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Ok so just back from a quick ride, upon taking the wheels off and loading in my car I think I squeezed the hydro disk brakes a few times. Now I'm home about to clean it but I can't get the wheels on because the brakes have closed tight.

Is there a simple way to open them? Does that make a lot of sense.

Still a 100% noob here!

Cheers

Slap a big screwdriver / dh tyre lever in there and force the pistons apart.

In case this happens again its always a good idea to keep some old pads at home, so you can pop those in when you need to do it, and save the face of the pads youre currently running.

Use a flat head screw driver to push the brake pads back to create a gap for the disc to go into

Tip.... Try not to pull your levers when the wheels are off, but you've probably worked this out.

Tip2, put cardboard/hard plastic between your brake pads next time you take the wheel off, then if brakes gets dabbed it wont matter.

I had this same problem before, now when my wheels are off i put a couple of the laminated flooring packers in there so it cant happen again

Cheers for the help guys, bike back together and cleaned before the misses got home!

Lesson 1 complete

Seems odd cleaning it knowing that I'm gonna get it filthy tomorrow, just hate seeing it dirty, and I had dog shite on the tyres and a bit on the frame.

As well as the putting something in between the pads, I have a peice of pipe lagging which I have shaped to the bars and I wedge between the bar and lever to stop the lever getting knocked after I have take then wheel out.

Get your self an avid brakes bleed block, they are a couple of quid each and are designed to open up the pad gap without damaging or removing the pads and as a spacer. Hayes also do a tool for setting pad space but cost a bit more.

On the subject of hydrolic brakes im a bit new to, I assume if the leaver is soft then they need bleeding?

Is it possible to move the pads themselves closer to the disc as well?

I only seem to have 6 moveable bits on the stock tektro drako's, 2 bolts to hold the caliper to the forks, 2 bolts that appear to hold the 2 halves of the caliper together, a bit that looks like it would be used to bleed the brake as it is oposite to the cable into the caliper and a bolt that looks like it holds the pads in. The tektro website is less than helpfull and the only online help mentions the adjustment of the caliper to line the pads with the rota.

I doubt you will have pad contact adjustment on that model of brakes. The pull on he lever will get longer or softer as the pads wear down. if they were set up and bled correctly at installation there shouldn't be any need to bleed them unless you are changing the fluid. Just like the brake fluid in a car, it will deteriorate over time, but that will take a long time , years in fact. Try a new set of pads before embarking on bleeding, you'll need them anyway so it's not money wasted.
I have pad contact on my brake set up but very rarely use it.

Hmm only done about 100 miles on them so dont think they are worn, they dont appear to be worn either, the lever is softer than when i first got the bike and firms up with a couple of pulls.

I also seem to have to adjust the caliper every time i remove the front wheel to transport the bike as I get a rub.

Im sure they did something to the front brake when it went in for its free 8 week check, but cant prove it, didnt have any problems before hand.

Try cable tying the lever tight to the grip and leave over night, should firm things up, otherwise unless the pads have worn down which as Clayton says does cause the lever to get spongy if not that then may need a bleed

If it gets stiff after a couple of pulls (phnaaaar phnaar) its definately air in the sytem, same as old cars where you had to pump the system to get decent brakes.

Sounds like time to bleed.