Are some cantis easier to adjust?

From: "Joe Nordic" [email hidden]

Quoted message said:

I just replaced my rear brake cable and pads. I have Shimano Acera cantis on a Bianchi San Remo. I
seem to have a heck of a time adjusting them. And I was wondering if some cantis are easier to
adjust than others?

No, they're all hard! Some are just not as hard as others! 😉 Are you having trouble getting them
centered? Have you checked Sheldon Brown's site? sheldonbrown.comcantilever adjustment.htmlOpen ↗

Pete Geurds Douglassville, PA

Thanks for the link. My bike was not set up with a rear barrel adjuster, just a front one. I wonder
if that made it harder to do.

Bill
----------------------------------------------------

Quoted message said:

No, they're all hard! Some are just not as hard as others! 😉 Are you having trouble getting them
centered? Have you checked Sheldon Brown's site?
sheldonbrown.comcantilever adjustment.htmlOpen ↗

Pete Geurds Douglassville, PA

My Avids are a piece of cake to adjust, much easier than other cantis that I've owned.
--
mark "Joe Nordic" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I just replaced my rear brake cable and pads. I have Shimano Acera cantis on a Bianchi San Remo. I
seem to have a heck of a time adjusting them. And I was wondering if some cantis are easier to
adjust than others?

Joe

"mark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

My Avids are a piece of cake to adjust, much easier than other cantis that I've owned.

i second that motion. avid shorties.

Could you give any specifics about what makes the Avid shorties easier to set up?

Joe

"ant" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

"mark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

My Avids are a piece of cake to adjust, much easier than other cantis

that

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Quoted message said:

I've owned.

i second that motion. avid shorties.

"Joe Nordic"wrote

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Could you give any specifics about what makes the Avid shorties easier to set up?

The big difference (to me) is the pad/shoe design, and how it is attached to the cantilever arms.
The shoe has a ball and socket incorporated into the post, making it really easy to set toe-in (or
lack of toe in) and align the pad with the rim (look at a pair in a shop, I don't know how to
describe it any better). I'm not sure how to describe the other differences, but find a pair of
Avids and an old style pair of cantis in a shop and compare the two. HTH,
--
mark

Joe Nordic said:

And I was wondering if some cantis are easier to adjust than others?

Onza HO, probably the worst non-pressed steel cantis ever made, and near the most expensive too.

"Joe Nordic" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

Could you give any specifics about what makes the Avid shorties easier to set up?

well, i suppose im a questionable source, because ive dealt with a lot of cantis, but they're
generally the cheaper variety. that said,

the shorties are simple. ive worked on cantis which have every little possible aspect of them
adjustable, but who needs it? the avids work great. toe-in is done with teh pad washers. carrier
cable length is a cinch with the two included pre-assembled carriers. adusting centering is simple,
with a twist of an allen key, and more predictable than others ive set up. (thank gosh they aren't
phillip screws. why do they do that?). most importantly: they are stiff, good looking, strong, and
dont need futzing with after the fact.

i dont think of the shorties as any more difficult to deal with than a sidepull brake. f'rinstance.

cheers, anthony

"Andy Dingley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Joe Nordic said:

And I was wondering if some cantis are easier to adjust than others?

Onza HO, probably the worst non-pressed steel cantis ever made, and near the most expensive too.

Also, Avid Trialign brakes, with the same caveat (plus you can hardly find them anymore).

--
Robin Hubert <[email hidden]

"mark" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

"Joe Nordic"wrote

Quoted message said:

Could you give any specifics about what makes the Avid shorties easier to set up?

The big difference (to me) is the pad/shoe design, and how it is attached

to

Quoted message said:

the cantilever arms. The shoe has a ball and socket incorporated into the post, making it really
easy to set toe-in (or lack of toe in) and align

the

Quoted message said:

pad with the rim (look at a pair in a shop, I don't know how to describe

it

Quoted message said:

any better). I'm not sure how to describe the other differences, but find

a

Quoted message said:

pair of Avids and an old style pair of cantis in a shop and compare the

two.

Quoted message said:

HTH,
--

If I can help ...

Old style cantilevers used "post-style" pads, with a smooth post for attachment and adjustment, with
some kind of concave/convex system for adjustment, all held in place with one fixing bolt. These
brakes take some skill and coordination to adjust.

