Hi All

I am looking for some help with my girlfriends cyclocross bike. Its a Giant TRC, the problem is with the front Avid cantilever brake. It makes the most horroble squeaking noise when the pads hit the rim. It is a fault from new, the issue hasnt developed over time. I have tried pretty much everything i can think of to stop it but it will not stop.

Come to think of it, everything I can think of exclusively includes making sure everything is tight, and the pads are being toed in…

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do?

Thanks

try one of these on the fork if it doesn’t already have one;

often the ‘top of the headtube’ mounted ones can cause judder and squeal.

available here, amongst others;

http://www.edinburghbicycle.com/products/tektro-fork-mount-cable-hanger

Koolstops may help…not guaranteed though.

Judder can be the cause so try the above.

I’m going to assume you have set them up correctly. If you “just did it” then check online for guides. I managed to improve mine when I actually looked for a guide as opposed to doing it by sensible guess work. There is a nice trick of using an o ring round the back of the brake to get it to toe in properly – much better than by eye.

Vibration might also be coming from the pads, maybe try different ones. Might be something to do with the rim. Give it a good clean. Same for blocks, give them a good clean and maybe a light sand?

try rubbing the pads with some sand paper to remove any surface glaze. also try this with some very fine sand paper on the rim itself. do the pads in one direction and the rims in another so the surface friction will be increased.

It’s worth noting that Avid Shortys are notorious for squealing, no matter what you do with them.

Assuming your ‘toe in’ is good, then wwaswas +1 :there is an explanantion of this somewhere online (sheldon?) about this but it is something to do with the length of cable between the brakes and the cable hanger. The shorter this length is the less the shudder and hence less squeal, so if there is a drilling in the fork to mount a cable stop there instead of the one she has on the top of the headtube then so much the better. [edit] waves at Rich ^^

yeah, Avids are famous for squealing, try toeing in, different brake pads and then some new brakes, in that order

a fork mounted hanger will help with judder, won’t do anything for squeal

I had the same problem with my pads untill I toed them in. Sorted.

Clicky

grease the posts can help, too.

I had a terrible squeal problem that I eventually identified as being caused by the canti posts being slightly longer than the brakes. Thus when the brake was bolted onto the canti post it could move backward and forward which caused the squeal.

I tried to correct this with a washer which cured the fore / aft movement but it also prevented the brake from rotating on the post which wasn’t very helpful.

I eventually worked out that an O ring over the canti bolt was just right to take up the slack but to allow the brake to work.

Sure it’s not her?

the Guru says…