seated firmly onto the cable housing using a park cable puller tool (Park BT-2) to pull the inner cable firmly through the system once it is assembled but before it is clamped into the brake caliper cbale clamping bolt and adjusted. A good assembly job with the precise cable length and end finishing of the brake cable housing along with the use of the proper ferrules finished off with precise adjustment of the system will give you good brake lever response.
I hope that helps!
Fantastic responses one and all. Thanks for the post guys. I took it to Ladera Cyclery, my LBS, as I had to go for a mountain bike issue with my wife’s bike anyway and asked them to have a look. They seemed to think there was a kink in the cable inside the aerobars, so they’re going to fix that one along with a few other items that needed work. ST rules!
Just had this same problem fixed on my dual. The bend in the basebar is such that the brake cable over time eats its way through the inside of the housing and rubs metal on metal. The first time my brakes were sticky I replaced the cable only. That worked for a short time and then the problem surfaced again. Had the cables and housing replaced and it is back like new. I actually took my bike to my LBS to replace the levers thinking that a spring action lever would fix the problem - they explained the whole bend thing and that it just needed the housing replaced.
Wash the brake with soap and water. That will usually do the trick.
I actually wash my bike about twice a month.