Originally Posted by bryroth

I am ready for the scorn this might lead to, but if someone could tell me what I am (currently) doing wrong I can get some sleep tonight.

I bought a used cyclocross bike with road tires. It has Avid 4 shorty cantilever brakes. The brakes were glazed over. I am a noobie so this is what I did:

1. Got gouged by local bike chain when they installled new Shimano brakes. 2. The brakes were still iffy, so I bought some Kool Stop Supra 2 brakes, based off of loads of reviews from this forum. 3. I accidentally bought the direct pull kind. 4. Sold direct pull kind on eBay. 5. Reinstalled the shimano brake pads myself. 6. Considered buying earplugs and life insurance. 7. Bought a second pair of threaded Kool Stop Supra 2. 8. Tried to install them last night, but the Kool Stops are too fat to fit on the bike. 9. Reinstalled the shimano pads. 10. Got frustrated, drank 4 beers while my girlfriend went to sleep and watched re-runs of the Tick through the spokes of my upside-down bike. 11. Overslept for work this morning.

So I'm like 4 weeks into trying to change my brake pads, and I'm feeling a little discouraged over here. I just want the Kool Stops on my bike. I worked in a machine shop for years, yet these four little ******** brake pads seem to have gotten the best of me.

Which Kool Stops am I supposed to install on this bike? Now that I look at it, even the Thinlines even seem like they would be too fat. In fact, the Shimano's only give a little bit of clearance and I'm supposed to be able to put fat tires on this bike.