Just fixed this back up.The rear derailleur hanger was strangely bent.God knows how! Hammered it straight, suffered and toiled with a rounded off axle nut that had siezed with rust. It's rideable ...it'll save me a ton of fuel money.Needs some new cantilevers soon , other than that it's not bad
Saracen sahara 1991
- Thread starter Stephen76
- Start date
frkl
Retro Guru
Second that.A new rear brake cable would help massively in braking force by lowering that rear anchor point
Setting up cantilevers correctly is both a science and art. But you will get a lot more stopping power (or rather, you won't have to squeeze quite as hard to get the same stopping power) if you move the yoke that holds the straddle cable between the cantilever arms down, closer to the tire. The brake arms themselves almost certainly have less to do with perceived weakness in the brakes than the yoke position.
A properly set up cantilever will be just as good as anything new out there, in my experience. The kicker is that the newer stuff is easier to set up, so it often seems like it is "better."
Also, new brake pads.
frkl
Retro Guru
True, but at the same time, and speaking from personal experience, the wrong set up will render even great cantis almost useless.
@Stephen76 , if you are looking for recommendations, this forum is fantastic. And welcome, btw
Thanks for the advice guys. The front brake yoke is very low compared to the back and is more efficient. Both cantilevers knackered .The screw that adjusts alignment is snapped off on them.Old 200gs brake levers are history thank god.Unfortunately it still has the heavy 200gs chainset and the derailleurs .
She's done some miles!
She's done some miles!
frkl
Retro Guru
The front yoke position looks better from the photo, but also the front will always feel more effective than the rear (in part because it is, but also because the cable travels less distance, so there is less friction in the system).
I would encourage you to stick with cantis when you switch the brakes (or have you already?) to maintain the appearance of the bike. But if you decide to switch to V's, you will (almost certainly) need to replace the levers if you use V brakes instead of cantilevers, provided those levers are original.
Thanks for the interest! The levers are v brake levers atm I'm in two minds what to do. Might go half and half , v on the back , nice silver shimano cantI on front.
Then get a period chainset off a higher groupset, ditto the rear mech
frkl
Retro Guru
Stop me if you know all this already! People join the forum with all different levels of wrenching experience, and I don't want to be repeating things you know already!
But, if the levers are V levers, and you are using them with the cantis in the picture, this would explain some of the problems.
V levers have the pivot further away from the cable attachment point, so they pull more cable and have less mechanical advantage. Canti levers have more mechanical advantage and pull less cable. So if those are V levers, then your hand will have to pull harder to pull the canti yoke up with the same amount of force that a canti lever would exert.
But, if the levers are V levers, and you are using them with the cantis in the picture, this would explain some of the problems.
V levers have the pivot further away from the cable attachment point, so they pull more cable and have less mechanical advantage. Canti levers have more mechanical advantage and pull less cable. So if those are V levers, then your hand will have to pull harder to pull the canti yoke up with the same amount of force that a canti lever would exert.
I'd just go with v-brakes. Many of us upgraded to them. Although, I think my Sahara ended up with and XT canti on the front, and Suntour Self energising on the back as the stock brakes were so poor (and I trashed one of the brake levers in a crash within a couple of months of owning).
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