Home >> Toys >> Bicycles

How to Adjust the Brakes on Your Bicycle By Hand

Riding a bicycle makes a good physical workout and is a great way to get around, but a rider must make occasional adjustments to his bike. Brakes in particular need attention; pads wear out and cables stretch. However, brake adjustment is simple enough that fine-tuning can be done on the road without tools, and a major adjustment can be done with only a few basic tools.

Things You'll Need

Wrenches
Vise-grip pliers

Instructions

Inspection
- 1
  Inspect the brake pads. They should have plenty of padding on them, and the material should have some give when you press with your thumbnail. If the brake pads are hardened from age or are worn down, you should replace them.
- 2
  Squeeze the brake levers. The braking action should be smooth; if not, the cables need to be lubricated or replaced.
- 3
  Check that the brake pads are properly aligned. They should squeeze together onto the wheel rim. If not, loosen them with a wrench and raise or lower them on the caliper. When they're properly positioned, tighten them.
Adjustment
- 4
  
  Brake adjustment can be done with simple--or no--tools.
  
  Look at the brake levers on the handlebars. There will be a barrel-shaped adjustment bolt where the brake cable joins the lever, with a locknut to keep the adjustment bolt in place. With your fingers or a wrench, loosen the nut.
- 5
  Turn the adjustment bolt. Most likely, you will need to screw the bolt away from the bolt (counterclockwise) to tighten the cable. Every so often as you're doing this, squeeze the lever. The wheel is properly aligned when the clearance between both brake pads and the wheel rim--when you're not braking--is about the thickness of a nickel.
- 6
  When you are satisfied with your adjustment, tighten the locking nut. Then repeat the procedure on the other brake.
- 7
  If the brakes are so seriously out of adjustment that you can't improve it at the lever, you will need to reposition the cable at the caliper. First, readjust the handlebar lever adjustment bolt clockwise, nearly all the way.
- 8
  Use the vise-grip pliers to clamp the free end of the cable, as close to the caliper as you can. You'll find this end of the cable where it bolts in to the caliper--you will see some trailing cable. Carefully loosen the bolt.
- 9
  Squeeze the calipers with your hand and use the vise-grip pliers to pull on the free end of the cable. When it's taut, tighten the bolt hard--you don't need any slipping here.
- 10
  Adjust the brakes at the handlebar levers again, as in Steps 1 and 2.
- 11
  Test the bike on a level driveway or in a parking lot.

Bicycles