[CR]intro and question on brake lever friction

(Example: Framebuilders:Rene Herse)

From: "cecilio felix" <cecilio2@msn.com>
To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 14:33:13 -0800
Subject: [CR]intro and question on brake lever friction

Merry Christmas all. Looking out the window it's still pretty rotten and the kids are napping, so I'm just chillin out to some mellow Stones. No ride today, so we'll head to the valley a little earlier to join the rest.

I've been an on-and-off the list, chime in once in awhile. A fine bunch here and great job Dale, you done good! The rundown: 38, geologist, wife and kids, ride road and dirt, also like to climb and tele-ski in the Sierra. Got a beater truck and a beater house full of beater furniture (what's that say about me). So it makes sense that I'm on this list. Gotta say, though, they all do pretty damn fine with a little TLC (clunk).

My lengthy and scandal free (mostly) cycling career began in Iowa. An early milestone was a 60 miler on my 1 speed stingray when I was 11. It was fun, at least the first 15 miles.

In California as a teenager I tried racing but was a no-talent slacker. Training was too painful and I preferred to screw around like a regular kid.

In college I rode a mountainbike almost exclusively, lived for rides on singletrack, Mt. Tam an the American River. Broke everything including myself. Camaraderie was great before mtn bikes got big.

Later my brother wrecked and returned to me the Windsor Super Carrera I'd givn to him; rode it when I was a teenager. Fixed up and riding the Windsor again was like rediscovering my roots (ruts? ;)

Now I've got two little chili beaners so riding is mostly the daily commute and a detour through the hills on the way home. I also try to ride once on the weekend and do a century and packed tour every so often.

My fleet includes the Windsor, a Falcon built up as a cross/commuter, an AMAZING refurbished Colnago, a restored silky smooth Kingston (looking for info on it), a fun Benotto that handles like a track bike, a cheap art deco Mercier I toured the coast on, an orange midline LeJeune, a really neat old Follis, a Gitane Tour de France with a fixed gear, my old Fisher turned 1-speed, an unsuspended Bontrager, and Huffy and JC Higgins ballooners. I like that they're all different and interesting and fun. I'd also like to get a modern classic or 2. Then I'd be set, no more bikes, right.

So I got a question for ya: How do you get the stickiness out of brake levers? When I tighten the clamp bolt, the lever sticks, but when I loosen it to free the lever, the body fits loose on the bars. Lubing the pivots and cables doesn't help much at all. I also tried to slightly bend the tabs on the lever where it fits on the pivot to reduce friction against the body but maybe I'm not doing this enough. It also doesn't seem like any washers or bushings are missing though I'm not positive. I haven't checked to see if the clamps are originals for the levers it doesn't seem like that would have an affect.

What am I doing wrong? If this has been previously covered contact me off-list. Thanks and I hope Santa brings you lots of cool bike parts.

Cecilio Felix