Process to setup to Cantilever Brakes - Arrggghh.

Simple swap......must have vee compatible levers and the last bit of cable outer runs past it's final stop to the brake itself, so you will need a new bit to set it up......they are much better to use and easier to set up though.....a really positive upgrade until the game moved on with discs.......

Had several bikes with v's and they are great. I want to keep the old bike original for now so will fight on with cantis. If they ever give up, they will get replaced.

I have the best process ever.

1 ) walk the bike to a bike shop.
2 ) tell them to set up the brakes.
3 ) pick it up a few days later and ride it home.

Seriously, it costs me a tenner or so to let them sort the brakes out. For that price I can't do it myself because I need more than an hour to get them right.
I figured I might as well spend that hour working to earn the money for the LBS, it's much less stressful that way.

Ive just read through that park tools link, and as im sure most will agree, setting up canti's is just something you 'know' but they are fiddly!

Although the trick with the elastic band for toe-in, and winding the adjuster out, setting them bang on the rim then letting it out again, is something i never thought of back then, yet its so bloody simple, i actually have a set of NOS xt 737 canti's and some bloody good condition lx 567 (?) canti's, and im looking at my bikes thinking which i can/should fit them to lol.

Btw, does anyone know, avid SD1.9 levers with the adjuster wheel on the lever for cable pull, will this adjust enough to work with canti's or do i need new levers too?

I have just been through all of this with my Arthur Caygill, which, for reasons now lost to me, I decided to build 'trad'.

Feetabix's long, detailed and superb post reminds me exactly why BITD, as soon as they were available, we all binned canti's and bought V-brakes.

All of that said, well set up canti's do work, not as well as a badly set up v brake, but they will stop you in a hurry if they must.

Other than aesthetics, I see no reason why people are so attached to cantis, it's like fitting drum brakes to your car... retrograde.. although, that word does start with retro, so I guess that says it all.

Vive la difference!

NeilM":2b7oybfd said:

I have just been through all of this with my Arthur Caygill, which, for reasons now lost to me, I decided to build 'trad'.

Feetabix's long, detailed and superb post reminds me exactly why BITD, as soon as they were available, we all binned canti's and bought V-brakes.

All of that said, well set up canti's do work, not as well as a badly set up v brake, but they will stop you in a hurry if they must.

Other than aesthetics, I see no reason why people are so attached to cantis, it's like fitting drum brakes to your car... retrograde.. although, that word does start with retro, so I guess that says it all.

Vive la difference!

Click to expand...

The analogy isn't quite there with the drum brake thing on a car. Cantis setup correctly can work just as good as Vs - they're just trickier to get there.

The difference is more the complexity, and having to be more mechanically aware of how they will work best, than purely whether they will actually work as effectively. IME properly setup cantilevers are just as powerful as correctly setup Vs - it's just more likely that the person doing the setup will find getting the Vs to work effectively a lot easier than doing the same with cantis.

Neil":20id5ycm said:

The analogy isn't quite there with the drum brake thing on a car. Cantis setup correctly can work just as good as Vs - they're just trickier to get there.

The difference is more the complexity, and having to be more mechanically aware of how they will work best, than purely whether they will actually work as effectively. IME properly setup cantilevers are just as powerful as correctly setup Vs - it's just more likely that the person doing the setup will find getting the Vs to work effectively a lot easier than doing the same with cantis.

Click to expand...

That is probably true, but setting up cant's is much more of a 'Black Art' than setting up V brakes.

Right, off to the garage to change the cable hangers on some canti's.... I may be some time.

Great guides thank you. Just completed a job I had been avoiding all summer.

The first time I rode a bike with V brakes (6 months ago) I was amazed. I know I'm a newbie but had to re calibrate lever pulling (and still do compared to properly set up cantis, which I was familiar with from back in the dim and distant past. Given the choice i would pick V over canti every time. Unless it was for build reasons. (I use wooden chip forks for toe in )

I wonder what those new fangled discs are like? The Devil's work!