avid canti problem - shorty 6's have no power

[jax13]

I've just fitted these to my SS marin along with brand new avid pads.

they are setup as any other brake i have had in the past has been, a slight toe in on the pads, 2mm from a true rim and with good cable tension.

my worry is that I have mistakenly bought non-canti compatible levers (a pair of avid sd-1.9l)

if anyone can suggest a solution to the problem i would appreciate it. current symptoms include very stiff lever pull with weak brake power and surges of braking power when slowing down from any kind of speed.


please help!

 

[one-eyed_jim]

my worry is that I have mistakenly bought non-canti compatible levers (a pair of avid sd-1.9l)

Right. You've got V-brake levers. They'll work after a fashion if you set the leverage adjuster to give minimum pull, but you really need to replace either the brakes or the levers.

 

[grahame]

Agreed. V-brakes work with lots of cable pull, at "low tension", Cantilever brakes work with shorter cable pull at "high tension".

Or in other words, V-brake levers + Cantilevers = poor braking.
Cantilever levers + V-brakes = powerful brakes that are a bitch to set up.

Get some levers designed for with cantilevers, and all will be well.

 

[jax13]

gone the other way and grabbed a set of ovation v's from a later year marin instead. unfortunately the project has had to be made to a low budget so i will save money with the switch.