Betty Foy Brake Problem

[Michael Hechmer]

The brakes on my wife's Betty Foy are driving me nuts.  This is a stock bike, in fact it was RBWs sales bike and it came with Bosco bars, Techtro 559 side pull clippers and Shimano levers. There is no QR on the levers and a minimal one on the calipers This is a very poor combination as I can only get an inflated 38mm tire  off and on, while the frame can handle a 42mm tire.  I wonder what GP was thinking when he made this choice.

Has anyone found a work around to improve this situation?

Michael

[Joe Bernard]

The Betty was originally designed as a droptube road bike, there isn't much you can do about the road brakes restricting fat-tire removal but deflate the tire. Heck I have this problem on my droptube custom with v-brakes because I spec'd a narrowish road fork..fat tires like lots of clearance! 

Joe Bernard 

[Brian Forsee]

You can set your brake up so the normal riding adjustment has the caliper barrel adjuster decently 'out' or unscrewed. Open brake QR, screw barrel adjuster 'in' to gain some clearance, then remove wheel, repeat for re-install. You'll have to try it out and see if it provides enough clearance for your particular setup, but I find this less annoying than deflating the tire.

Brian F

[Ian A]

Shimano make an inline cable adjuster with quick release https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/ultegra-r8000/SM-CB90.html

Alternatively cable splitters would work, but they would not allow tool free wheel removal  https://www.ticycles.com/components/da-vinci-cable-splitters

IanA Alberta Canada

[Pam Bikes]

I can usually get my 1 1/2 in tire off w/out deflating it but I do pull hard.  Great idea to use the barrel adjuster too.  Also I think the brake has a little thing that adjusts too.  But I generally don't need to remove my wheels very often.  I have Schwalbe Marathon Supremes so not many flats.  Only time I need to remove my tires is to box the bike to fly or changing to a new wheel build.  I ride daily so I replace rims about every 12,000 miles.  I'm about 70,850 miles so far.  The only issue I've had w/the brakes is the springs have a weak point at the bend and they break.  The springs aren't sold separately so I've had to replace the brake caliper when it breaks.  If anyone has a set of brakes they don't like, I'd take a spring so I can just fix the caliper.  It's usually the rear spring.

[Garth]

Tire deflation to simply remove the tire is not normal or even acceptable by any means. Everyone knows this, lest there would be no cursing in even contemplating it.... you know ?  With calipers and mtb levers, use both to loosen the cable tension since they both have the ability to. The levers have their own barrel adjusters, set them up so there is sufficient threads to slacken the cable. 

[Michael Hechmer]

I'm familiar with the adjuster on the lever and with cable splitters, since I have a coupled tandem (which I will be selling soon).  The cable splitter won't work on the front brake since the housing runs from lever to caliper.  I'm not familiar with the Shimano in line QR.  Looks interesting.  Perhaps before I buy the next set of tires.

Michael

[Greg J]

I have this issue with my bikes, but I just assumed that this was an inherent trade-off if I'm using any tire larger than 32 with caliper brakes.  Are there caliper brakes that open wider using the QR?  

Greg

[Ian A]

Would a thinner brake pad help? Kool Stop make their excellent thin line series. 

[lconley]

I was going to suggest thinner brake pads also. At some point, the brake will only open so far and extra slack in the cable will not help. I run a Tektro 559 on the rear of my Betty Foy and a Dia-Compe 610 center pull on the front. I have a Dia-Compe Quick release hanger for the center pull on the front. I release the quick release and then I have enough slack to undo the straddle cable on the center pull. 44cm tires barely get by the pads.

If you have to take the front wheel off to get the bike in the car, then this is important. I do not use bike racks, so if I put a bike in the Honda Fit - the front wheel comes off. I prefer the Honda Element which requires no disassembly of of the bike (except for the now departed Hubbuhubbuh) for bike carrying duties, although I have considering building a mounting system in the Element that would carry several bikes that would require removal of the front wheel. This would mimic an original Element accessory that mounted the bike by the front forks with a quick release onto a bracket.

You can narrow the brake pads that you already have with a file and/or sandpaper.

Laing

[Garth]

The tire should clear just fine without resorting to addition doohickeys or pads Michael. It's make to clear wide road tires. I happened to run across this video today, and his 559 caliper clears a 44mm Compass tires without rubbing. https://youtu.be/vGnNkQJz-Fk?t=465

Again, your mtb brake levers don't need or use a QR as that's what the barrel adjuster is for.

[Bill Lindsay]

I don't follow the beef with GP, but this is the procedure to get a front Tektro 559 opened up as wide as possible without tools on a bike of that type

1. Set the brake lever adjusting barrel and lockring as far in as possible but with the cable exit slots all lined up with the exit slot in the brake lever
2. Open the QR on the brake caliper

3. Grab a handful of front brake with the left hand

4. With the right hand grab the cable housing where it enters the brake lever adjusting barrel

5. Release the lever with the left hand and as you release pull the housing out with the right

6. Pivot the housing out and release the cable from the brake lever

Now the brake is open as wide as it can be without tools.  

For setups of that type I prefer the FL-750 brakelever because it's even easier to do that maneuver, because there is no brake lever barrel adjuster to get in the way.  One in line barrel adjuster is plenty and the Tektro 559 has one at the caliper.

Bill Lindsay

El Cerrito, CA

On Friday, March 17, 2023 at 1:12:27 PM UTC-7 mhec...@gmail.com wrote: