Canti problems, help neeed

[Bryan]

Hi,

I'm having problems getting the front canti's balanced. the forks only have one hole to receive the spring, but I thought this wouldn't be a problem. I tried putting the canti's on (old XT's) and all seemed to be ok until I tightened the cable. The left hand brake is constantly being pulled onto the rim, by the right hand spring. I've tried using the adjuster screw to move the brake away, but it only makes a very slight difference.

Has anyone got any idea how I can get the brakes centered, either by making the spring in the left hand side stronger, the right hand side weaker, or do I just need to get a pair of calipers (it's my tourng/commuting bike, not a MTB).

Thanks

Bryan

[David Nutter]

Bryan <yorkyporky@feedmehotmail.com> said:

> Has anyone got any idea how I can get the brakes centered, either by making the spring in the left
> hand side stronger, the right hand side weaker, or do I just need to get a pair of calipers (it's
> my tourng/commuting bike, not a MTB).

*snip*

First of all it's worth checking that the wheel is centered in the fork: I've spent ages before
now trying to center recaltriant brakes only to find that I'd carelessly put the wheel in
slightly off-centre. IME it's more a problem with nutted wheels than QRs but is relatively easy
to fix all the same.

If that doesn't work you can either scrounge fresh new springs from your LBS which should each be at
the same tension or physically bend the spring round using the canti arms as a lever to either open
it out (less tension) or wind it tighter (more tension). It's easiest to do this on the bike with
the straddle wire disconnected so you can judge the spring tension by the rest position of the
cantilevers.

I don't know if this procedures is considered Good and Right but it seems to work OK.

After you make any adjustments, pump the brakes hard a few times to make sure the straddle wire is
flowing freely through the yoke. Sometimes if the wire is bunched up on one side of the yoke it can
pull the brakes off-centre temporarily.

HTH.

Regards,

-david

[Peter B]

"Bryan" <yorkyporky@feedmehotmail.com> wrote in message news:3f24f0dd$1_4@news.chariot.net.au...

> I'm having problems getting the front canti's balanced.

Further to the other advice ther are two types of straddle wire: The older one is like on old centre
pull brakes and sits in a hanger attached to the main cable. All that needs to happen is that the
hanger is in the centre of the straddle wire. The later types employ a "half" straddle wire and a
hanger through which passes the main cable to the opposite canti. The main cable should have a
sleeve that makes it and the "half" straddle wire equal lengths from the hanger, you could play
about with the length of this.

See: http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/howfix_cant.shtml and note pictue in para 16.

And the excellent: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/cantilever-adjustment.html

Pete

[Just Zis Guy]

"David Nutter" <David.Nutter@durham.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:slrnbiaflq.p7t.David.Nutter@cs-200.dur.ac.uk...

> > Has anyone got any idea how I can get the brakes centered

What the others said, plus before you start it's well worth making sure that the canti assembly is
thoroughly cleaned and lightly lubricated with good quality light oil. I used to strip my cantis
down once a year, clean them with paraffin and an old toothbrush to get the road grime out of the
nooks and crannies, reassemble and drop a couple of drops of sewing-machine oil on each pivot.

It's also worth pointing out that the canti should swivel reasonably freely on the boss - it's very
easy to tighten the bolt too much and leave the brake pinched, in which case the centring mechanism
(which is basically down to the poisition of the yoke on the straddle, so is very weak) can't centre
it.

--
Guy
===

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[Stephen Pridgeo]

"Peter B" <peter28@btinternet.com> wrote in message news:<bg3nuj$fec$1@sparta.btinternet.com>...
> "Bryan" <yorkyporky@feedmehotmail.com> wrote in message news:3f24f0dd$1_4@news.chariot.net.au...
>
> > I'm having problems getting the front canti's balanced.
>

Bryan, I've had this problem on my rear canti for the past two years. I'm going to fix it by buying
those mini-Vs reviewed in C+ this month. Life is just too short to prat around with brakes.