Morning all, the front brake on my tourer (2011 Dawes Galaxy) have started squeeling and causing a lot of vibration when I apply them and I’m at a bit of a loss top work out why.

They stop me ok (apart from the bit where the whole front end of the bike vibrates when I get down to about walking pace) and all the relevant bolts & fixings appear to be tight and the front wheel is true and doesn’t have any loose spokes.

Does anyone have any bright ideas for what I could try to get this sorted?

Could a new set of pads be the answer?

Do I need to clean the rim? (not an euphemism)

Loose headset?

So this one had me going nuts for ages on my all-city nature boy. The squealing could just be a toeing issue on the pads but the vibration was driving me insane. Essentially what was happening was that the cable from the hanger (one of the spacers above the headset) to the brake on the fork crown was too long, meaning that as the brakes wore in and got a bit more bite to them, the braking was causing the forks to slightly flex. This then causes the cable to release tension, the forks move back to a normal position, and repeat the process – cue massive amounts of brake juddering as the brakes are effectively reapplied tens of times a second. The solution for me was to use a crown mounted cable hanger to shorten the amount of exposed cable, which sorted it right out.

I’ve just had a quick look at the headset and it appears tight

cue massive amounts of brake juddering as the brakes are effectively reapplied tens of times a second

This sounds like it, thanks, I’ll have a look at that over the weekend.

bit of toe in? I used to set them up with a folded bit of card at the back of the block.

Reset the pads with a bit more toe in used to sort it out for me. flashback to hours of frustration trying to get them ‘just right’ So glad I don’t have canti’s anymore!

Do you have a carbon fork?

Will try adjusting the toe-in.

qwerty, it’s a steel fork.

Do you have a fork mounted cable hanger? (if not you might need one).

Specialized Tricross were plauged by this a while ago, if you Google Specialized Tricross brake judder you’ll see theinternet babble on it.

Sheldon Brown site will offer loads of info on proper set up.

Are the brakes firmly attached to the canti posts? All fastenings correctly torqued? No wear in the brake bushes (which allow the brake to move around on the post)? If the latter you may need a new set of brakes, but check all of the previously mentioned brake shoe issues first.

Fitting V Brakes would probably also sort this issue.

Can I use v brakes with STI shifters?

If you get some travel agents,they work great.

Specialized Tricross were plauged by this a while ago, if you Google Specialized Tricross brake judder you’ll see theinternet babble on it.

I got so sick of adjusting toe in every week that I ended up fitting a set of Tektro Mini Vs which cured the fork judder

The solution for me was to use a crown mounted cable hanger to shorten the amount of exposed cable, which sorted it right out.

This.

mini vs will work, i had the same problem and swapped to mini vs

If you have full mudguards mini vee’s might foul on them.

The reason mini-V’s or travel agents etc etc all work is because they remove that cable drop between the hanger and the canti itself.

I’d say a tenner on a new cable outer/inner and the crown mounted hanger was a far cheaper way of getting it fixed up.

Thanks for the suggestions.

It does have full mudguards so it sounds as though the Mini Vs may cause an issue with clearance.

I’ll have a fettle over th weekend and see how I get on.

Although the bike is around 4 years old it’s done less than 300 miles (many more co come if I can sort the brakes out though) so I’m inclined to think it’s likely to be a case of needing adjustment rather than replacing cables, I could be wrong on this though.

Happened on my all-city within 50 miles from new. No amount of fettling cured it; it’s a silly design that I don’t know why people persist with – but then it doesn’t happen much/at all with carbon forks as they’re stiffer fore/aft than steel ones

wombat – Member

It does have full mudguards so it sounds as though the Mini Vs may cause an issue with clearance.

FWIW I put the super-cheap Tektro bmx mini-vs on my roadrat, they didn’t quite fit around big cromoplastics but it only took a little work to get back the cable clearance. So a little bit of faff, but nothing compared to spiteful, perfidious cantis.