Dolores has a brake problem, the brake on her Giant Cypress Hybrid is hanging loose, we give her suggestions as to what the problem might be, but we thing she should take the bike to the shop and have the mechanic there to fix it as there maybe a part of it that is either lost or broken, this is what we think

Question:
I have a Giant hybrid. I’m pretty sure it’s a cypress. I’m having an issue with the rear brake. Somehow the little arm on the brake that the cable goes through has become disengaged, and is loosey goosey flapping in the breeze. I don’t know if there’s some intrinsic little screw that got knocked out, I’ve tried to manually put it back in place, but not having the tools or basic knowlege, gave up for fear of ruining my bike.
Can you help me? Do you know what I’m talking about?
Thanks.

Hi Dolores,

Yes I know what you are talking about; the problem is that you don’t say which Giant Cypress hybrid you have, or which year it was made. Giant have different models and they use three different brake systems. They have disc brakes, “V” brakes and the stirrup version. I guess you have the “V” brake version, as it is the most popular, if one side is hanging loose then either the small spring adjusting screw has fallen out or the spring has broken or it has just come out of its retaining hole, without seeing which its hard to tell you what to do.

If you had the tools and knew what to do then you could loosen the off the bolt that holds that half of the “V” brake and look to see if the little pin that goes into the hole on the bracket on the frame is broken or just come out. What you can do is compare the two sides of the brake and see if there is a small bolt on the underside of the brake, it could be that one is missing, if so it then you need to replace both sides of the brake as the are only sold that way.

I suggest you take the bike to your local bike shop; they will either replace the rear brake, which they will have to do if there is a screw missing or a broken spring. If it has just come adrift of its retaining hole then it shouldn’t take them long to fix.

I hope this helps?