I've got some on the rear only and I want to vent.

I can't balance them.

When I do it's only for a week or so and they move far more on one side than the other?

Is it because they need grease every month?

Drive's me nuts. I've swapped the brakes but no better.

Any opinions?

Im going to strip tomorrow and lube up I guess.

they move far more on one side than the other?

I think that's the design of them, the way the pivot point works , one side has much more movement than the other, almost a bit like cable disk brakes, where one side doesn't move at all.

 

Oh apparently not, they should be the same !

 

https://forums.bikeride.com/thread-3344.html

Edited March 2Mar 2 by Peter.Bridge

Loads of videos on Youtube about adjusting V Brakes.

Yeah. I've watched videos.

Never seems to work out for me.

I think a service with greese on pivot and try again. I have fixed the spring in a different hole on one side for more tension in the past, so I might have to do that again. Bikes. Hours of tinkering.....

Which V make are they ? as it could just be down to quality control(or lack thereof)

Post a pic of your callipers, when similarly frustrated i did just that and [mention=3847]saneagle[/mention] swooped in and pointed out the lil grub screw i needed to adjust

I can't balance them.

When I do it's only for a week or so and they move far more on one side than the other?

 

If the v-brakes are old, springs may have lost springiness, as on my 20 year old bike. It's no spring chicken. Uneven grip evidenced by more rim wear on one side. It took rather a lot of adjustment after changing spring holes, lubricating with Hypoid 90, turning grub screws, and carefully bending the old springs back a bit to add springiness. Perfect now.

Edited March 4Mar 4 by guerney

You can get Shimano Deore / Deore XT V brakes fairly cheaply now.

You can also get good hydraulic disk brakes for not much more money

I don't have a mount on the rear.

At some point I'll swap everything to a frame with disc mount.

I don't have a mount on the rear.

At some point I'll swap everything to a frame with disc mount.

 

Fit a disc on the front at least then. The front brake is your main brake.

Fit a disc on the front at least then. The front brake is your main brake.

I have fitted a disc on the front but my forks aren't great and the force has twisted them a bit.

I've decided today to scrap it and get on with another build. I do like disc brakes.

Edited March 5Mar 5 by Wayners

Fit a disc on the front at least then. The front brake is your main brake.

That was the thing bitd.

First all we had were cantis, and we tried to improve them with things like Odyssey brake rods. Then came V's and the in thing were M600 which were pretty good as it goes and much cheaper than parallel push XT(XT V's on XT levers were amazing.

 

Then cam Hope cable brakes which while causing me a nostalgic tear or two, were actually utterly crap.

Hope then released about the first UK disc brake - the C2 which even by todays standard are pretty damn powerful.

 

But at he time there were no frames with brake mounts, and only a few forks, and then it was only the high end stuff like Marzocchi Z series or Rockshox Judys or Pace.

 

Hope started making an adaptor system to fit discs on a fork with no mounts(and another for the rear)

But for us it was easier to fit the front alone, and the V on the rear. It made a massive difference.

Bikes then started to do a disc front, V rear, and only the high end bikes you could fit both(or came fitted) but you were talking £4k bikes and that was in the late 90's, early 2000's

The XTR v brakes were very good, they developed a degree of movement in the pivots, Shimano brought out a shim kit to fix this

 

Don't forget Magura hydraulic rim brakes, you can still buy them

I had a set of Shimano M600 kicking around so I swapped the back set but the arms are too short. Dam it.

I also had another a set ofTektro V-brakes. They fit so just put them on. Seems better...

I've also discovered that you can swap out the V-brake spring adjustment screws.

I have a cheap set on allen bolts and found one that fits. I always seem to mingle adjustment screw. This is so much better.

I think it's a M4 16mm long bolt..

I take it your tried just bending the long bit ?

The arms were not long enough to reach over mudguard with the m600.

I'm going to sell them.