kknh3

Can anyone here give me some guidance on which models of cantilever brakes, new or vintage, have spring adjustment built into the brake itself rather than being dependent upon which hole the spring is placed into on the brake boss?

I'm rebuilding an old Schwinn Passage touring bike and the brake boss only has one hole for the spring. i would like a little more adjustability than this. This issue was discussed on the touring forum recently. Someone suggested that some of the older XT cantilevers have this feature. Does anyone know of any others? I would like more options when trying to find some of these.

Thanks in advance,

Ken

Psydotek

Avid Shorty 4 cantilevers do. I think the Tektro 720s also have them.

Rick Rubin

Most new models come with adjustment screws:
Tektro Oryx 992
Avi Shorty 4, 6

Cane Creek SCX-5 runs a single screw on the right side

bluenote157

yup..the 720s do for sure.

I have some older cantis that dont utilize the hole in the canti boss. Instead, it is a washer that has a hole in it that is shaped like a thin locknut. When you install the canti, you put this guy on first then place the spring in its hole as well as the rest of the canti. You then tighten the cantilever down. Once tightened down, you can adjust the locknut thing to adjust spring tension. In short, it is a bolt that is sanwiched between the frame and cantilever. Hope that makes sense. If it doesn't, i might be able to shoot off some pics.

masiman

I have an older set like the ones bluenote refers to. The mount confused me for awhile and I assume others on here as no one replied to my request for help on how to mount these. I later found out from additional reading that I have no missing part. In the pix attached to the below thread you can see that the spring goes through a flange on a nut. To change the tension on the spring you merely put a wrench to the nut and turn. The nut is held in place by the brake mounting bolt pressing the brake arm (and hence the nut) against the cantilever braze one.

Vintage Dia-compe cantilever

LarDasse74

I think every canti brake made by Shimano since ~1985 (at least) has an adjustment screw on one or both arms.

Probably every other canti brake made since 1988 that cost more than $10/ pair also have some adjustment.

DannoXYZ 

I just pull out a 1/8" drill bit and put 2 more holes into the boss..

BCRider

Most of the better cantis have adjustment screws on both arms so in effect by adjusting both together you can alter the return tension. By adjusting one only you can adjust the centering.

As long as you're sure you get brakes that have screws on every arm then you're fine.