XTR Servo Wave brake adjustment

The idea behind the Servo Wave levers is that you get maximum cable pull for great clearance between pads and rims, but that once the pads contact the rims you get lots of power through maximum leverage.

With this in mind, here's how I set up the XTR servo wave v-brakes:

  • find the point on the lever pull where the servo wave action starts;

Servo-wave v-brake adjustment
  • adjust cable length at v-brake arm so that pads are just contacting the rim;

Servo-wave v-brake adjustment
  • use servo wave barrel adjuster to fine tune how much power you need/want - adjuster further in provides more leverage and power but with a mushy feel.

Servo-wave v-brake adjustment

Related articles:

Fork rebound adjustment

Start with rebound in the fastest setting and the lockout off. Find a good, smooth fast corner you're comfortable attacking repeatedly. Keep adding more rebound damping until the bike feels nicely settled mid corner and through the ...

XTR front skewer

Just in case anyone is interested, an XTR front skewer from a M960XTR front hub weighs 56g.

Shimano XTR v-brakes

The Shimano M950/952 v-brakes were some of the best. Weighing about 180g a pair, they featured a parallel push linkage that made set-up and alignment of these brakes child's play.

AEST Disc Brakes

These disc brakes are basically rebranded Hygia Usagi. They are very similar to the Hygia SLP brakes but the calipers are two piece bolted together, whereas the SLPs have monoblock calipers where the entire thing ...

Shimano XTR M9000 Race Brakes

Weights

AEST CNC Disc Brakes

Front weighs 202g: