Rear Brake Adjustment

[nylife]

Is it possible to adjust the rear brake?
dont have a problem with brakes if i use the front lever as they are linked and the bike stops perfectly, but sometimes at slow speeds i prefer to use only rear brake and it seems like when i press on the peg it travels at least half an inch before the brake starts engaging is there anyway to adjust it or may be move the peg up a little?

[dbrick]

The vertical rod that connects the pedal to the master cylinder has an adjustable joint, and the rod's effective length can be changed. If you make this rod longer, then less movement will be needed before the brake applies.

BUT: proper operation of the brake requires that the master cylinder piston return to or near its rest position when the pedal is released. In the rest position, the piston uncovers a pinhole in the master cylinder bore, through which brake fluid may run from the reservoir down into the system (to make up for pad wear), and up from the system into the reservoir (to allow expansion when the fluid gets hot from use and expands). If you remove enough play so that the piston does not uncover the hole, then when the brake system is used and heats up, there's nowhere for the fluid to expand to. The result will be a brake system that gradually applies itself and eventually locks.

I did this once on the Oilhead, and it took physical readjustment of the brake pedal linkage to release the rear brake. This was not trivial, as the bike stopped with a locked rear brake on a moderately steep downhill with enough camber to the road that I could neither deploy a stand nor dismount.

[nylife]

Thank you

[r12gecko]

Check your rear pads as well - you don't want to adjust a whole bunch if the problem is really that your pads are worn. A few folks on the forum have found the rear pads tending to wear quite a bit quicker than the fronts (mine were gone with 50% of pad still available on the front.

[nylife]

The pads are ok, i did check them first, but will take a look again this weekend