Hey everyone and welcome back to another Tuesday tip where in this video
I'm going to be talking about five different ways that you can make your BMX brakes better
So the way that we're gonna go through this list is by the order of how much effort each thing on the list takes
So towards the beginning of the list
These are going to be the easiest things that you can do to improve your brakes and then at the end of the list
It's a little bit more time-intensive
But none of the things on the list should require you to have to go out and buy
Anything unless you just have no basic tools for working on your bike
but in this case
You should at least know a couple people who have the tools that you might need and it's only a couple small things
So let's get right on into the list tip number one lube
your brake cables brake cables can get dirt and other gunk into them and putting
lubrication into your brake cables can get that dirt out clean them out and
lessen the friction of your entire cable going through a
Housing because when you think about it a long steel cable going through a housing and sometimes multiple
Cables going through housings have a lot of opportunity for friction
And then when you add to dirt and other junk to this mix, you have more opportunities for friction
So using some sort of lubrication whether it's a bicycle lubricant
There's plenty of them out there and available or something like motor oil
Which I know a couple people have used in the past this helps get that junk out of the cables
lessens the opportunities for friction in turn
having an effect on your
Braking and the pull of your brakes which can be the easiest way to improve your brakes and make them feel better tip
Number two check your barrel adjusters barrel adjusters serve the purpose of a quick and easy
adjustment to your brakes and are often the easiest way to have an effect on your brakes because a little
adjustment on your barrel adjuster can go a long way in the feel of your brakes a loose barrel adjuster can have an impact on
how your brakes feel in making them not feel as solid and
Changing the position of your brake pad, which also has a huge effect on the way that your brakes feel
So just make sure that everything is tight
Once you get the position of your brake pads and potentially your gyro in place by adjusting your barrel adjusters
Tip number three is to adjust your brake pad position
And now I know we just talked about barrel adjusters
But this is a different type of brake pad position in the actual
alignment of your brake pads on the brake arm itself
There's a lot of adjustment to be had here. And if your brake pad gets off it can make your entire setup feel
Completely terrible and can make your brakes not work at all
So this is something that you'll want to check it goes third on the list because it's a little bit more labor-intensive
And it can take a little bit if you're as particular about your brake pad position as I am
I like to have my brake pads
Parallel to the rim so that the entire braking surface of the brake pad
Hits the rim at the exact same time on
Both brake pads and having a brake pad that is off or angled in any way can make it closer to the rim on one
Side than it is on the other and this has a huge impact on how your brakes feel
because it will feel like you're pulling further than you need to and you'll feel the first brake pad hitting the rim and then you'll
Have to pull further beyond that some people like that spongy feel
But everyone that I know that runs brakes likes them to hit at the exact same time and brake pad adjustment can be an easily
Overlooked solution to your braking troubles tip number four is to true your back wheel
having a wobbly back rim can have the exact same effect on your braking that having an off brake pad can have
only it could feel great in one spot and then
Terrible in another so this is the problem that you're having
Chances are your wheel is just not true and you'll need to true it up from side to side and having a true back wheel
Eliminates the back wheel from the equation of what could be making your brakes not feel as good as they could
I know that truing a wheel is
more labor-intensive
Than some of the things on this list and that's why it's the fourth tip on our list and that brings us to tip number
Five the last tip on our list
This is to adjust your break spring
Tension break spring tension has an enormous effect
on the way that your breaks feel because having tight break Springs makes for a
harder break pull and having loose break Springs makes for an easy break pull that also might not
Return as well and it's also the most labor-intensive
Thing on this list because it's so finicky in getting it exactly the way that you want to it's not exactly straightforward
because it's totally
Subjective in how your breaks feel and how you like them?
It's totally up to you and it can take some trial and error and depending upon your break setup
For instance if you have a straight cable or a double to single lower cable
You'll have some sort of straddle cable setup
which is affected by break spring tension because both Springs need to be
relatively even in their tension so that they're returning and
Pulling about the same on the brake cables
This means that if one spring is tighter than the other
one side will be closer to the rim than the other and this is something that can have an impact on the way that your
Brakes feel the same way that having off
Adjustment in your barrel adjusters and having a brake pad that is off can affect your brakes?
That's why they're higher on the list because they're easier solutions to this problem
But if you go through everything else that I've talked about and you're still reaching this point
You may want to take a look at your brake spring tension
I have a video on how you adjust brake spring tension, and I explain these things in much greater detail
So if you're interested or you need to learn how to adjust your brakes hit the link in the description below or in the info
Card on whichever corner of the screen that it's on right now to bring things full circle here brake spring
Tension also works together with the first thing on the list
Lubricating your cables if your cables are old
Unlubricated and have a ton of junk in them making more friction in the cables have a tougher time
moving in the housings
You may have to increase your break spring tension to be able to pull those
Cables back to return your brakes and get them ready for you to pull again
this isn't something that you necessarily want because it takes away some of the control that you have on how your brakes feel if you
Have to have your brake spring tension pretty tight
that
means that you won't be able to have the super easy brake pull that some people like and if you've already followed everything on the
List or you already lubricate your cables. It's not something that you're going to have to worry about
but if you skipped right on buy it it's worth knowing and it can help you out in the long run because
Having your brake spring tension super tight all of the time and having to keep it that tight can shorten the life
expectancy for the springs in your brakes
Making you have to replace them
sooner with that being said that's going to wrap up this video on five easy tips that you can use to make your
BMX brakes better and with that I will leave you guys on a bonus tip that
lubricating the pivot point of your brake lever will also make the brakes return and pull back easier the same way that
lubricating your cables will
Because this is another point of friction and it's just another place where dirt and other junk can build up making your brakes not pull
As smoothly or easily as they could so that's going to wrap up this video. I'm going to end it here
I want to thank you guys for watching if any of these tips helped you let me know in the comments down below if you're
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I come out with tips and tricks videos just like this one every
Tuesday with BMX news videos on fridays and other types of riding videos and streams throughout the week
Thank you guys again for watching and we'll see you next time. Goodbye
You