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My daughter is a little small for her bike and struggles to pull the lever back to stop, so just bashes into things or turns into a hill to stop. The levers are stiff plastic things (which she also catches her fingers in) I'm sure if I could change them for something with some reach adjust and a nicer lever she would find them easier. Any ideas STW?
Have a look for some decent BMX levers. Most will have a degree of reach adjust in them.
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After that, you could perhaps even heat and bend the lever slightly to bring it back towards the bar a little (Metal boffins will be bale to say if this will weaken the lever too much)
I almost think that disc brakes would be better on kids bikes as you can set a the bite point pretty much where you want it with some tweaking and the power to pull is much less for little hands(Although I imagine a few otb moments..)
Looks like Isla bikes have a good set up.
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You have adjusted the reach? Most levers have a long grub screw that you wind in with a 2mm allen key. See the small black one on the pink lever above. If not, look for a set that do. You'll need to adjust the cables too. Then set the angle of the brakes so that her wrists are not bent when reaching for them.
Yeah, what TiRed said - you do then have to be quite good at checking frequently for pad engagement and winding out the cable tensioners as you're close to pulling the lever right to the bars when the screws are turned right in (not much "spare" lever travel)
My other trick is a to fashion a ferule of about 5mm and place between the lever and the body of the brake:
Cable |brake body|ferule|brake|lever (if that makes sense)
======|=|___
This serves the same effect, but is less adjustable. They don't need a lot of cable pull, but watch the pad alignment. Had to do this on a Trek MT60 that didn't have the grub screws.
That makes sense thanks TiRed. Am getting a BMX lever as the one that is on there just seems to be hinged in the wrong place for her finger to get pinched! Come on Hope where are your lovely levers for my 3 year old!