Adjusting hydraulic brakes

Every model of brake works a little differently, making it impossible to cover each and every one comprehensively here. Always keep the instructions which came with your own particular brake and refer to it for detailed instructions relevant to your brake.

The basic principle is the same for all hydraulic brakes, though: the pads need to sit close enough to the rotors to be able to bite swiftly and firmly onto the rotor’s surface when you brake, but they need enough clearance to allow the rotors to pass freely between the pads without slowing the wheel down unnecessarily. It’s fine for rotors to rub a little on the pads. Disc brake pads are much harder than rim brake pads, so a little bit of contact isn’t going to slow you down and light ’scuffing’ at one or two points on the rotor’s rotation isn’t a problem. However, a badly bent rotor or poorly adjusted calliper will cause the pads to rub on the rotor permanently, which will slow you down and…

You're reading a preview of

Bike Maintenance Tips, Tricks & Techniques (Digital) - 1 Issue, Bike Maintenance Tips, Tricks & Techniques 3rd Edition

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.