Shigmolo soggy brakes

[Robbos]

Hi all,
I recently finished building up a new ride with Veloce 10 speed ergo shifters and a shimano drivetrain. This includes the brakeset, Ultegra 6500's. Thing is, there is a distinct lack of feel at the lever. There is little spring resistance to give the brakes a nice responsive feeling. Question is, has any one taken the time to bend the springs on shimano brakes to make them stiffer? Or with the different cable pull ratio (how much, I have no idea) between shimano and campy brake levers, should I just find myself a used pair of campy brakes? I believe that Campy brakes have stronger springs. Everything else on the bike works great, I want the brakes to match!
Thanks,
Rob

[jds108]

The spring in the brake caliper will have a plastic sleeve about a half inch in length on it on one end of the spring. With some Shimano brakes, that sleeve is rectangular and can be rotated 180 degrees which will result in more preload to the spring. But the change is not very significant.

I'd suggest taking a very close look at the cable runs and quality of cables and housing. The most common problem is that there is too much resistance in the cable/housing part of the equation. There should be very little friction between the cable and housing as it runs from lever to caliper.

[Ken Robb]

Or if the ends of the brakes housing is not cut clean and sharp and/or there is o ferule you can get compression of the jagged end(s) of te housing which results in a soggy brake feel.

[Robbos]

I agree about the importance of cable set up. They're all new cables, with the ends made flush on the grinder wheel. They're super smooth, its really the undersprung brakes.

[soupless]

Also, double check and make sure that both pads are hitting the rim at the same time. If they're not, that can lead to a mushy feel.

[oldpotatoe]

Hi all,
I recently finished building up a new ride with Veloce 10 speed ergo shifters and a shimano drivetrain. This includes the brakeset, Ultegra 6500's. Thing is, there is a distinct lack of feel at the lever. There is little spring resistance to give the brakes a nice responsive feeling. Question is, has any one taken the time to bend the springs on shimano brakes to make them stiffer? Or with the different cable pull ratio (how much, I have no idea) between shimano and campy brake levers, should I just find myself a used pair of campy brakes? I believe that Campy brakes have stronger springs. Everything else on the bike works great, I want the brakes to match!
Thanks,
Rob

I Do this all the time.

Make sure all the housing is trimmed and clean and use good, slick brake cables and metal ferrules..NO FERRULE IN THE LEVER, please. Ensure the housimg is seated nto the lever..attach cable, SQUEEZE brake, then tape the housing down.

Then pop the spring out of the little place it sits on the brake, bend up, replace.

I have Veloce brakes..the ones that use standard brake blocks, if you are interested but the 6500 should work fine.

[Robbos]

Once again, Old Potatoe comes through with some great advice. I'll admit I never though to compress the brakes before taping the brake housing. Great idea. I'll try to ramp up the spring tension with some gentle bending and cut the pointless angled tips off of the Koolstop pads.
Thanks!