Cantilever brake setup

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

Ive got an older (late 90's) set of Dia Compe cantis on my S.Galaxy -
but they havent got a tension adjustment screw - any advice on how I
can set them up properly so I get equal spacing from the rim on each
side ?

Are these reasonable quality ? - Have been looking at the Suntour
self-energising canti's at Sjs cycles, anyone had experience of these ?
Do they warrant the high price tag ?

Try and find what you want elsewhere. SJS prices are always high.

Ken

On 06/03/2006 18:36, [email hidden] said,

Quoted message said:

Have been looking at the Suntour
self-energising canti's at Sjs cycles, anyone had experience of these ?
Do they warrant the high price tag ?

Blimey - I didn't realise those were still made! A friend had them on a
mountain bike years ago, and they did seem to work very well - he swore
by them. As to warranting the high price tag, you might find a lower
price tag if you look elsewhere. :-)

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

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

Quoted message said:

Have been looking at the Suntour
self-energising canti's at Sjs cycles, anyone had experience of these ?
Do they warrant the high price tag ?

I bought a pair for our first tandem in an attempt to solve our braking
problems (the problem was I didn't have much braking). "The best brakes you
can buy, no matter how much money you spend". Hmm. They may have been
marginally better than the low profile LX cantis they replaced. I then got a
set of Magura HS66 brakes, and realised what good brakes actually felt
like..

Much as I hate cantis, in your situation I'd probably go for something like
a set of Tektro Oryx cantis - 20 quid a pair.

cheers,
clive

Quoted message said:

Ive got an older (late 90's) set of Dia Compe cantis on my S.Galaxy -
but they havent got a tension adjustment screw - any advice on how I
can set them up properly so I get equal spacing from the rim on each
side ?

Are they like the old Suntour early 90's model, with a flat behind one of
the calipers which can be held with a thin spanner whilst the brake fixing
bolt is slackened off ?
( Just a random thought on where to look. )

Quoted message said:

Are these reasonable quality ? - Have been looking at the Suntour
self-energising canti's at Sjs cycles, anyone had experience of these
? Do they warrant the high price tag ?

Monitor other sources, including Sjs cycles Ebay clearance shop. I don't
think they merit the high "normal" prices.
Also, a friend recently got a new On-one singlespeed, which had their new
own-brand cantilevers, which look like they are well designed (too little
conversation with friend to know if they *are* well designed).

- Nigel

--
Nigel Cliffe,
Webmaster at http://www.2mm.org.uk/

Quoted message said:

Are these reasonable quality ? - Have been looking at the Suntour
self-energising canti's at Sjs cycles, anyone had experience of these
? Do they warrant the high price tag ?

SJS have some on Ebay ATM

Tom

Quoted message said:

Ive got an older (late 90's) set of Dia Compe cantis on my S.Galaxy -
but they havent got a tension adjustment screw - any advice on how I
can set them up properly so I get equal spacing from the rim on each
side ?

Are these reasonable quality ? - Have been looking at the Suntour
self-energising canti's at Sjs cycles, anyone had experience of these ?
Do they warrant the high price tag ?

I've got around 3 pairs of canti brakes here.
All used, but in good condition, these have been used on my cross bike.
£5 for the lot if you want them.
Alan.
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A.Lee said:

Quoted message said:

Ive got an older (late 90's) set of Dia Compe cantis on my S.Galaxy -
but they havent got a tension adjustment screw - any advice on how I
can set them up properly so I get equal spacing from the rim on each
side ?

Are these reasonable quality ? - Have been looking at the Suntour
self-energising canti's at Sjs cycles, anyone had experience of these ?
Do they warrant the high price tag ?

I've got around 3 pairs of canti brakes here.
All used, but in good condition, these have been used on my cross bike.
£5 for the lot if you want them.
Alan.

are any if them any good ? are they 'wide profile' ?

MSeries said:

A.Lee said:

I've got around 3 pairs of canti brakes here.
All used, but in good condition, these have been used on my cross bike.
£5 for the lot if you want them.

Quoted message said:

are any if them any good ? are they 'wide profile' ?

At least 1 set is.They are all usable.I'll take some pics tomorrow, it's
a bit late now.
Alan.

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Quoted message said:

Ive got an older (late 90's) set of Dia Compe cantis on my S.Galaxy -
but they havent got a tension adjustment screw - any advice on how I
can set them up properly so I get equal spacing from the rim on each
side ?

Are these reasonable quality ? - Have been looking at the Suntour
self-energising canti's at Sjs cycles, anyone had experience of these ?
Do they warrant the high price tag ?

You use a cone spanner on the two flats behind the pivot bolt. Loosen
the pivot bolt while gripping the flats with the cone spanner, rotate
outwards to increase tension, tighten pivot bolt.

My advice? They're horrible to set up - junk them and get some Tektro
Oryx cantilevers, which use threaded V-brake pads rather than the awful
plain-post design and have simple tension adjustment.

Quoted message said:

Ive got an older (late 90's) set of Dia Compe cantis on my S.Galaxy -
but they havent got a tension adjustment screw - any advice on how I
can set them up properly so I get equal spacing from the rim on each
side ?

Are these reasonable quality ? - Have been looking at the Suntour
self-energising canti's at Sjs cycles, anyone had experience of these ?
Do they warrant the high price tag ?

By the way, the self-energising cantilevers are a waste of money. I had
them on a Thorn and could never get any proper power from them, even
with the lowest possible straddle wire setup. It's also a bad idea to
have any brake with a self-servo effect on a bike.

I have a pair of the Suntour SEs on the rear of my bike (only ever made
for the back) and whilst I haven't properly fettled them yet, they
don't seem any better than the Avid Shorties I had before - itself a
supposedly high-class canti. I got them for a fiver when sjscycles were
off-loading a load on ebay, so quite happy just to try them out. I dare
say they could be improve by a bit more careful fettlling, but bear in
mind back brakes are rather besides the point for serious stopping. I
gather they are more recommended for tandems and v. heavy luggage. So,
worth a go if sjs offload some more cheap but a bit dubious for
full-price fifty quid or whatever, at least for a soly machine. Whilst
I'm not familiar with your Dia-Compes they are a pukka make so are
likely to be good. The bike is fairly modern and Dawes would presumably
not have fitted [censored] onto their flagship bike. As a suggestion, should
the hanger cable thingy (the bit that goes from one arm to the other)
just self-adjust 'till they are symetrical - perhaps given the main
cable a nudge in the right direction? This might or might not make
sense.

As an aside, I bought a 2nd pair to strip down to try and make them
self-energising the other way round for the front; which might or might
not be wise ! However I just can't get the guts out of them despite a
lot of brute force. They are likely buggered now for original purpose
or I'd have offered them to you.

Hywel

In message <440ddfce.0@entanet>, Zog The Undeniable
<[email hidden]> writes

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

By the way, the self-energising cantilevers are a waste of money. I
had them on a Thorn and could never get any proper power from them,
even with the lowest possible straddle wire setup. It's also a bad idea
to have any brake with a self-servo effect on a bike.

I got an unused pair for about fifteen quid on eBay a few years ago (not
from SJSC), to put on my wife's bike as she wasn't happy with the
stopping power her hands could manage with normal cantis. We found them
powerful enough... BUT there's a tiny delay before they cut in. This is
inevitable because of the way they're designed: as the block touches the
rim it's dragged forwards, and it's not until that forward motion has
started that the "self-energising" bit takes effect. So you get a brake
that's initially weak but suddenly becomes very strong. She found that
too off-putting so I got some new cheap Avids instead and they were
fine. I think the SEs are really only suitable for tandems or very
heavily loaded tourers.