New style canti's have bolt-style pads, that have an (usually) allen-head nut that screws onto a
threaded post, with interposed concave/convex washer system. These are far simpler to adjust. Simple
take up the slack, approximate the pads to the rim while squeezing the brake lever to hold them
there, and tighten. If you need to toe-in, just put something between the rim and pad and sqeeze the
brake, tighten.

--
Robin Hubert <[email hidden]

"Andy Dingley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Joe Nordic said:

And I was wondering if some cantis are easier to adjust than others?

Onza HO, probably the worst non-pressed steel cantis ever made, and near the most expensive too.

I've never had a problem with my Onza HOs. As long as you don't loosen everything at once, they're a
breeze to adjust.

I do like the Avids though. The V-brake style pads make finding replacement parts easy and they
require less fiddling with than my LXs, or XC Pros.

Mike

I tend to keep my pads close to the rim, less than 1 MM, if possible, and I love my Avid Shorty 6's.
They have a spring adjustment screw on both arms, and once it's adjusted, it stays adjusted!

Much easier than the V brakes they replaced.

May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills! Chris

Chris'Z Corner "The Website for the Common Bicyclist": geocities.comczcornerOpen ↗

"Joe Nordic" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I just replaced my rear brake cable and pads. I have Shimano Acera cantis on a Bianchi San Remo. I
seem to have a heck of a time adjusting them. And I was wondering if some cantis are easier to
adjust than others?

Mechanics like that type of brake because it affords us more adjustments ( shoe height, shoe
distance from arm, angle of shoe to rim in both planes, etc). Some riders complain that there are
too many factors to watch while adjusting the brake shoes. That's a difference of perspective. You
might stop at your dealer and watch the mechanic adjust your brake shoes while you watch and ask
questions. It is not black art and easily learned. And remember to oil the threads of the shoe
holders which makes everything easier.

--
Andrew Muzi yellowjersey.orgyellowjersey.orgOpen ↗ Open every day since 1 April 1971

Have you ever had the adjustment screw strip out? Last year I noticed a lot of drag on my front
wheel, started to adjust and the screw thread was gone. I was able to get the thing adjusted by
bending the spring, but it didn't hold right. My LBS installed an old Dia Compe cantis and (after
figuring out the pad adjustment process), I have to say that it is much easier to adjust the arm
tension (just use a 13mm cone wrench).

However, I'm still happy overall with Avid. They were more than happy to send along replacements, no
charge. No instructions, though!

Eric

[email hidden] (Chris Zacho "The Wheelman"😉 wrote in message
news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

I tend to keep my pads close to the rim, less than 1 MM, if possible, and I love my Avid Shorty
6's. They have a spring adjustment screw on both arms, and once it's adjusted, it stays adjusted!

Much easier than the V brakes they replaced.

May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills! Chris

Chris'Z Corner "The Website for the Common Bicyclist": geocities.comczcornerOpen ↗

The DiaCompe 986 is about the easiest-to-adjust cantilever brake ever made.

A Muzi said:

"Joe Nordic" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I just replaced my rear brake cable and pads. I have Shimano Acera cantis on a Bianchi San Remo. I
seem to have a heck of a time adjusting them. And I was wondering if some cantis are easier to
adjust than others?

Mechanics like that type of brake because it affords us more adjustments ( shoe height, shoe
distance from arm, angle of shoe to rim in both planes, etc). Some riders complain that there are
too many factors to watch while adjusting the brake shoes. That's a difference of perspective. You
might stop at your dealer and watch the mechanic adjust your brake shoes while you watch and ask
questions. It is not black art and easily learned. And remember to oil the threads of the shoe
holders which makes everything easier.

I disagree. The "modern" threaded post cantilever shoe (which debuted with Shimano V-brakes) has
just as much adjustability as the older smooth post shoes. The threaded posts model can be adjusted
in or out by swapping spacers on the post, can be adjusted up or down on the mounting slots, can be
rotated in two axes on the ball and socket washers, and rotated along the axes of the post. The
difference is the threaded pads can be easier to set - just actuate the brake arm to hold the pad
flush to the rim, and tighten the nut.

There is an additional feature than makes many threaded pads easier to adjust - most come with
replaceable pads. When the old pad is worn down, there is no reason to go through the shoe adjusting
procedure with new shoes - just slip out the old pad and slip in a new pad.

