What is the best cantilever cable hanger?

Ok, so this weekend I picked up a "new" bike and it came equiped with early 90's vintage Shimano Cantis. Whole bike looks pretty much stock except for the fork and the front cable hanger for the brakes. The old Marzocchi has been replaced with a rigid unicrown.

So, I've been happily riding my v-brakes since 1992 or 93 when I swapped the stock Shimano Canti's that came with my Stumpjumper for XT v-brakes. Based on memory I could never keep those canti's adjusted properly, so I'm a bit leery of these things. But, I don't really want to swap them out, so I'm going to give them a chance. It looks like they still have the original pads - so those have to go. I'm going to replace them with koolstop salmon for our wonderful west coast rainy winters. The fronts seem to be set up pretty well - I can get good strong braking with those shimano pads. The rears are a different story. Can't get a lot of power with them. Certainly can't lock them up. They don't seem to want to return to the neutral position - not sure if its because of the funky cable protector sleeve or tension adjustment or ?.

Anyhow, I've found the canti adjustment threads and the links to the various sites. I've noticed here that some people swap the stock cable hangers for aftermarket designs. These things have those funny disc shaped Shimano ones that use a fixed length cable and the main brake cable as a run through. My sense is that these are "OK" but that there are better designs out there. Anything that can make this simpler would be worth the investment of a few bucks so I'm looking for suggestions.

Lots of potential arguments pending but the Shimano wide canti of old doesnt care what hanger you use, it just stops you safely and quickly with all the modulation you could possible want.

Until it gets wet...

The other problem is that they stick out a bit and can catch your heels on the rear.

br-m62, 732, mt60 etc

The next argument is that 'v-brakes' didnt appear until around 1995 for the '96 season so you appear to have a time machine - we want it!

I just use the standard Shimano/ Dia-comp 'hook' style as they haven't really failed me yet.



There are these which are for low pro cantis



These lock the cable down but can make removing the wheel more difficult

I always preferred the triangular hangers like the large cheezy one shows above. Easy to adjust and quite nice to look at.

The shimano disk-style hanger with the noodle and fixed length cable aren't as flexible in installation as other hanger types, but they have one distinct advantage: Safety. With any cable system that uses a cross-cable between the 2 caliper arms, the eventuality of a main brake cable breakage somewhere between the lever and hanger will cause the cross cable to fall onto the tire. This will lock the wheel and pitch the rider, 9 times outta 10. The shimano disk style hangers won't do this, as the main cable forms half the straddle, and it simply unspools. I believe this was a result of a lawsuit, but not certain.

The price for that safety is a more cumbersome setup. Brake power depends on the relative angles of the straddle cable and the brake arm. On a "normal" hanger, you can lower the straddle cable easily, by just shortening it. With the shimano hanger, you can only accomplish the same by re-adjusting the pads to cause the arms to splay further. Minor PITA.

Onza Chill Pills were pretty cool too, very minimalist.

J

Ringle Mojo (expensive), Avid Tri Dangle

I have never used the Onza Chill Pill but they look cool and not expensive

I like the look of the Paul Components moon units and they come in lots of colours !

dirttorpedo":233zfaq8 said:

They don't seem to want to return to the neutral position - not sure if its because of the funky cable protector sleeve or tension adjustment or ?

Click to expand...

Sounds like they need more spring tension, and lubing the bosses might help.

I like the Decathlon ones:

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/cable-and-ca ... 58438.html

legrandefromage":xoq5l3dk said:

Lots of potential arguments pending but the Shimano wide canti of old doesnt care what hanger you use, it just stops you safely and quickly with all the modulation you could possible want.

Until it gets wet...

The other problem is that they stick out a bit and can catch your heels on the rear.

br-m62, 732, mt60 etc

The next argument is that 'v-brakes' didnt appear until around 1995 for the '96 season so you appear to have a time machine - we want it!

I just use the standard Shimano/ Dia-comp 'hook' style as they haven't really failed me yet.

Click to expand...

Damn, did I really ride that Stumpy with canti's for three years?

So it looks like there is no magic bullet when it comes to canti hangers. Definitely some nice looking ones though.

FSXStumpy":xoq5l3dk said:

...The shimano disk-style hanger with the noodle and fixed length cable aren't as flexible in installation as other hanger types, but they have one distinct advantage: Safety. With any cable system that uses a cross-cable between the 2 caliper arms, the eventuality of a main brake cable breakage somewhere between the lever and hanger will cause the cross cable to fall onto the tire. This will lock the wheel and pitch the rider, 9 times outta 10.

Click to expand...

Good point - I had this happen to a friend in University - two broken arms was the result.

Koupe":xoq5l3dk said:

dirttorpedo":xoq5l3dk said:

They don't seem to want to return to the neutral position - not sure if its because of the funky cable protector sleeve or tension adjustment or ?

Click to expand...

Sounds like they need more spring tension, and lubing the bosses might help.

Click to expand...

My canti's only have an adjustment screw on the one side - so it seems that is more to balance the tension between sides. What I've read is that increasing tension requires you to put the spring in a different hole on the on the plate that sites along side the canti boss. Is that correct?

dirttorpedo":130q41ek said:

My canti's only have an adjustment screw on the one side - so it seems that is more to balance the tension between sides. What I've read is that increasing tension requires you to put the spring in a different hole on the on the plate that sites along side the canti boss. Is that correct?

Click to expand...

There should be three holes there; tension increases from bottom to top. I've always just used the top hole regardless

Having said that, some canti designs have a seperate spring system that adjusts from the front without using the holes at all (in fact I'm using some at the moment) - in theory they offer finer adjustment and limitless tension, but they're not perfect.

Rampage":26n9c2b8 said:

I like the Decathlon ones:

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/cable-and-ca ... 58438.html

Click to expand...

I recently bought a pair of those for my current project. very nice. haven't decided if I'm going to use them yet though...