Brake lever operation

[JoeBlow]

I have Shimano MT501 brakes on my Orbea. There is a lot of play in the levers before they engage and the levers are a little too far away for my liking in the rest position. If I adjust them to bring them in it also brings the engage position too near my knuckles. I may upgrade the brakes sometime in the future but in the meantime is there an inexpensive solution? I brake with one finger, should I just be resting my finger on the lever whilst it is in the rest position i.e. covering but not touching or is it OK to take up some of that slack by pulling them to a point just before they engage. I hope that makes sense.

Al

 

[Mteam]

try the old trick of cable tieing the levers to the handle bars so the levers are tightly squeezed to the bars and leaving them overnight. Then the next day cut the cable ties and you should find a lot of that free play has gone.

the other thing to try is to push the pistons all the way into the caliper and squeeze the levers a few times to reset everything - this sometimes also removed the free play.

 

[Jamze]

Check your pistons are moving freely and balanced. Some old Shimano brakes I've ended up bleeding, advancing the pistons and brimming the fluid as I like zero deadband in the levers.

Some info here...