Adjustability, modulation, etc etc. Whatever, these things can go die. Discs and Vs are infinitely easier to live with.
by Olderschoolwillie
Adjustability, modulation, etc etc. Whatever, these things can go die. Discs and Vs are infinitely easier to live with.
by Olderschoolwillie
24 Comments
Those stock straddle cables are horrible and deserve to live the rest of their lives in the landfill. Put on a new straddle cable + hanger and it will be night and day.
I grew up on them, and I’ll swap out for a nice linear pull any day of the week. Yes, you can make them MUCH better with different straddle cables and adjustable pads and all that, but why? A $10 vee is better and levers are basically free at the co-op. If I REALLY wanted to keep some old levers on there, sure.
What’s the issue you have here? They look decently set up.
Well those forks are beautiful so suck it up
Looking online it seems these forks are OK to be used with v brakes. In your position I’d swap on the canti for a v brake immediately, at least on the front. Note you’ll also need different levers as they use a different pull.
Low profile cantis are in my experience the worst since the mechanical advantage is too low. Sure there are other low profiles and you can adjust the straddle cable yolk to be 1mm above the tire, but it will never beat a mid-profile caliper. I choose to stick with a classic mid-profile like the Shimano MT-62 or MC-70 because they look the ducks guts and work much better than any low profile canti. So at least don’t knock mid profile cantis.
I started singing, bye bye, Mr canti guy
Pulled my lever but it was never gonna stop me in time
And them good old boys were using M505s
Singing this will be the day that I die
do vbrakes fit there?
i love those brake pads
not all canti’s were created equal.
those in that pic are near the bottom of the list of brakes I’d use on the front.
V-brakes don’t work with vintage road levers and Discs are just not an option on the frames I ride.
Ya sure those rims are made for rim brakes?
I’m with you. I’ve never managed to set up a pair of cantilever brakes to be anything more than “good enough.” I’ve tried it all, all the advice from Sheldon Brown, Calvin, Zinn, the Kool Stop pads, the new straddle cable. They’re just never anywhere near as good as a cheap economy pair of linear pull tektro calipers fished out of the bottom of the parts bin.
What about mini V’s
Path less pedaled did vid about the decathlon versions which are easier to get in Europe
But I see some on eBay too
Once you get fully emotionally invested into making cantis work, it’s like having a high-maintenance long term girlfriend that you will defend to the death. That’s why some people continue to love cantis even though they suck and have hurt them many times before.
Throw them out and enjoy the benefits of 21st century bike technology, or even late 20th century mediocre bike technology.
Those are the dumb narrow clearance cantis where the arm sticks up at a 60 degree angle from the horizontal. That gives away a lot of pull force from the cable.
The OG cantis with arms that stick out more horizontally work a lot better.
As a cyclist since the ’90s, I remember cantis, and then vees, and then discs and WHOA hydraulic discs. For some years I wouldn’t touch a new (or used) bike that didn’t have hydraulic disc brakes, they were so far superior.
While I believe that to still be the case, I’m enjoying the hell out of my old ’90s bikes now, with their cantilever brakes and thumb shifters. I fully understand the progress that’s been made, and there is place for it for sure (my modern MTBs). But the cantis give me a nostalgic, warm fuzzy feeling, even if they don’t stop that great. The bikes they’re on don’t go that fast.
At my first bike shop job in the mid-90’s the shop owners wanted me to be super meticulous about canti setups(and bearing adjustments) and they would shoot me with a blow gun until I got them perfect. I am a master of canti brakes and non-cartridge bearing adjustments.
But they are cool
They’re a pain in the ass, I bin the crappy ones and sell the good ones to the people who like to suffer
>cantilever lovers
Cantilovers.
I hated adjusting cantis I got them working and then I stopped touching them and they’re fine. Upgraded one bike to v brakes and those are so much better. Bought a couple bikes with mechanical disk brakes with QR wheels and those are a pain in the butt. Not matter what every time I put the wheels on no matter how hard I try to get it to seat the same it doesn’t. And they have to be adjusted. Adjusting them isn’t too bad once you learn. I’ve gotten good at it. It was a learning curve at first. The rotors needed some trueing on one bike which was easy. The disk brakes work good they just feel funny, that must be the easier modulation people talk about.
Low profile cantis seem to be the worst. My deerhead cantis feel better than my XTR Vs
It’s sad to me that with all of the comments left here by everyone, not a single person pointed out what your actual problem is here:
Your link wire is too long for this setup. Link wires come in four different lengths. Shorter link wires are needed for max power with low profile cantilever arms like these.
I own several bikes with cantis, V brakes, and hydraulic disks. Three of these bikes are cantis with drop bar levers. The distain for cantis usually comes from people who don’t understand optimal setup. When properly set up, they are more than good enough. When poorly set up, they are left wanting (especially low profile cantis). Even the cheapest $10 Shimano Altus cantis are capable of good performance when set up with Kool Stop pads and a short A or B size link wire.
Sheldon explains it all: https://www.sheldonbrown.com/cantilever-geometry.html