I'm not sorry to see the old smooth post cantilever go.

Mark McMaster [email hidden]

Robin Hubert said:

"Andy Dingley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Joe Nordic said:

And I was wondering if some cantis are easier to adjust than others?

Onza HO, probably the worst non-pressed steel cantis ever made, and near the most expensive too.

Also, Avid Trialign brakes, with the same caveat (plus you can hardly find them anymore).

I agree that the Avid Tri-Align brakes are easy to set up, and I agree with the caveat they they
were some of the most expensive; but I don't agree that they were some of the worst cantilever
brakes ever made. Tri-Align brakes had very rigid arms and precision pivot bushings that practically
eliminated brake shudder and squeel, and had grease ports for easy re-lubing to keep them actuating
smoothly. Whether these features justified there high price may be debatable, but they were
excellently performing brakes.

(The Onza HO brakes, on the other hand, were definitely losers).

Mark McMaster [email hidden]

"Mark McMaster" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

A Muzi said:

"Joe Nordic" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I just replaced my rear brake cable and pads. I have Shimano Acera cantis on a Bianchi San Remo.
I seem to have a heck of a time adjusting them. And I was wondering if some cantis are easier to
adjust than others?

Mechanics like that type of brake because it affords us more adjustments

(

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

shoe height, shoe distance from arm, angle of shoe to rim in both

planes,

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

etc). Some riders complain that there are too many factors to watch

while

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

adjusting the brake shoes. That's a difference of perspective. You might stop at your dealer and
watch the mechanic adjust your brake

shoes

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

while you watch and ask questions. It is not black art and easily

learned.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

And remember to oil the threads of the shoe holders which makes

everything

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

easier.

I disagree. The "modern" threaded post cantilever shoe (which debuted with Shimano V-brakes) has
just as much adjustability as the older smooth post shoes. The threaded posts model can be
adjusted in or out by swapping spacers on the post, can be adjusted up or down on the mounting
slots, can be rotated in two axes on the ball and socket washers, and rotated along the axes of
the post. The difference is the threaded pads can be easier to set - just actuate the brake arm to
hold the pad flush to the rim, and tighten the nut.

I think Joe was talking about the in/out adjustability of post-style pads, which have a greater
range than the bolt-on bads. This isn't much of an issue, but I've seen cases where it would help
like the recent case of a Bike Friday with Vee brakes. Brake posts are very wide on the rear of this
bike and with the washers setup so the pads were in as far as possible, they still weren't nearly
far enough. I don't have a bolt-on pad handy so I can't measure, but I'm looking at a post-style and
my impression is that it'd go in quite a bit further. Of course, this setup isn't ideal (brings more
flex into the system) ....

Quoted message said:

There is an additional feature than makes many threaded pads easier to adjust - most come with
replaceable pads. When the old pad is worn down, there is no reason to go through the shoe
adjusting procedure with new shoes - just slip out the old pad and slip in a new pad.

Slip-in pads makes the easy adjustability of bolt-style pads kinda redundant, I think. These
would've helped immensly in the days of centerpull cantilevers.

Quoted message said:

I'm not sorry to see the old smooth post cantilever go.

Me three!

--
Robin Hubert <[email hidden]

"Mark McMaster" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Robin Hubert said:

"Andy Dingley" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

On Sat, 24 May 2003 20:26:36 GMT, "Joe Nordic" <[email hidden]> wrote:

>And I was wondering if some cantis are easier to adjust than others?

Onza HO, probably the worst non-pressed steel cantis ever made, and near the most expensive too.

Also, Avid Trialign brakes, with the same caveat (plus you can hardly

find

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

them anymore).

I agree that the Avid Tri-Align brakes are easy to set up, and I agree with the caveat they they
were some of the most expensive; but I don't agree that they were some of the worst cantilever
brakes ever made. Tri-Align brakes had very rigid arms and precision pivot bushings that
practically eliminated brake shudder and squeel, and had grease ports for easy re-lubing to keep
them actuating smoothly. Whether these features justified there high price may be debatable, but
they were excellently performing brakes.

My favorite canti's. However, I don't know anything about the grease port. It's been a while since I
serviced them but ....?

Quoted message said:

(The Onza HO brakes, on the other hand, were definitely losers).

--
Robin Hubert <[email hidden]