Bought a cheap Haro Nyquist R2 a while back, had a lovely time fixing it up, barely ridden it though. Just getting it ready to sell on and it is mostly working really well but… The brakes were disasterous when I got it. So I removed the rear u-brake and gyro completely, but brakeless would be insane as I live on a big hill so it’s still got a sidepull front brake, cabled through the steerer. And it works inasmuch as it slows you down, but it’s definitely the worst thing about the bike, despite new cables and coolstops.

So, what do you reckon… Refit terrible rear brake as well and have a fully, badly braked bike… Remove front brake and have a brakeless bike which at least, has no bits that are just pretty much crap. (is brakeless still cool?) Or, leave it as it is and just trust whatever teenager buys it to understand that they can remove it or not, or refit the rear, and all that jazz…

I am not down with the kidz.

Brakeless, it benefits the economy.

Well for people who sell trainers anyway

Fit brake back on and set it up correctly.

The components are never going to produce decent braking- too much flex, and slippery rims. Not a question of setup unfortunately, just limited parts.

If it’s got brake posts on it, could you put a set of V brakes and levers on it?

Was what I did to my son’s as the original brakes were rubbish on his box.

I think it just has a single pivot front. It’s dual on the rear though, hmm. TBH probably not a lot of point in spending money on it though as it’s going to sell for £75 tops, more likely about £50…

cheap gyro setup have always been a week point in any budget bike i can get them to work properley but it takes allot of fideling i would say just re fit rear brake with a straight slick cable insted of gyro kit it will work 10x better that way even if perent buys it for there child as a first bike for paper rounds/school runs they can atleat hav faith they will be able to stop

edit-will be u brake on rear diffrent post fitment to v brakes

That seems sensible… I’ve never set up the rear without the gyro so getting rid of all the extra bobbins might well help. Cheers!

itl be just like setting up a v brake more feel modulation and power only thing i can see u running into is if it have a dual lower setup but then u just need a reversed london mod mount and will be good to go

I think it has a canti-style cable bridge with a single run forward. Good stuff this, cheers!

TT over 21″? £50 posted?

these should make a difference – did on mine. Still not brilliant in the wet but much better. In the dry the brake went from useless to very good.

They’re much bigger. Thinking about it a normal mtb brake shoe may fit still work although I am not certain about fitting a u brake. They will however fit the wheels circumference ok (not perfectly though)

kool stop bmx brake pad

kool stop pads are ok but rely on there old skool reputation clear soft compound trials pads have made there way to bmx and improve x10

It’s got koolstops on the front already, they improved it from awful to merely poor. TBH it feels like oily contaminated rims- which it definitely isn’t, but that’s the slippery feel of it.

I think some garage time spent with the back brake is needed before I do any more thinking

Put your rear brake on. Clean your rims, make sure your brake and straddle cables are kink free. Use as little tension on the springs as you can. Dont fit the Gyro.

@Rocketdog, bang on 20.5 so probably not for you. Scrubbed up alright, think I’ll reroute the front cable too and get rid of the stem routing though.