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| *Vultures Knob>>>Road Bike |
Squeaky front tire? |
I am VERY new to biking, just bought a used road bike a few months ago. The front tire squeaks when I ride, and then when I hit the front break it squeaks much louder, and I was just wondering how to stop it. This seems like a pretty basic problem so hopefully most of you will know a quick and easy fix! Thank you! The first thing you should do is check the brake pads. If you bought it used, they might be old. Does the bike have good braking power or is it slow to stop? This should be an indicator, other than their appearance, as to the condition of the pads. If it needs new pads, make sure and install the new ones correctly. Remove the old pads, install the new ones, and center the pads to the rim. You don't want to install them too high or too low. If the brakes still squeal, you may need to toe them. Since you're new to biking I'm not going to go into length about this, but "toeing" the brake pads is adjusting them so the front of the pad hits the rim first, thus eliminating or reducing the resonating effect that sometimes occurs on brakes that lack in stiffness. Make sure the brake caliper is aligned correctly. It sounds like it's not. Depending on what type of caliper it is, you'll need a couple of wrenches to loosen, align, then tighten the caliper so that the tire spins freely between the pads. Loosen the nut and bolt assembly on the caliper so that it swings freely. Use the brake to compress the calipers which will align itself against the wheel. Tighten the caliper as much as possible with your hand while holding the brake then finish the job with wrenches after releasing the brake. It's real easy to twist the caliper out of alignment with the rim at this point, so use caution. Of course you can always eyeball it too. I've always done that and it works just fine. It may also help to take the wheel off and place it back in the dropouts; if the wheel is spinning slightly askew it will rub against the brake pads. Other than that I would clean the rim where the pad makes contact. Dirt can sometimes cause a squeaking noise, although it shouldn't occur when you aren't braking. Source(s): Other than doing this countless times, I have no source. Out of curiosity I've consulted my Big Blue Book of Bicycle Repair (Park Tool Company, ISBN: 0-9765530-0-7) and they have articles on toeing and caliper installation which are loosely addressed in this answer. try tightening the bolts make sure the brake pad in front is not rubbing the rim when you ride you might need to adjust them or maybe get a new pair of brake pads. if all else fails, take it to a bike shop and they'll be able to tell you in a minute! it could be a few things, like: 1) brake pads - check the "toe in" (google it), and also see if they're too close to the wheel 2) the hub - it could have lost the grease between the bearings (i'm guessing here) and you could maybe lube it or have the hub rebuilt 3) wheel trueness - (the measure of how straight a rim is) if the wheel is out of true, it could be rubbing on the brake pad (see #1) and causing the squeak. 4) sometimes with the squeaky braking is just gatorade on your rims or pads, although that wouldn't explain the non-braking squeak. Your front brake pads are rubbing the tire. This is pretty serious -- get it fixed as soon as you can, or else you'll wear a big gash along the side of your tire and it may blow while you are riding. Check to see if the axle nuts are properly tightened, and then check the brake pad alignment. You should be able to readjust them with a 10 mm box wrench and maybe a 5 mm Allen key, depending on what kind of brake you have. Good article on sidepull brake adjustment (for most road bikes): http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto... Years of fiddling with my own front brakes |
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