Strange Brakes by StrangeCycles: Installation and Adjustment

These are instructions for installing and adjusting these unique, rare, and no-longer-made brakes. They are designed to act like like V-brakes but are compatible with short pull road brake levers like Shimano STI and Campagnolo Ergo levers. They are useful on cyclocross, tandem, and road touring bicycles.These instructions do not include installing or adjusting the brake pads as that is the same as for any V-brake.

Here is a picture of them properly installed (from www.peterwhitecycles.com/strangebrakes.asp).

When installing them, the orientation of the brake pads will determine front or rear mounting as the front and rear brakes are otherwise interchangeable. The longer half of the brake pad should point rearward on both brakes.

Here is a picture showing the parts in their order of installation.

Here is the order in which the parts are installed. First the arm and bushing, then the return spring, then the spacer washer, then the spring adjuster (the square aluminum piece), and finally the mounting bolt are installed. You should only need one spacer washer per arm

The trick with adjusting these brakes is to balance modulation and power by playing with the spoke tensioner/crossbar and brake cable adjustment. Also, the brake caliper arms should be close to parallel with each other. I will use the above diagram to further explain the adjustment.

When the brakes are properly adjusted, Link A should be close to parallel with the upper portion of the brake arm as shown. The brake cable should come close to the brake arm where it connects to Link A but not touch or lean against it. Note that the brake cable inline barrel adjuster is missing in the first picture but is shown in the second picture and would be inserted in the pivot where Link A and Link B meet.

In order to adjust the angle of Link A, the spoke tensioner can be released from one arm and screwed in or out on its threads in Link B to adjust the distance between the two brake arms. This will also affect the brake pad to rim distance which will require additional adjustment of the brake cable using the barrel adjuster. You will want to test ride the bike in between adjustments to find what feels best for you. It may take a few tries to get it just right.

To adjust the brake arm return spring tension for each arm and center the rim between the brake pads, slightly loosen the mounting bolt on one arm and rotate the square spring adjuster using a 16mm wrench or an adjustable wrench. When the tension is right, hold the square spring adjuster in place with the wrench while tightening the mounting bolt. Repeat this for the other arm.

I hope this information is useful to you for installing these brakes since I can't find any other source that tells you how to do this..