So – my bmx has some generic side pull front brake. bit like this

they are, frankly, aweful. I can pedal the bike along with two fingers holding the lever in.

I've tried the generic things – replacing cables, replaced pads with softer ones, but its still crap

is there any way to tune side-pull brakes? I'm guessing there must be some way? I Just use the bike as a town bike so don't need anything awesome, I'd just like to be able to stop if a car pulls out

alternitively, are there any other, better brakes that only require a center pivot (I suppose I could mount a v-brake plate but I suspect that's be a bit crap.

Ta for any help

H

Search for dual pivot calipers, like fitted to modern road bikes – Tektro make some reasonable price ones – but you might not get any to suit the tyre and drop on a bmx …… Bmx not got u brake mounts?

I suspect the problem is how long the drop is for a BMX to get round the tyre. The length from the pivot point to the brake shoe is so long that there is a lot of flex unless well made. The arms need to have a lot of material put in to the line of rotation to resist the flex.

You could try these if you can afford them:-

http://www.identitibikes.com/billys/english/group.php?prod=bcdc-610-sil&PHPSESSID=q4krcgb67cu32fuuvfehn89a81

I've got some nice Dia-Compe levers that I can sell you too for a total quality stopping solution!

Good Lord – you must be an animal; I can't pedal a bike with two fingers at all.

thanks for the offer but I don't have any mount for a top-pull brake – has to be side-pull 😐

seems strange no-ones made one with a load of metal on it to get round the flex – its not as if weight is a bit issue?

But you'd need to anchor the end of the brake cable to use those (centre-pull) dia-compes. The ones underneath on the same page (the 806s) might be more likely perhaps:
http://www.identitibikes.com/billys/english/productresults.php?delbrand=del&group=B&PHPSESSID=q4krcgb67cu32fuuvfehn89a81

*waves*
Wotcher Hugh !

Have you tried cleaning the rims too ?

easy Jon – how's tricks? you need to get down here for a ride, sharpish (I've not ridden since xmas so I'm nice and slow)

the rims are pretty good, not mint but don't look too bad. The brake might already be a 806 (its outside, and cold, so sod that till tomorrow) – if not it's very similar.

I might just stick one of these on

http://www.winstanleysbmx.com/product/298/DNA_VBrake_Plate

and use an old v-brake I've got kicking around

its wierd though – surely a v brake should suffer the same flex issues as a side-pull? obviously the arms are straight but its not that hard to make things strong?