My son recently received a second hand bike with both hand and pedal (?) brakes. He had been using the pedal brake because the hand brakes for both the front and rear were too loose to work well. When you would apply the they barely touched the rim.
I attempted to fix the brakes by tightening up the cable which worked... sort of. Now the issue is that the brakes won't release after they are applied. They aren't applied with the same force as when the hand lever is applied, but they are still touching the rim which makes the bike painfully slow. If I pull open the caliper itself then the wheel spins freely.
I am referring to rim brakes; the types of hand brakes where there is a separate lever for front and rear and when you squeeze them little pads touch to the rim to stop the bike.
How can I adjust the brakes in such a way that they apply pressure to the rim but also release when the lever is released?