Revolution Courier Race - v-brake fail

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menefreghismo
Posts: 2
Joined: 22 Oct 2014, 10:29am

Revolution Courier Race - v-brake fail

Post by menefreghismo »

Hi

A month ago I bought my wife a Revolution Courier Race 14 for her commute to work.

On the second journey the noddle of the V-brake pulled through the stirrup, leaving her with no front brake. After just two more journeys the stirrup has completely expanded meaning the noddle won't sit in it at all.

Some research tells me this is a risk with V brakes, but does anyone know if this 'quality' is common to this bike, and should be ditched. Or an isolated incident? It seems telling that they no longer seem to offer this bike with the v-brake.

Thanks for any advice anyone might have.
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mjr
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Re: Revolution Courier Race - v-brake fail

Post by mjr »

Contact its seller and get it replaced. That's too quick a failure and sounds like a faulty brake that should have been spotted in the post-assembly check. I guess it's possible that someone could grab the brake so hard it bends anyway but wouldn't they need to be pretty forceful and keep pulling really hard long after the brakes have engaged?

I know it's not the same bike, but it is the same brand: I did have a similar "bent stirrup" front V-brake failure on a Revolution Streetfinder but over a much longer time (maybe two years) living in a place where I worked the brakes hard (a right turn or two from a maybe 10% downhill into my home) and the sea air wasn't kind to metal. I replaced it with Shimano Acera (I think) which is still working fine. I don't think I've had any other serious problems with that bike that weren't really of my own making.
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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Brucey
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Joined: 4 Jan 2012, 6:25pm

Re: Revolution Courier Race - v-brake fail

Post by Brucey »

this is a fairly common problem with v brakes of all kinds but especially with inexpensive brakes. The part that holds the V brake noodle is often made of steel that isn't very strong; it is easy enough to deform this accidentally, (although they don't very often fail in normal use, not when they are virtually new). Alternatively the aluminium end of the noodle can wear and this can allow it to pull through too. Finally the noodle can be knocked part way out and then disengages entirely when the brake is used.

A typical failure involves the handlebars swinging to one side, or the cable getting snagged, either way bending the noodle holder slightly and/or dislodging the noodle. The next time the brake is used hard, the noodle can pull through and now the holder is usually clearly bent.

Since it is nearly impossible to tell if the holder was deformed before the pull-through it is difficult to say if the parts are truly defective by design or not. An easy test is to examine the rear brake carefully for deformation and then see if, by simply pulling hard on the brake lever, you can cause the brake to fail or not. If not, it seems most likely that the brake is not 'defective' per se and that it was either installed badly or accidentally damaged prior to the failure.

Having said this personally I think that (in common with many inexpensive bicycle brakes) the design is basically poor; it would be easy enough to design these parts in such a way as they would cost pennies more to make but a pull-through would be almost impossible.

Not that you should have to do so, but you can improve matters by installing a shaped washer on the noodle end and a zip tie round the noodle holder.

hth

cheers
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menefreghismo
Posts: 2
Joined: 22 Oct 2014, 10:29am

Re: Revolution Courier Race - v-brake fail

Post by menefreghismo »

Thanks folks. Took the bike in, they replaced the brake with a - so I'm told - upgraded version.

Thanks for the advice.
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