How much play should your wheel have between brake pads?

[novice]

I have about 5 mm on both my wheels.

[Marz]

novice wrote:
> I have about 5 mm on both my wheels.

That means you've got to pull a cm of cable before you make contact
with the rims which sounds like alot. I used to set my rim brakes up by
unscrewing the cable adjustment nut at the brake lever out by 2 thirds,
setting the pads to be touching the rims so I can make sure they're
centred nicely on the rim, pulling the cable tight through the v-brake
and then slowly screwing in the adjustment nut at the brake lever until
the wheel spins freely. I'd have about a mm of space between pad and
rim. Only works if you rims are straight and true.

Laters,

Marz

[Art Harris]

novice wrote:

> How much play should your wheel have between brake pads?
> I have about 5 mm on both my wheels.

I think you mean the space between the pad and the rim. Depends on the
type of bike and type of brake. For a road bike with dual pivot brake
calipers, you need to have the pads pretty close to the rim so that the
brake lever doesn't bottom out against the handlebar when braking hard.
I think a 5 mm gap between the pad and rim is excessive. On the other
hand, a 1 mm gap might cause the brake pad to drag when climbing hard,
or if the wheel is slightly out of true.

Give us some more info on what equipment you're using.

Art Harris

[[email protected]]

I set em up somewhere between the point where they don't rub the rim
and where I can jam as hard as is useful on the lever without bottoming
out. Don't need no fancy formulas. If you can't get them to work in
that in between spot, check the trueness of the wheel, and then check
rest of setup (housings seating properly etc...).

[Werehatrack]

On 7 Apr 2006 00:36:07 -0700, "novice" > wrote:

>I have about 5 mm on both my wheels.

Generally; you want just enough that the wheel doesn't rub, so that
the lever motion prior to brake engagement is minimized, subject to
increase according to the rider's preference.
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[novice]

Sorry, but I meant how far should you be able to move the wheel. my
wheel moves 5mm to the left or right.i can have the wheel right next to
the brake pad and then move the wheel about 5mm away from brake pad
with brake pads stationary.

[Werehatrack]

On 7 Apr 2006 12:27:28 -0700, "novice" > wrote:

>Sorry, but I meant how far should you be able to move the wheel. my
>wheel moves 5mm to the left or right.i can have the wheel right next to
>the brake pad and then move the wheel about 5mm away from brake pad
>with brake pads stationary.

That's play in the bearings, and *that* much is way too much. If you
can feel play in the bearings out at the rim, you need to adjust the
cones. It's probably worthwhile to clean, inspect and grease the
cones, cups and bearing balls at the same time. I suspect that you're
going to discover that the cones are pitted.
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[Hank Wirtz]

"novice" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Sorry, but I meant how far should you be able to move the wheel. my
> wheel moves 5mm to the left or right.i can have the wheel right next to
> the brake pad and then move the wheel about 5mm away from brake pad
> with brake pads stationary.
>

You really shouldn't have any. The wheel flexes a little, but your bearings
are probably loose.

Try this:
http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=105

Skip down to the section on 'Bearing Adjustment and "Feel"'

Hope that helps

-HW

[Mark Hickey]

"novice" > wrote:

>Sorry, but I meant how far should you be able to move the wheel. my
>wheel moves 5mm to the left or right.i can have the wheel right next to
>the brake pad and then move the wheel about 5mm away from brake pad
>with brake pads stationary.

My bet is that you have wheels with pressed-in bearings. With
cup-and-cone bearings in most "normal" wheels, lateral play tends to
be VERY limited (assuming proper adjustment), and can be adjusted out
if it does develop - though it would take a HUGE amount of wear to
produce 5mm of "slop").

I remember a buddy who had an older pair of Spinergy wheels. I asked
him if he had any problems with the lateral "slop". He didn't know
what I was talking about... til he was horrified to see me wiggle his
rear rim around like it wasn't connected to the bike. ;-)

If your wheels have pressed-in bearings, there really isn't any way to
eliminate the lateral play other than having new bearings pressed in.
If they're traditional cup-and-cone bearings, they can easily be
adjusted.

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame

[novice]

Thanks. There is a nut that you tighten that tightens the bearings. I
guess I will inspect the bearings. I recently replaced the hub because
bearings went . I didnt really know how tight to make things.

[Phil, Squid-in-Training]

novice wrote:
> Thanks. There is a nut that you tighten that tightens the bearings. I
> guess I will inspect the bearings. I recently replaced the hub because
> bearings went . I didnt really know how tight to make things.

I'm not sure, but I think that if the bearings are adjusted right, the wheel
should spin or something.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training