Thread: ok, Toonces...

dude, took her out for her first ride and the squealing brakes just about made my head explode. the ride was fun, but the brakes...oh, the brakes. i toed them in, thinking that might help, but it didn't. then i thought it might be wet rims, so i dried them off, didn't help. any tips?

Hmmmm. Could be caused by a few different things. One, since the setup is new, may need time to break in. Two, since it's been raining, may be wet and/or dirty. Try wiping the rim and brake pads down with acetone on a rag. Three, may just be inherent to those brake pads. I didn't like the plasticky feel of my stock pads so I put in some old Ritchey Red V-brake pads. If it doesn't go away with any of the first two solutions, try swapping the pads to a different kind and test em out.

Don't be alarmed tho. I find that, after riding the MTB with Precision Braking™, the ol BMX feels sloppy, not-so-precise and noisy. It's all part of the game.

If you need parts or anything, let me know. I think I have some spare brake parts and even an entire brakeset. Oh, and one more thing to try: make sure everything is tightened as loose stuff will vibrate and squeel.

lightly buff the brake pads with sandpaper?

yep, did that yesterday...so along with some ride time, 220 sandpaper on the rims and brake pads.....there's no more squeal.

man, so i thought the squeal was gone, but it returned. then, one day i was cleaning the Inbred when i noticed how they were toed in. got curious.....looked at the T1 and it hit me like a ton of bricks.....

i had my brakes toed wrong. man did i feel like a real dumbass.

so now everything is all good. 'cept for my jump that was plowed over