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I thought the standard way of stopping brakes squealing on mtbs anyway ways to put some copperslip on the back of the pad. Do not blame me though if it destroys your brakes.
I rode my rim braked bike yesterday in the rain and had forgotten just how bad they are compared to a functioning disc brake. However, I won't put up with the squealing disc brakes so have ordered some Hope RX4 disc brakes in the hope that this will fix the issue. The point of disc brakes was to provide an increased level of confidence when braking in wet condition and given I'd rather not pull the lever than listen to the horrendous squealing kind of defeats the object. If people are happy to put up with that level of noise then great, but AFAIC these brakes aren't fit for purpose.
To go back to rim brakes is bloody madness!
Any more mad than having to wear headphones to drown out the noise of your squealy brakes because you've neglected to routinely set fire to them? 😉
(note since smileys never work for me anymore, please take that comment in jest...)
My headphone wearing goes back to riding to work on a caliper braked mountain bike (SQUEEEEAL!) with slicks I'll have you know! 😀
Look on the positive side - at least people hear you coming..!
Sorry, not sure whether it's a good idea to revive this thread or not! I've been having issues on the 'cross bike and it's got practically the same setup as my road bike, which doesn't squeal*, so I'm intrigued what other people's experiences are. I've read tons about the subject and tried all sorts of things and there still seems to be no One Unifying Answer to solve brake squeal.
* there seem to be two types of squeal on the road bike: one happens very occasionally when it's wet and I'm braking gently, for example approaching a junction. This stops if I brake hard. The other type happens at the end of a big descent when obviously everything has heated up a LOT and I'm braking hard. After the rotors have stopped ticking and the pad fins have done their job, the brakes don't squeal. It might just be my imagination, but the latter noise seems more to be an indication of the brakes warning me they havnae got any more power, captain... like when Swissstop BXP rim brake pads squeal when you're really pushing them.
The closest thing I'm seeing to consensus is the need to get the brakes hot occasionally to burn off contamination. This doesn't entirely align with my experiences but it's the only thing I haven't deliberately tried.
Maybe you aren't getting the brakes hot enough on the CX bike?
Greasing the back of the pads has been mentioned a couple of times. Copper slip and/or shims is fairly standard on car brake pads. Does is actually work on bikes? I guess the principle is the same, but there is a massive difference in scale.