XTR Cantis- cack, or will bed in?

[gump]

Just prepping the Goat for Sats Afan ride.
Built up and finished yesterday. Justbackdated furnished me with the final bronze cable stop I needed (cheers!)

So, spin round the park with my son (just 4, but can now ride completely unassisted, so he wants to go out alll the time ), and I can't stop. Realise I have just pulled through the rear cable, dang, forgot to tighten that clamp. Muppet.
Nevermind, rely on the front for now. But this is cack. It just really doesn't seem to work. Pull levers hard, nadda much there.
These are using a pace rocker thing.

Reset back brakes, and they are cack too. doh!

Setup:
Pauls levers
NOS XTR M900 cantis
New cables
NOS XTR pads

Question is, will the pads bed in and braking improve much, or should I just accept I need to put my foot on the rear tyre?
Been so long since I used some new XTR cantis, I can't remember how they should be!

Cheers..

Oh, and as I couldn't stop, said son managed to randomly ride sideways straight into my spokes. arrrrrrh!

 

[JustKev]

Andy - I've always found M900 canti's to work fine, and I'm heavier than you!

Make sure the pads are toe'd in, a quick rub of the new pads with some sandpaper will help them 'bite' the rims, and that the arms are wide apart, ie don't set the pads tucked into the brake arms, ideally have the pad stalk fully extended. Boy this is difficult to describe without pictures.

They should work fine. Or ditch the Pauls levers - not sure what they are like as never used them.

Failing that get some disc mounts welded on the Goat!

 

[jango]

Some interesting observations regarding canti set-up here.

http://sheldonbrown.com/cantilever-geometry.html

How wide you set them effects the feel and mechanical advantage.

 

[scant]

i always found the pauls levers to flex too much under hard braking.

 

[gump]

yes the levers are like sponge, agree, but they worked ok-ish on the stoplites.

Have pad posts about mid point, will extend these further.
Will sand pads too.
Have chill pill quite low, so short straddle.

Thanks for help!

Andy

:shock: Discs on Goat

 

[LongboardSi]

low straddle will make the brakes spongier - most shimano ones seem to work best with the straddle at a 90 degree angle at the hanger.

Set the pads so the inside face of the arms is vertical, then set the straddle as above. this is all assuming shimano levers though - don't know how Pauls compare for leveraeg ratios etc. should be a good starting point though.

Si F

 

[Carsten]

as said before, have the straddles low to get a right angle between straddle cable and canti arm (a thought line from mounting bolt to straddle cable clamp). that likely requires having the pads clamped more towards the outer end of the stud.

and dump the Shimano pads. in my experience they are too hard even when new and now after 10+ years of storage likely even harder. if at all they will eat up the rim. koolstop eagle are my choice for riders. i only use the Shimano pads for 100% correct builds.

the combination of XTR levers and cantis in general is about the best you can get and i deffo cannot complain about how they work on my rider.

carsten

 

[gump]

Thanks for the advice. Good point on the pads - they are probably like stone now..
Time to pilfer from another bike I think...

 

[gump]

In case anyone is interested, some brand new KoolStops have just been fitted and wazo! Amazing brakes instantly!


Cheers all!