Center the caliper, then replace a sticky cable. Do not keep turning the barrel adjuster into a brake that already rubs. The bike is a cheap 1970s Raleigh, steel frame. The rear brake will not squeeze hard enough to stop the wheel. Taking up the cable makes it drag. The wheel did not look obviously out of true. Nothing on it has been replaced yet, so this is the order, not a finished repair.
Drag, or no stop
| What you see | Fix first | Buy | Shop |
|---|---|---|---|
| One pad hits the rim, the other has a gap | Center the caliper on its bolt | Nothing yet | — |
| The lever is sticky, or the housing is split | New inner cable and housing, nipple matched to the lever | Jagwire road kit, if the nipple is the barrel | View The lever is sticky, or the housing is split (affiliate) |
| Both pads meet the rim and the wheel still will not stop | Pads that have gone hard | The pad shape this caliper holds, not a cantilever post | — |
Affiliate Link • Earns Commission
Center it before you tension it
A single-pivot sidepull, which is what most of these Raleighs have on the rear, pivots from one bolt. If that bolt is loose, or the spring is tired on one arm, one pad sits on the rim. Cable tension then bends that pad into the rim. The other pad never gets there, so the brake both drags and refuses to stop.
Loosen the mounting bolt, hold the pads square to the rim with the lever pulled a little, and retighten. Then put only enough cable slack back that the pads clear the rim when you let go. If the wheel is actually out of true, fixing the brake first just hides it. Sight the rim between the pads before you call the wheel done.
The cable
A dry cable in cracked housing feels like a weak brake and a dragging one at the same time. The lever does not return, so the pads stay close, and the force you put in never all arrives at the caliper.
Pull the nipple out of the lever and look at it. Jagwire's JCK207 is a road brake kit: polished stainless inners with the road barrel end, 1500 mm front and 2800 mm rear, and 3 meters of 5 mm housing. It fits this Raleigh if that nipple is the same barrel. It does not fit a lever that was built around a different end. The housing color in this listing is orange. The cables are the part that matters.
Pads come after those two checks. If both pads meet the rim, the cable returns cleanly, and the wheel still will not stop, the blocks are glazed or hard. Buy the shape that slides into this caliper. A salmon compound is the one for wet chrome steel rims, and it is the wrong shopping trip until you have looked at the rim and the holder. The modern-bike pad guide is a different brake: chain, cassette, and pads.