Crank and brake issues

Having a bit of bother with the rear brake setup. Nothing to do with the Brake Therapy adapter at least, which has been flawless since I installed it.

Two other problems, though...
I noticed, I must have some air bubbles in the rear brake line, it's a bit of a pain, but I've been meaning to shorten the brake line anyway, since it's a little too long. So I'll probably bleed out the brakes over the weekend.

The other issue it the grinding noise common from the rear. I think it's down to the disk alignment. I had to shim out the rear disk from the hub to get it aligned with the brake therapy adapter, and I think it needed another shim as there was some brake rub. Also think the saw style disk makes such a bad noise if not exactly aligned. I swapped to the original Avid 160 rotor for the rear (still a bit of a saw style) and the noise was cured. I'll maybe switch back to the Hope disc once the brake are bled.

The other issue is from the crank I think. Feels like something it either loose in the crank or pedals as I get an occasional "clunk" noise when pedalling. I havent checked the bottom bracket in a while so hopefully it's something simple with that.

Looks like I'll be getting my fingers dirty at the weekend...

fun!

Changing the rear hose

Well the few last bits arrive today so I got to work installing and routing the rear brake hose.

I already had the Avid Juicy Bleed kit so it was a case of draining the brake and removing the old cable. The kit had everything required including almost all tools.

First thing I attached the new hose to the rear caliper and fed cable through the modified frame cable guides.

Then it was a simple case of cutting the hose to the correct length at the lever and installing the connectors.

Then the bleeding could begin. First the hose, then the caliper and finally the lever.

I've only ever bled brakes once before so I'm no expert, but I took the bike out for a short 1 mile ride to see how it felt.

Let's just say, I'll be bleeding it again in the morning...

But the bike itself felt really nice, I just have to adjust the seat back a little.

Rear Disc Brake Adjustment

The rear brake although working well, still has a bit of rub. The Avid Juicy calipers do have alot of adjustment, but unfortunately not enough. I guess this is all down to the my somewhat weird rear brake setup.

Anyway, since the Brake Therapy solution is post mounted I just can't shim out the caliper to align centre to the rotor.

But all is not lost having just found these (Pack of 8x0.2mm)

I'll shim out the rotor with normal caliper shims until those arrive.

Conventional or Moto Style Brakes

For what ever reason I've always configured my brake moto-style, i.e. front brake on the right. But the conventional way to set up MTB brakes is front brake left, back brake right.

The Avid Juicy brakes I bought came ready bled and in theory a simple bolt-and-go, or maybe bolt-and-stop is more apt with brakes. Anyway my point is the brake bolts were in such a way that to bolt then on I had to tighten the lever from underneath, which was no big problem since the levels were symmetrical from above and below.

But tonight I just realised the bolt could simply be removed and turned around... D'oh!

So moto-style it is!

Gears

Well the current tasks are installing the gears and chain. Always alot of readjustment need with that, but the rear cassette is install, the chain and the front and rear derailleurs.

I'll try and find time over the weekend so install the shifters and that will only really leave the rear brake to sorts out.

It will be one of the bigger jobs. The Avid Juicy Three brake come ready bled, but I have to dismantle the brake down because of the brake cable guides on the frame. They are designed only to handle V-brakes and take a cable with wire core. So I'll drill these out so I'm able to guide the hydraulic brake through these instead. I picked up an Avid Juicy bleed kit off ebay, which arrived yesterday along with the black decal set for the head tube and seat tube decals, but I'm not that happy with them as the head tube decal is way too small!

Anyway, with the brakes the big question mark is of course mounting the rear caliper to the bike. I'm putting all my hopes in the Brake Therapy solution, which is on it's way as we speak. There was a bit of a delay with the order as a tree fell on the Brake Therapy building, so their orders got a bit back logged.

But the project is nearing the end... (So now I've dug out my old '00 Jekyll frame for the next build, using up all the spare parts I have lying around.)

Good news... bad news

Well some of the parts have started to arrive, such as the new disk brakes. I made two separate orders from Chain Reaction Cycles in the UK, one for the brakes, the other for the wheels.

For some reason the brakes arrived and the wheels are floating around in some courier warehouse, apparently with insufficent/incomplete address.

Bugger...