Brake help

[poweredbypies]

Hi the brakes on my bike are dire. I know that side pull calipers are are hardley the latest in braking tech but how can I improve them? There are no bosses for anything else its side pulls or fred flintstone style. Have given the blocks a rubbing to try and get some more bite.

 

[Old Ned]

Steel or alloy rims? Type of blocks? Different combinations can make a heck of a difference in brake performance. Steel chrome rims though are notorious for poor braking, especially with the wrong sort of blocks.

Trouble is, I can't remember which are the correct ones

And you're not using 'safety' levers are you? The most unsafe braking arrangement there is!

 

[poweredbypies]

It's got steel/chrome rims and flat bars so "normal" brake levers with weiemann type 500 calipers. The bike cost me nothing and as its only in service as a work hack not wanting to spend mega bucks on it. If anyone can suggest some brake blocks that will work better on them than the current blocks of cheese i have.

 

[daccordimark]

Was it Weinmanns where you had red blocks for steel and black for aluminium? Or am I making that up?

Mark.