things i cannot do....

[orange71]

Off road they are sandpapered flat against the rims totally negating any toe in advantage and thus the principal becomes pointless.

phew...so I was right

 

[Benandemu]

I saw my mate fitting his brakes without any tyres on the wheels once. I quickly adopted the same method, much to my amazement.
It really is ridiculous how much time you can save by doing this. It is so much easier, and loads more accurate.
Go on, try it!

 

[Will Palmer]

Having never set up V-Brakes, I have no idea if they're any easier, but I've always found Cantis a doddle. DiaCompe 987's admittedly easier than Shimano as they have an infinately adjustable spring tension, but I fitted and tuned my M900's in about 20 mins after not touching cantis for at least 13yrs

I saw my mate fitting his brakes without any tyres on the wheels once

This indeed does make things much easier, although if using a spare wheel ensure the rim is the same width as the one you intend to use - not that I've ever used a wider rim to set the pads and ended up in the hedge at the bottom of the drive :roll:

 

[Agency_Scum]

Benandemu,
'ere mate, that sounds bloody clever. I'll give that a go meself.

 

[Benandemu]

It's the best thing I've learnt in the last decade!
God knows how I used to set my Maguras up before!

 

[bushpig]

A nice way to toe in your pads to avoid howling is with light or medium grit sandpaper. With the sandpaper between the rim and the pad (facing the pad!) pull the lever and pull the sandpaper through by rolling the bike forward. This will (i) get glazing off your pads, (ii) correctly fit the pad to the rim, and (iii) build in just the right about of toe-in so that even under full braking the rear of the pad doesn't touch first (giving you the howls).

 

[Wold Ranger]

Toe In

Always used to stick a penny or lollipop stick at the back of the pad, push the pad up hard to the rim, then tighten up and they never howl! Bit of a dangerous topic on here this tho! We may convince ourselves how bad some of the old gear really was!