Cantilever Brakes- Help

Cookie91

:roll:
Sorry guys ,but I seem to be struggling with the set up of my cantilever brakes. I am currently running Tekro CR720's that came stock on my bike with sora levers, when I first got them the stock pads were pretty terrible so I have swapped them out to some Koolstop salmons. The braking is only marginally better and does not do the salmons justice.
I have had a little read around the net on set up of cantilevers etc. However I still seem to be struggling, is there any good step by step set up links around? Or perhaps something I am missing out on? I just miss that "bite" that you get with a well set up brake!

kentphil

I fitted some Ashima v brake pads to my Tektro cantis. They are adjustable so you can angle the pads so the front of the pad makes contact before the rear of the pad. This has improved the braking performance particularly at the front.

petemadoc

Have you ever used cantis before? You know they are pretty cr4p right? Especially in the wet!

I use my cross bike for commuting, racing and bad weather riding. In the dry braking is acceptable and in the wet it's scary. Just this Sunday I was coming down a steep descent with a tight corner and ended up running wide onto the grass as I pulled the levers as hard as I could.

Pads make a small difference, I tried koolstops but I just buy whatever is available at a good price at the time now. Just make sure they're set up well, it can be fiddly.

phy2sll2

Four factors to consider:

1) As above: a bit of toe-in will have a positive impact on the braking force. Bear in mind, though that too much toe-in can make braking a bit unpredictable and will result in the pads wearing very quickly.
2) Straddle bridge height: lower = more mechanical advantage. Too low and you are compromising mud clearance. Really really low and the cables will foul the tyre (assume you're running 33's with an all-round / mud tread). Should be about 2 fingers width above the tyre, no higher.
3) Cable hanger: better mounted to the fork crown than the steerer. This will help counter any judder effect.
4) Brake 'clearance': don't set up your brakes so they're a hair's width from the rim. I would go for ~2mm clearance on each side. The reasoning behind this is that mechanical advantage tends to increase with lever pull and if your pads contact the rim as soon as you touch the lever, you are therefore limiting the force you can apply.

You will never get them to behave like good dual-pivot rim brakes. If you can get to a point where you can lock the wheels up from speed then you're doing well!

Monty Dog

As above- getting straddle-wire height correct, plus having decent cable outers helps too - cheap cable outer flexes and can give the brakes a spongey feel. I can easily lock the wheels on my CX bikes - I ride lots of singletrack with a few drop-offs to negotiate so I want to make sure I have absolute control. The Tektros are fairly decent stoppers so worth persevering.

veronese68

All of the above. I managed to get them as good as I could, then found that they would gradually deteriorate over time. A good clean of the rims would resume normal service for a while, they were dreadful in the wet.
After hurting my right hand in an accident I sold my old Jake as I just couldn't pull the brakes hard enough. I gave up with the cantis and now run with discs and they are much better, if a bit noisy in the wet.

alexvam

Hi- I tried for a long time to get mine right, but the power in them was really poor- so I swapped to TRP V-brakes. They are fantastic and the feel and power I get with them is great, definitely improved my race results (3 top10s in the North West since). Loads ore confidence on the descents. Also, couple of very muddy races and no issue with clogging- definitely wouldn't go back to cantos and has also put me off the expensive conversion to disks.

kajjal

I came from mountain biking with disc brakes and found road bike brakes frightening in comparison. As above if you can lock up the wheels at speed while having good modulation you have done well. I only got this by upgrading the cheapo brakes on my road bike to 105's.

My eventual next road bike will more likely have disc brakes as it makes braking better and more reliable.

FransJacques

Read: http://www.cxmagazine.com/cyclocross-br ... im-upgrade

Shorter straddles and 72mm pads with Swiss Stop Greens worked for me. Halfords has 72 mm post mount shoes with removeable pads made by Clarks. They're fine but the SS Greens helped a lot.

I don't see any issues with cantis compared with my DA 7800. They're fine on the road, in the wet, just budget on more distance...

MikeWW

These http://www.wiggle.co.uk/trp-eurox-alloy-cantilever-brakes/ work really well and are easy to set up

Monty Dog

I ran TRP Euro-Xs for a year - they're pretty rubbish in comparison to CX950 or Avid Ultimate cantis or for raw power, TRP CX8.4/9.0 mini vees

dartmoorscottydog

Swapped mine for mini-Vs after much fettling.
Wouldn't go back - I can stop now before I hit Cornwall!