I'm an experienced rider and a decent bike mechanic (I've been working on my own bikes for at least 15 years.) The following problem drives me crazy:
I got a 5 year old LeMond Poprad cyclocross bike which I use for commuting. Ever since day one the front Avid Shorty brake was touchy. It will squeal during hard braking no matter what I tried. I can pretty much guarantee that tow-in is perfect. I also let shop mechanics take a stab at it to no avail on a few occasions. The problem was solved to a degree by installing a regular V-Brake (from Nashbar). But it looks ugly (sorry, I am a purist) and the squeal does come back occasionally anyway. So a few weeks back I purchased and installed another set of Avid brakes - Shorty 6 and the problem is back in full force. Before I put on the V-Brakes yet again I thought I'll ask around...
Many thanks.
P.S. I'm currently using Mavic A624(?) rims which squeal just as bad as the old Alex rims I used to have.
So far I tried Azteks normal pads plus Shimano and Avid cartridge pads. Same results. The bike has almost 10000 miles on it so the pads had changed many times.
Will the pads from Nashbar V-brakes fit your cantilever calipers? This would be as much to test the brake pad material as the FORK.
I'm thinking there is a problem in how stiff-or-not your fork may be, which may be "fixed" by installing a brake bridge often used for MTBs in the past (there should be, but may not be enough room for the tires you are using). That will be an "ugly" solution ... so, you may eventually want to think about getting a new fork.
I'm an experienced rider and a decent bike mechanic (I've been working on my own bikes for at least 15 years.) The following problem drives me crazy:
I got a 5 year old LeMond Poprad cyclocross bike which I use for commuting. Ever since day one the front Avid Shorty brake was touchy. It will squeal during hard braking no matter what I tried. I can pretty much guarantee that tow-in is perfect. I also let shop mechanics take a stab at it to no avail on a few occasions. The problem was solved to a degree by installing a regular V-Brake (from Nashbar). But it looks ugly (sorry, I am a purist) and the squeal does come back occasionally anyway. So a few weeks back I purchased and installed another set of Avid brakes - Shorty 6 and the problem is back in full force. Before I put on the V-Brakes yet again I thought I'll ask around...
Many thanks.
P.S. I'm currently using Mavic A624(?) rims which squeal just as bad as the old Alex rims I used to have.
I think that alfeng is onto something with his ideas about fork stiffness or lack thereof, and some flexing in the fork during braking in combination with brake flex.
