??? about incredibly loud breaks

I bought a cheap bike at WalMart today. It was about $60.
Not being much of an enthusiast, I don't intend to spend
much (if any) more for one, but figured a cheap bike would
get me some excercise and provide the basics that a person
would want from a bicycle. In most respects is seems to do
well enough, but the breaks are ***loud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!***!!!!!!. Not
only are they the loudest breaks I've ever heard on a bike,
but they are the loudest breaks I've ever heard on anything!
They are so loud that I won't keep the thing unless they can
be made to shut up. They don't just squeal, they scream with
a whole bunch of different tones going on...to me they sound
like a flock of geese, only a whole lot louder than any geese
could be. If I stopped the bike while going past a house, I feel
sure the people inside would be able to hear it very easily
even if all the doors and windows were closed. Is there a way
to make them shut up?

wrote in message
...
I bought a cheap bike at WalMart today. It was about $60.
Not being much of an enthusiast, I don't intend to spend
much (if any) more for one, but figured a cheap bike would
get me some excercise and provide the basics that a person
would want from a bicycle. In most respects is seems to do
well enough, but the breaks are ***loud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!***!!!!!!. Not
only are they the loudest breaks I've ever heard on a bike,
but they are the loudest breaks I've ever heard on anything!
They are so loud that I won't keep the thing unless they can
be made to shut up. They don't just squeal, they scream with
a whole bunch of different tones going on...to me they sound
like a flock of geese, only a whole lot louder than any geese
could be. If I stopped the bike while going past a house, I feel
sure the people inside would be able to hear it very easily
even if all the doors and windows were closed. Is there a way
to make them shut up?

It might cost more than the $60 you paid for the bike to put quality brakes
and brake pads on it (assuming it's a mountain bike type), adjustment might
help but there's a reason the bike cost $60.

The two main ways of getting rid of brake noise are
getting rid of free play in the brakes and adjusting them
so that the edge of the brake shoe closest to the front
of the bike contacts the rim first.

Grab a brake shoe and try to move it front to back, is
the brake tight, or is it sloppy? Getting rid of that
slop is the first step, but it may not be possible
with a two dollar brake on a sixty dollar bike.

Mitch.

On Sat, 09 Oct 2004 06:45:16 GMT, wrote in message
:

I bought a cheap bike at WalMart today. It was about $60.

I think I can see the source of the problem here...

For comparison, the brakes on my bike retail at $170. Each.

A set of Kool-Stop Salmon brake pads (a cheap and common solution to
squealing and underperforming brakes) is half the entire price you
paid for your bike.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

wrote in message
...
I bought a cheap bike at WalMart today. It was about $60.
Not being much of an enthusiast, I don't intend to spend
much (if any) more for one, but figured a cheap bike would
get me some excercise and provide the basics that a person
would want from a bicycle. In most respects is seems to do
well enough, but the breaks are ***loud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!***!!!!!!. Not
only are they the loudest breaks I've ever heard on a bike,
but they are the loudest breaks I've ever heard on anything!
They are so loud that I won't keep the thing unless they can
be made to shut up. They don't just squeal, they scream with
a whole bunch of different tones going on...to me they sound
like a flock of geese, only a whole lot louder than any geese
could be. If I stopped the bike while going past a house, I feel
sure the people inside would be able to hear it very easily
even if all the doors and windows were closed. Is there a way
to make them shut up?

If you are new to bicycle maintenance, one web site you definitely should
check out is Sheldon Brown's.

You probably need to "toe in" the brakes, and this is covered on this page:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_ta-o.html
Part of this entry is below:

"Good practice in installing brake shoes is to "toe them in", so that the
front part of the shoe hits the rim first. As the brake arm flexes under
real braking, it will permit the whole surface of the brake shoe to engage
the rim.

"Toeing in of brake shoes can also reduce the annoying squeal some brakes
make when in use."

wrote in message . ..
I bought a cheap bike at WalMart today. It was about $60.
Not being much of an enthusiast, I don't intend to spend
much (if any) more for one, but figured a cheap bike would
get me some excercise and provide the basics that a person
would want from a bicycle. In most respects is seems to do
well enough, but the breaks are ***loud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!***!!!!!!. Not
only are they the loudest breaks I've ever heard on a bike,
but they are the loudest breaks I've ever heard on anything!
They are so loud that I won't keep the thing unless they can
be made to shut up. They don't just squeal, they scream with
a whole bunch of different tones going on...to me they sound
like a flock of geese, only a whole lot louder than any geese
could be. If I stopped the bike while going past a house, I feel
sure the people inside would be able to hear it very easily
even if all the doors and windows were closed. Is there a way
to make them shut up?

Probably not . Some brake blocks just seem to shriek. You might
want to have a bike mechanic see if they are properly toed in but you
may have to spend 5-10 dollars and replace the blocks. I had a much
more expensive bike with the same problem and that was the only
solution.

Happy cycling.

John Kane
Perth ON

This is a cross-post reply, so I don't know if anyone has
brought this up in the other replies, but brakes will squeal even on
the best brakes and even when toed-in if they are literally squeaky
clean. As pads break in, they pick up particles of silica from dirt,
and that quiets them down. you can speed up the process by smearing a
little clay-rich (not sandy) mud on their faces. Pottery clay would
probably be ideal, if you can get hold of a little. Some people use
cleanser to get the same effect.


You got to be very careful if you don't know where you're going, because you might not get there.

- Yogi Berra

wrote in message
...

I bought a cheap bike at WalMart today. It was about $60.

I seriously can't imagine how they can produce and sell a bike for $60 and
still make a profit. Granted they make millions of them and they use
Chinese slave labor....but still.

The last time I replaced the tires on my MTB - not expensive tires either -
it cost me $50 for the tires and new tubes.

Just yesterday I went to my LBS to order a replacement casette, chain and
crank set...nearly $150. And these are by no means high end parts.

Cheto

wrote in message
...
I bought a cheap bike at WalMart today.
etc.

What everyone else said, plus this:

It's entirely likely there's something truly fundamentally wrong with the
way the bike was assembled and the brakes installed. Like the pads are
missing, or the brakes are on the wrong side of the fork, or the fork is
backwards, or something else so stupid you probably won't believe it when
you learn what it is. Aside from their innate compromises, *mart bikes are
often assembled by people with no prior experience or training in the task.

Go to one of the sites mentioned, parktool or sheldonbrown, and carefully
compare the photographs of properly-installed brakes to your brakes.

Then think about what else might have been botched in the assembly of your
bike, and ask yourself if it's still a bargain if it's so dangerous you're
afraid to ride it.

RichC

"Cheto" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...

I bought a cheap bike at WalMart today. It was about $60.

I seriously can't imagine how they can produce and sell a bike for $60 and
still make a profit.

They have "full suspension" bikes for that much. Granted, the 'suspension'
is little more than a spring, but to the uninitiated, they look the part.

Pete