"Soft" wheels..?

[Cyclist33]

Hi

Don't have a clue how to define or describe this issue so here goes!

I have this issue on the stock wheels that came with my cannondale quick, about 1500 miles ago.

Although the wheels seem perfectly true both head-on and in side profile, the braking is very "soft", that is to say it takes quite a bit of force to pull up on the back even with brand new (but rubbed-in) back cartridge brakes and with a still-padded front brake I get almost no braking at all. By comparison, with exactly the same brake setup on my spare, racing, wheels, there is a clear and controlled bite.

Knowing nothing about these things whatsoever, I have imagined that it might just be that all the spokes have lost their tension, such that the wheels, while true, are no longer stiff enough for a decent ride. Is this plausible/possible? I reached this hunch because all the spokes have quite a lot of "twang" in them, even by comparison to my 3 year old mtb which has never had a wheel service.

If so, this could be okay news coz I get them re-tensioned for about 20 quid, but otherwise, what can I do??

Thanks in advance

Stu

 

[mrandmrspoves]

Hi Stu,

The difference in your wheels is due to the different purpose for which they're intended. You may well have a different spoke pattern to build a stronger wheel to absorb shock on your mtb. If the wheels are running straight and true, I don't think they are the problem. It may be that your rims need a good clean to remove debris, or the brake pads may need changing. I would certainly be looking there first. The good news is this should be even cheaper than getting your spokes tensioned as even if you are not mechanically confident, you can easily do this yourself

 

[Cyclist33]

Thanks Poves. As I said in my post though, the brake pads are brand new but it was happening also before with the ones I replaced. And the wheels have just had a muc-off going-over so are as clean as they ever were. So I don't see those things as options..?

Stu

 

[mrandmrspoves]

Ok....still may be build up of residue on rims....I would use something like a non stick pan scourer to give them a good scrub. Are the cables adjusted to take out all unecessary slack? Do the pads hit the rim so their entire braking surface comes into contact with the rim?

 

[mrandmrspoves]

To explain further. . ....even if you had lost spoke tension, the rim should be equally compressed on both sides when you brake. If the rims are cleanand the brakes work fine on different rims then I would guess the other rims are wider.

 

[BimblingBee]

Like said above... Clean rims gently with scourer or wire wool, check pad alignment, change pads for a softer compound or check cables are fitted correctly. Spoke tension won't help the problem you are describing!

 

[oldfatfool]

I am presuming you are swapping your racing wheels into the same frame and finding the braking improves. Are you sure that your racing wheels aren't a fraction wider than your 'stock' wheels. I think the first thing I would check is the brake clearance on the stock wheels.

 

[montage]

Some rims are just crap for braking

 

[fossyant]

Crap on the rims. Give them a good clean, lots of washing up liquid.

 

[Cyclist33]

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated. I did as I say do both wheelsets last weekend with muc-off and lots of hot water and rags, and have hardly ridden the bike since, but there is still a bit of gunk on the rims, though it seems to coming from the brake pads (which I also cleaned last weekend in the same manner). Thing is, as I said the braking is fine on the race wheels (which I no longer have). So there must be some difference in the wheels that is making one fine and the other, not, and both wheelsets were equally clean (or not as the case may be). I hazard that the stock wheels have a wider rim as my bike is a roadsports-ish hybrid so the stock rims cater for wider applications. Does this mean as someone mentioned above, that I actually need to *open* my brake pads out a bit to give more leverage to "bite"?

At any rate I borrowed a spoke tool and have been round both wheels tensioning the spokes up and this was a valuable lesson in how to do it and how to retrue a wheel

Thanks

Stu