Tacx brake shoe tuner

Dan Burkhart said:

Anyone have any experience with this? It looks like an ingenious design,
and I am thinking it might be a real time saver, especially with smooth
post shoes.
http://www.tacx.nl/flash_content/main.html?language=en&bandwidth=high
Dan

Neat looking tool; might actually work. Gotta try one. Thanks for the find.

Horrible website. Flash geeks.

Tom

Dan Burkhart said:

Anyone have any experience with this? It looks like an ingenious design,
and I am thinking it might be a real time saver, especially with smooth
post shoes.
http://www.tacx.nl/flash_content/main.html?language=en&bandwidth=high
Dan

Or http://www.tacx.nl/html/index.php?pageid=104 for those who don't care
to experience flash.

It's unfortunate that Tacx won't allow a larger picture, but it appears
to be a simple piece of plastic that must be thinner and thicker fore to
aft in the direction of the rim contact. This is a simple toe-in tool.
I can't see how it might be of help with smooth-post pads. It would
be most effective for modern bolt-on pads like vee-brakes and modern
canti's utilize, where you can simply squeeze the lever and align the
pad to the rim. You can't do that with smooth-post canti's.

Besides, any old piece of plastic lying around achieves the same goal.

Robin Hubert

Robin Hubert wrote on Sunday 15 January 2006 17:41:

Quoted message said:

Dan Burkhart said:

Anyone have any experience with this? It looks like an ingenious
design, and I am thinking it might be a real time saver, especially
with smooth post shoes.
http://www.tacx.nl/flash_content/main.html?language=en&bandwidth=high
Dan

Or http://www.tacx.nl/html/index.php?pageid=104 for those who don't
care to experience flash.

It's unfortunate that Tacx won't allow a larger picture, but it
appears to be a simple piece of plastic that must be thinner and
thicker fore to
aft in the direction of the rim contact. This is a simple toe-in
tool.
I can't see how it might be of help with smooth-post pads. It would
be most effective for modern bolt-on pads like vee-brakes and modern
canti's utilize, where you can simply squeeze the lever and align the
pad to the rim. You can't do that with smooth-post canti's.

Besides, any old piece of plastic lying around achieves the same goal.

Robin Hubert

I have a bit of old, torn up, Shimano carboard box in my toolbox that
sets the brake toe-in just about perfectly. Total cost: ZERO. Who buys
this sort of junk, and why?
--
Regards
Alex
The From address above is a spam-trap.
The Reply-To address is valid

Alex Potter (59) said:

I have a bit of old, torn up, Shimano carboard box in my toolbox that
sets the brake toe-in just about perfectly. Total cost: ZERO. Who buys
this sort of junk, and why?

Currently, no one in the US.

However, should it become available stateside, then it might be bought
by some who work on their bikes and are interested in exploring a better
solution to toeing brakes than a "bit of old, torn up, Shimano carboard
box".

If it takes a few minutes less to set a new set of shoes then it might
well be worth the modest price (currently about 12 - 15 Euros)
considering the level of aggravation that can be reached when the task
is not going well and the shims keep falling out.

I set up new shoes on cantilevers several times a year. Currently I'm
using some plastic shims that a tile setter left behind to set the toe.
They work well enough to set toe, but I often wish for second pair of
hands to hold those shims. To that end, the Tacx design is intriguing.

Tom

quote='Tom Schmitz'Dan Burkhart said:

Anyone have any experience with this? It looks like an ingenious design,
and I am thinking it might be a real time saver, especially with smooth
post shoes.
http://www.tacx.nl/flash_content/main.html?language=en&bandwidth=high
Dan

Neat looking tool; might actually work. Gotta try one. Thanks for the find.

Horrible website. Flash geeks.

Tom[/QUOTE]

Gotta agree with you on that web site. I like em simple & easy to navigate.
Dan

Alex Potter (59) said:

Robin Hubert wrote on Sunday 15 January 2006 17:41:

Quoted message said:

Dan Burkhart said:

Anyone have any experience with this? It looks like an ingenious
design, and I am thinking it might be a real time saver, especially
with smooth post shoes.
http://www.tacx.nl/flash_content/main.html?language=en&bandwidth=high
Dan

Or http://www.tacx.nl/html/index.php?pageid=104 for those who don't
care to experience flash.

