riley58•2d agoProlific Poster

I was setting up disc brakes wrong for years without knowing it

I had this moment last Tuesday while working on a customer's gravel bike. The rear brake kept rubbing no matter how many times I centered the caliper. I was about to blame a bent rotor when my buddy, who runs a shop in Boise, texted me a picture. He just pushes the pistons all the way back with a plastic tire lever before he even bolts the caliper on. I'd always just squeezed the lever a few times with the wheel out to move them forward. Turns out I was starting with the pistons already extended, fighting myself from step one. I tried his way on the next three bikes and each one lined up perfectly on the first try. It's a tiny thing but it shaved like 15 minutes off each brake job. How many other little tricks like this are out there that we just never get shown?

2 comments

2 Comments

terry_mitchell2d ago

Sounds like you were making it way harder than it needed to be.

the_leo2d ago

Actually, I don't see it that way at all. The simple way just didn't work for my situation. I had to try a few different steps to get it right. Sometimes the easy fix misses the real problem. What looks hard from the outside is just what the job needed.