How to open a V-brake

Today's post is dedicated to a technical matter that everyone who owns a bicycle is good to know and that is how to open a V-brake.

I advise you to learn how to do it, because in 70% of the technical cases that relate to a bicycle the first step is opening up the brakes. But the most common cases are when you must open your brake to take your bicycle wheel off or to fix a flat tire or when you just want to check if the brake pads caught any debris so you can clean them. 

I understand that probably the majority of you might already know how to open it, but as I didn't know it myself at first and someone else showed it to me, I thought that is would be nice to share it with you so you can learn, too. 

The Steps

It takes only about a couple of seconds to finish the whole process, so let's start!

Step 1: You must first slide over the little rubber tube that covers the cylinder which is circled in the photograph above.

Step 2: After baring the cylinder, you must press both sides of the brake towards the middle.

Step 3: While still holding the sides of the brake, you must then release the cylinder from its metal handle.

Step 4: After releasing the cylinder, now you can stop holding the sides of the brake and leave them to fall open at the sides of the tire as shown in the picture.

Your V- brake is now open!

For closing it, you just repeat the steps in reverse.

Note: Don't forget after closing the V-brake to slide the rubber tube back on to cover up the cylinder, because the cylinder must not get wet or it will rust.

Now you know how to open your V-brake, too!

Do you do your own maintenance to your bicycles?