It's unfortunate that Tacx won't allow a larger picture, but it
appears to be a simple piece of plastic that must be thinner and
thicker fore to
aft in the direction of the rim contact. This is a simple toe-in
tool.
I can't see how it might be of help with smooth-post pads. It would
be most effective for modern bolt-on pads like vee-brakes and modern
canti's utilize, where you can simply squeeze the lever and align the
pad to the rim. You can't do that with smooth-post canti's.

Besides, any old piece of plastic lying around achieves the same goal.

Robin Hubert

I have a bit of old, torn up, Shimano carboard box in my toolbox that
sets the brake toe-in just about perfectly. Total cost: ZERO. Who buys
this sort of junk, and why?
--
Regards
Alex
The From address above is a spam-trap.
The Reply-To address is valid

Why, to keep innovation alive, and money changing hands, that's why. 😄

Tom Schmitz wrote on Sunday 15 January 2006 21:16:

Quoted message said:

However, should it become available stateside, then it might be bought
by some who work on their bikes and are interested in exploring a
better solution to toeing brakes than a "bit of old, torn up, Shimano
carboard box".

What "better solution"? The idea is to give a small degree of toe-in so
that in use the brakes do not squeal and the pads wear evenly along
their length. My free bit of cardboard does that job perfectly.

--
Regards
Alex
The From address above is a spam-trap.
The Reply-To address is valid

For a year or more it has been part of my vast collection of unnecessary
bicycle tools. I use it sometimes - if I don't have to look for it too
long. It works to it's purpose, and it supplied me with a good picture of
how little toe-in is needed. But I sure could do without it.
But then again I can also get along without the 11 euros it costs at my
favorite mail-order supplier.
I spend many fine hours riding, maintaining af fine tuning my bicycle. And
unnecessary tools are part of my game.

Ivar of Denmark

Mon, 16 Jan 2006 01:54:36 +1100, Dan Burkhart
<[email hidden]> skrev:

Quoted message said:

Anyone have any experience with this? It looks like an ingenious design,
and I am thinking it might be a real time saver, especially with smooth
post shoes.
http://www.tacx.nl/flash_content/main.html?language=en&bandwidth=high
Dan

--
Sendt med Operas banebrydende nyhedsgruppe-
og e-postklient: http://www.opera.com/m2/

Alex Potter (59) said:

Tom Schmitz wrote on Sunday 15 January 2006 21:16:

Quoted message said:

However, should it become available stateside, then it might be bought
by some who work on their bikes and are interested in exploring a
better solution to toeing brakes than a "bit of old, torn up, Shimano
carboard box".

What "better solution"? The idea is to give a small degree of toe-in so
that in use the brakes do not squeal and the pads wear evenly along
their length. My free bit of cardboard does that job perfectly.

Alex -

I believe that you are being deliberately obtuse, however, I will humor
you one time.

Ever since dirt was new we have been using bits of cardboard or what
have you to act as a shim to set the toe in. In order to do that,
especially with smooth post shoes, we have had to hold the shoe to the
rim with one hand, hold an Allen wrench with the other, and hold a
spanner with the other. I don't know about you, but I just ran out of
hands. Meanwhile, in the midst of all of that, the shims fell out, so we
loop to start. I have yet to find a third hand tool that works well with
cantis.

Now, someone comes along with an idea for a tool that might make the job
just a bit easier insofar as the shims might be less likely to fall out.

I would be willing to try that and see if it works. If it does and I
like it, then to me it is a better solution.

I can't help but wonder what other innovations, ideas and changes you
eschew. Are you still using cottered cranks? Running a 5 speed cluster?
Not yet using stainless spokes? Still got those Rigida dimpled rims and
running 27 X 1 1/4 tires? All that stuff worked - why change?

