Hello,
I have just joined so forgive me if this is not the right place for this kind of post: I wondered if anyone can recommend a bike shop or mechanic who will repair rod brakes in North London (I am in Wood Green). When my daily use bike clapped out completely, I, perhaps foolishly, bought a Triumph Roadster, of I think the late 50s, over Gumtree about 18 months ago because it looked fun then realised on the way back from buying it the brakes were virtually non-existent with new pads and adjustment needed. I tried to get several bike shops to repair them but most (even those who say they do vintage) wouldn't touch rod brakes as they all said it is impossible to get them good enough to use safely and too time consuming. Eventually I found a bike shop that would repair them, which they did at considerable expense, but I don't think they did a good job in adjusting them; I know rod brakes are a primitive technology but they were pretty poor even in dry weather though online posters suggest that they can be adjusted to be reasonably OK (I have only ever had calliper-braked bikes before so am not comparing their performance to something very sophisticated). Anyway, I've been slowly and gingerly riding all over town on the bike for a year but over this summer the brakes got even worse -- perhaps, due to the hot weather, metal expanded or the pads wore? -- anyway the brake pads only seemed to make proper contact when the brake levers were really squeezed all the way up and even with a long stopping distance I have had to put my feet down all the time to brake. So this time I tried to adjust them myself following guides online, including helpful posts on this forum. But I have no mechanical aptitude or experience at all, couldn't understand most of the posts (about bending the stirrups into better shape and that sort of thing) and at the end of a frustrating day all I have succeeded in doing is snapping off one of the angle-sided brake pads and damaging most of the nuts by trying to turn them with an adjustable spanner! I would therefore be very grateful for any recommendations of someone nearby who might know how to work on rod brakes and be interested in a repair gig.
Sam
I have just joined so forgive me if this is not the right place for this kind of post: I wondered if anyone can recommend a bike shop or mechanic who will repair rod brakes in North London (I am in Wood Green). When my daily use bike clapped out completely, I, perhaps foolishly, bought a Triumph Roadster, of I think the late 50s, over Gumtree about 18 months ago because it looked fun then realised on the way back from buying it the brakes were virtually non-existent with new pads and adjustment needed. I tried to get several bike shops to repair them but most (even those who say they do vintage) wouldn't touch rod brakes as they all said it is impossible to get them good enough to use safely and too time consuming. Eventually I found a bike shop that would repair them, which they did at considerable expense, but I don't think they did a good job in adjusting them; I know rod brakes are a primitive technology but they were pretty poor even in dry weather though online posters suggest that they can be adjusted to be reasonably OK (I have only ever had calliper-braked bikes before so am not comparing their performance to something very sophisticated). Anyway, I've been slowly and gingerly riding all over town on the bike for a year but over this summer the brakes got even worse -- perhaps, due to the hot weather, metal expanded or the pads wore? -- anyway the brake pads only seemed to make proper contact when the brake levers were really squeezed all the way up and even with a long stopping distance I have had to put my feet down all the time to brake. So this time I tried to adjust them myself following guides online, including helpful posts on this forum. But I have no mechanical aptitude or experience at all, couldn't understand most of the posts (about bending the stirrups into better shape and that sort of thing) and at the end of a frustrating day all I have succeeded in doing is snapping off one of the angle-sided brake pads and damaging most of the nuts by trying to turn them with an adjustable spanner! I would therefore be very grateful for any recommendations of someone nearby who might know how to work on rod brakes and be interested in a repair gig.
Sam
