BRAKES
This is perhaps the NUMBER ONE question that people write about...
"My brakes don't work well. How do I get them to work better?"
Brakes are NOT just those things that are near your wheel that squeeze the rim. Brakes are a system that is composed of six different parts that need to be CAREFULLY balanced...
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Calipers- Everyone thinks of these as the brakes. But they aren't. They are just the thing that squeezes the pads together against the rim. There are two varieties that are used for freestyle- U-Brakes and Calipers.
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U-Brakes, specifically Dia-Compe 990's are THE standard for quality braking in freestyle. ALL the top of the line freestyle bikes come with them and those are what we are going to talk about installing and perfecting... But even with 990's there are other parts to your 'brakes'.
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The brake pads (in images above) play a MAJOR role in whether or not the brakes will actually grab onto the rim of the bike. Most stock brake pads are a little to hard to grab the rim. They are DURABLE but not usually very sticky. The KOOL-STOP EAGLE 2 BRAKE PADS are probably one of the best brake pads available today. NOTE: In the photos above you will see that the 990's have a brake pad that is NOT threaded- The Boa's have a brake pad that IS threaded. When you get new brake pads make sure you know if YOUR brake pads are threaded or not.
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The RIMS- This is more important than the 990's. It is more important than the pads- RIMS are what makes braking possible on a bike. If you have mag wheels do NOT plan on your brakes working very well or even asking about how to make them better. If you brakes suck on mags now they will suck forever... you can make all the improvements that are covered here and they will STILL not work well. Aluminum rims are better but still tend to be to slippery for freestyle braking. Because freestyle riders run their brakes through so much stuff there is a problem with aluminum. CHROME RIMS ARE THE NORM. While there are a number of different styles of chrome rims, just having chrome plating on your rims makes braking 100% better without even touching your brakes. There are also some bikes with steel rims. While not very durable steel rims can often provide almost as good of quality for braking as chrome rims- But don't plan on those rims lasting for very long.
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The brake cable is the most overlooked part of your brakes. The brake cable consists of the cable itself and a wire that runs down the inside of it. You squeeze your lever and it pulls the wire which pulls the brakes. But the WIRE has to send YOUR force from your hand down to the caliper itself. To do this effectively you should be using a TEFLON LINED brake cable. Odyssey Slik Cables as well as DK Slic Cables are very good for braking power. But your local bike shop should have a Teflon lined cable available for you for just a few dollars. K-Mart does NOT usually have Teflon lined cables. So if you buy your cable from K-Mart (or Sears, or Wal-Mart) you will probably end up with cruddy brakes.
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Finally we come to the brake lever. Most levers today are of high enough quality to supply good braking. At the very least you want a decently sized aluminum lever. Aluminum is a rigid material that allows a good solid pull to your brakes. Dia-Compe Tech-77 levers are still a classic, solid lever despite not having been changed in about 10 years.
Now that you know WHAT makes your brakes work- Grab a set of 990's and lets get them installed and working to perfection....