Originally Posted by
John Hawkinson
Great question. Of course the real answer is I didn't think about that.
But my experience is I get many years and sets of pads out of a set of brake cables, and that loosening and tightening the pinch bolt more than a few times leads to a freyed cable,
On the other hand, it's probably easier than messing around with swapping washers and spacers, and infinitely variably adjustable.
But it still leaves the real question: Is it normal to have to make this kind of adjustment over the life of a pad?
Cables do not last forever, are inexpensive to change, and make an often remarkable improvement when replaced. I replace the outers at the same time.
Also, make certain that your barrel adjusters are nearly all the way retracted and the shoes firmly against the rim when you set up the cable clamp so that you do not waste adjuster travel setting up the initial pad adjustment.