V brake help

[cyberknight]

Just bought a second hand bike for mini ck 2 as shes outgrown the lst one and its fine apart from one issue, the front v brake .
One side doesnt move unless you move it by hand , when you brake the other side moves fine , i have tried giving it a dose of wd 40 and altering the tension screw so at least the bike is rideable but the arm refuses to move when pulling the brake ?

 

[Paulus]

It could well be corroded inside.
Undo the cable, then the retaining bolt being careful not to lose the spring. Give it a good clean up, a tiny smear of grease and start again.
It could be that the spring is broken as well, but any LBS should be able to provide one.

 

[wafter]

Another thing worth checking is that the spring ends are located in the same equivalent holes in either side of the fork. IIRC many have three holes to broadly control tension; if both sides aren't set to the same point it could give the symptoms you describe.

Tbh since it's an unknown quantity I'd be doing as @Paulus suggests and giving a bit of a clean / lube..

 

[Cycleops]

As above all should be revealed when you remove the brake. I've had some where the spring has broken or has slipped off the locating peg.

 

[Big John]

We work on V brakes a lot at the bike charity and those tensions screws sometimes work and sometimes they don't. If we clean and lube and they still play up we have the luxury of getting another one out of the drawer until we find one that works. I hope you manage to solve it. Cantis have the same sort of hit-and-miss set up too ☹️

 

[cyberknight]

might be a trip to the lbs
looked at you tube videos and they take the arm off and this one doesnt come off even giving it a good yank .

 

[Cycleops]

That's very unusual and probably the cause of your problem. Get something behind it and 'drift' it off.

 

[Nibor]

I sometimes unhook the spring and stretch it a little to increase tension on the faulty side usually works

 

[All uphill]

I had a set of cheap v- brakes on my everything bike; they worked OK for four years but recently it seems like the springs lost their elasticity. No amount of fettling would get them right, and keep them right.

I've replaced them with slightly less cheap shimano ones, and so far all is good. Wish I'd done it a year ago.

 

[Ajax Bay]

looked at you tube videos and they take the arm off and this one doesn't come off even giving it a good yank .

Once you've removed the screw, if it doesn't slide off, may need some levering persuasion, preceded by a good dousing of light oil / GT85 and leaving for an hour. Can you see if the spring is in the 'middle' hole?

 

[Paulus]

might be a trip to the lbs
looked at you tube videos and they take the arm off and this one doesnt come off even giving it a good yank .

It should come off with a little persuasive effort. It does sound like the cause of the problem.

 

[the_mikey]

This is unhelpful but V-brakes are the worst in my opinion, and I regularly service my sisters bike which has Cantilever brakes, which are merely annoying in comparison.

 

[HMS_Dave]

This is unhelpful but V-brakes are the worst in my opinion, and I regularly service my sisters bike which has Cantilever brakes, which are merely annoying in comparison.

Never had a problem with them really. I think when the bikes are left outside and/or never serviced, like anything they corrode and with V-brakes when one side is is stiffer (ahem) than the other to operate, it usually means it's been stood up against a wall and that is the side that faced the elements!

 

[silva]

From what I messed 'round with these, the cause was usually sand around between the surfaces of the pivot, making adjustments with the screw having no fine effect, and a fine effect is needed due to the leverage, without it becomes an all or nothing because it has to overcome a friction barrier first, build up of force, then suddenly moves, overshoorting.