Tom

If toe in were the only problem, I'd consider positioning cantilever
shoes easy. My problem is how to hold all 4 planes of adjustment in
place (in/out; up/down; attitude; toe in) while tightening the bolt or
nut to it's proper tension w/o disturbing any or all of the settings. I
want a device that holds the shoes so tightly that my torquing of the
bolt, etc. doesn't disturb the settings. I've tried holding the pads in
the up/ down & attitude plane w/ my hands, channel locks, vice grips, &
other devices that I can't remember. It always seems that I have either
under counter rotated or over counter rotated the shoes, when it
springs back after releasing the tightening torque, all the while some
or all of the other settings have gone out. The Park BT 1 C is a total
waste of money. Due to it's thin & stamped construction, no matter how
tight I tighten it, it always pops loose. A good tool for toe in is
just the tip of the iceberg. I want a tool that holds the entire
shoe(s) really tightly; I mean really tightly & yet will fit around the
fork & seat stay, mainly for cantis but to some extent for all type
brakes. I have some times fought this for > an hour, only to get the
bike out in bright sunlight & see that the brake shoes were still not
right. I find successfully truing old wheels w/ warped rims far easier
than adjusting brake shoes. Am I the only one who struggles this hard
w/ this?
Any suggestions greatly appreciated, John

john said:

If toe in were the only problem, I'd consider positioning cantilever
shoes easy. My problem is how to hold all 4 planes of adjustment in
place (in/out; up/down; attitude; toe in) while tightening the bolt or
nut to it's proper tension w/o disturbing any or all of the settings.

The key to this is to lubricate the threads with grease or oil. That
way the torque applied to the nut doesn't transmit so much to the bolt.

It also helps to unhook the springs from the cantilevers temporarily
while you're making the shoe adjutment. This is not possible on all
models, unfortunately.

Sheldon "Grease Is The Answer" Brown
+-------------------------------------------+
| Any smoothly functioning technology |
| will have the appearance of magic. |
| --Arthur C. Clarke |
+-------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

Tom Schmitz wrote on Monday 16 January 2006 01:36:

Quoted message said:

Alex -

I believe that you are being deliberately obtuse, however, I will
humor you one time.

My apologies - see Sheldon's post below - he's a much better teacher
than I; I'd assumed that everyone knew about lubrication and spring
tension and could see no problem, although I've had little experience
of cantilevers.
--
Regards
Alex
The From address above is a spam-trap.
The Reply-To address is valid

john said:

If toe in were the only problem, I'd consider positioning cantilever
shoes easy. My problem is how to hold all 4 planes of adjustment in
place (in/out; up/down; attitude; toe in) while tightening the bolt or
nut to it's proper tension w/o disturbing any or all of the settings. I
want a device that holds the shoes so tightly that my torquing of the
bolt, etc. doesn't disturb the settings. I've tried holding the pads in
the up/ down & attitude plane w/ my hands, channel locks, vice grips, &
other devices that I can't remember. It always seems that I have either
under counter rotated or over counter rotated the shoes, when it
springs back after releasing the tightening torque, all the while some
or all of the other settings have gone out. The Park BT 1 C is a total
waste of money. Due to it's thin & stamped construction, no matter how
tight I tighten it, it always pops loose. A good tool for toe in is
just the tip of the iceberg. I want a tool that holds the entire
shoe(s) really tightly; I mean really tightly & yet will fit around the
fork & seat stay, mainly for cantis but to some extent for all type
brakes. I have some times fought this for > an hour, only to get the
bike out in bright sunlight & see that the brake shoes were still not
right. I find successfully truing old wheels w/ warped rims far easier
than adjusting brake shoes. Am I the only one who struggles this hard
w/ this?
Any suggestions greatly appreciated, John

We who do this every day take a different approach.

Start by cleaning everything - bolt, nut, beveled washers,
etc with a solvent, toothbrush and compressed air. Once
clean get a thin film of oil on all mating surfaces and
threads. Now install your brake shoe, snug the nut,
reposition the shoe and use a 6inch channellock to hold the
shoe while you finish tightening. At the very worst,
repeat the final adjustment once for a less-than-ten rather
than five minute job. It simply cannot consume an hour or
we'd be out of business!

Since you know there will be a slight movement with your
wrench at the end, anticipate that with your shoe position.
And if you were otherwise working with dry fasteners before,
you'll find proper lubrication a treat.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

A Muzi said:

Start by cleaning everything - bolt, nut, beveled washers,
etc with a solvent, toothbrush and compressed air....

DO NOT reuse the toothbrush for oral hygiene! 😉

--
Tom Sherman - Fox River Valley

Thanks to both Sheldon & Andy
I will remember to clean & lube everything next time.
John