Cantilever brake setup - Cyclocross content

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Cantilever brake setup - Cyclocross content

24 posts & 18 voices | Started 10 months ago by beargotsoul | Latest reply from clubber

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beargotsoul - Member

Picked myself up a Kona Jake this week off the classifieds and rode to work today, had a scary moment on the way home when the van in from of me braked suddenly and I nearly went into the back of him (forgot they weren't as good as my discs on the Rat)

Have tried playing with the brakes tonight to see if I can get them to actually stop me, but haven't got anywhere, can't get the back to lock up at all (may have something to do with my 18 stone bulk) so does anyone have any tips for getting them setup?

Posted 10 months ago #
coatesy - Member

Colleague of mine has one too, he's replaced his with mini-Vs as they were dire.

Posted 10 months ago #
richpips - Member

Get some soft Kool-Stop pads or similar.

Check there's no slack in your braking transmission.

But at the end of the day cantis do blow goats.

Posted 10 months ago #
oldgit - Member

What ones are they?

Anyway I set mine up without tyres fitted so I can see exactly were they're contacting. Mine are Froglegs and I don't mind giving them a tweek with some Molgrips.
They don't have paralelagram action and tend to travel in an arc, so you really need to see what youre doing.
No issues with stopping, not as good as Dura Ace road brakes though.

Posted 10 months ago #
13thfloormonk - Member

I fitted some Avid shorties with the standard straddle wire, seemed fine. Not as grabby as the mini Vs, but not as spongy at the lever either.

I think having the straddle wire set as 'flat' as possible is supposedly a good thing, or at least setting it up so the straddle wire is at 90deg to the brake arms when the pad hits the rim.

Posted 10 months ago #
beargotsoul - Member

I think they are Branded Kore

Posted 10 months ago #
qwerty - Member

I think Sheldon Brown has an article on his site about setting them up.

Mini Vs are probably your best bet though.

I love my CX bike and currently use it (with cantis) for my rural commute. Personally, if i had traffic to contend with there is no way I'd rely on cantis (or drop bars).

Posted 10 months ago #
mattsccm - Member

See Sheldon. Longer arms work better all other things being equal in my experience.

Posted 10 months ago #
Stoner - Member

what ^ says.

See the sheldon brown article on setting up the cables properly.

http://sheldonbrown.com/canti-trad.html

Posted 10 months ago #
unicrownjunkie - Member

Hi, excuse the gaffe if I happen to provide one, its my first post here.

On my Surly Cross-Check I fought with my brakes all winter until about two months ago; after fighting with my Paul Components canti's and not having success I dug out my Suntour XC Pro canti's for the front, and on the rear I put on Suntour/Pedersen SE (Self Energizing) canti's.

Normally I agree wholeheartedly about locking up the wheel, but I found that I accidentally set up my SE's to not only have great braking, but don't lock up as well, its like I have ABS. So far so good.

Of course though Sheldon's page is a much better start! But hopefully this helps a bit.

Posted 10 months ago #
Sponging-Machine - Member

'I think they are Branded Kore'

Had these on my Jake the Snake. No matter what I did with them, they were terrible. Swapped for some Avid Shorty brakes which led to instant improvement. SwissStop pads made a difference too.

Posted 10 months ago #
h4muf - Member

Tektro 520's for me,tried froglegs-crap.

Posted 10 months ago #
beargotsoul - Member

Thanks everyone, I'll have another fettle in the morning.

Posted 10 months ago #
ds3000 - Member

Old LX cantis with black and red koolstop pads and tektro 520? Drop levers have been great for me in anything dry, shite in the wet though.

Posted 10 months ago #
mav12 - Member

i have tektro cantis front is best described ok rear is pretty poor really think a lot of it is down to pads anyone has any success changing the pads on tektros. kool stop seem to be favorites but cant seem to find them at a decent price
heard mini v are a pain to set up

Posted 10 months ago #
cqed - Member

i have avid shorties on both my cross bikes and keep the straddle wire as flat as possible, and this set up is perfect for racing. i also used to run the same on a heavily laden tourer without issue.

Posted 10 months ago #
Edric 64 - Member

What cqed said works for me my straddle wire misses the tyre by a gnats cock and I can lock up and still had brakes at the bottom of Pen y ghent on last years 3 peaks

Posted 10 months ago #
oldgit - Member

Whipping out the cheap shiny black pads and fitting some salmon pads will help a bit.
I had some Tektros which were slightly better and easier to set up, but for some reason when you released the wire they never opened up enough to get the wheel out quickly. So I put my lighter Froglegs back on.

Posted 10 months ago #
clubber - Member

better pads and setup.

mind you I took the easy option of Vs and travel agents and they're brilliant now

Posted 10 months ago #
mark a. - Member

A lot of advice you might see for cantilever brakes (straddle wire at 90º to the brake arm, straddle wire as low as possible) don't really apply to wide-profile cantis, which I guess yours might be (mine are Kore too).

This is the best resource I've found (there's a link to a pdf on the page too):
http://www.circleacycles.com/cantilevers/

As far as I can tell, wide-profile cantis are designed for mud clearance (great) and ease of set up (great) but it just means that they're fairly rubbish no matter what you do.

I stuck some Kool Stop salmons on mine which really helped. But they're still not great.

Posted 10 months ago #
GregMay - Member

TRP brakes. Simple. Then green Swiss-stops. Both bikes have them, can lock both wheels, they are as good as my DA road brakes when running right....if not...well you've experienced that.

Those Kore ones are rubbish, Shimano ones...not far off. Only tried the new Avid's once...they are pretty damn good...expensive though

Issue can be getting the pads to toe in if they are on posts, you may need to bend the posts, or splash out on the TRP adjustable posts.

Usually the issue is the distance from the top of the straddle to the cable stop point, this is what gives the brakes their 'spongey' feel.

Posted 10 months ago #
beargotsoul - Member

Tried some new pads and setting the straddle wire at 90 deg, marginally better.

Might try some V brakes out next, have a spare set in the shed.

Is this what I need?

Posted 10 months ago #
Edric 64 - Member

Yes they are what you need

Posted 10 months ago #
clubber - Member

that's it. I certainly wouldn't go back to cantis now.

Posted 10 months ago #

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