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Cantilever and Vbrake: lever pull

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Cantilever and Vbrake: lever pull

Old 07-14-09, 01:57 PM
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Cantilever and Vbrake: lever pull

Hello,

I'm a newbie to bike forums.

I bought a used Giant Terrano recently, it is about 10 years old I believe. Nice bike for the money, double butted CrMo frame, good road tryes, nice range of gears.

But the brakes are causing me grief. The guy a bought it from said that it had been converted from cantilever to Vbrakes. Now I am finding that I have to adjust the brakes every second time I go out (I ride a lot of hill tracks over boggy ground). Also I find that the rim is breaking up - leaving little bits of aluminium shavings in the brake blocks.

My questions are:

1) is there anything about the vbrakes that could be causing the rim to wear, such as the contact angle of the vbrakes or something like that? I am prepared to accept that the rim is just worn out through normal use, it is ten years old after all.
2) I suspect that the levers are the original cantilever ones. I have read that canti levers pull a different length of cable to vbrake levers. Does anyone know what length of cable these two types of levers pull? I ask this because I suspect that I have the original canti levers, because, in wet conditions the levers tend to bottom out against the handlebars (if they haven't been adjusted for a week or so) or, if they have been recently adjusted they grab too suddenly.

I'll switch back to cantilever brakes if I have the correct levers - should be much easier to adjust and hopefully need adjustment less often.

Tinov
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Old 07-14-09, 02:07 PM
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Originally Posted by Tinov Bienz
Hello,

2) I suspect that the levers are the original cantilever ones. I have read that canti levers pull a different length of cable to vbrake levers. Does anyone know what length of cable these two types of levers pull? I ask this because I suspect that I have the original canti levers, because, in wet conditions the levers tend to bottom out against the handlebars (if they haven't been adjusted for a week or so) or, if they have been recently adjusted they grab too suddenly.

I'll switch back to cantilever brakes if I have the correct levers - should be much easier to adjust and hopefully need adjustment less often.

Tinov
V-Brake levers and calipers pull more cable than cantilever levers and calipers.

It would probably be better to install a set of V-brake levers, new cables, and new brake pads. It sounds like the old pads have hardened and are shaving stuff off your rims.
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Old 07-14-09, 02:10 PM
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1.the compound the brake pads are made of may not be right for your rims. try koolstop's Salmon color may work better for you.yes the rims may be worn after 10 years of service.
2.you need to do 1 of 2 things here either you need to replace the levers to work with the v-brakes or you need to replace calipers to work with the levers you have.
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Old 07-14-09, 02:44 PM
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Thanks Jeff, I recently put new brake blocks on and the rim was still shaving a bit, so I guess the damage has been done. It does feel like it has a ridge along the outside, like its been worn down over a long period by the brake blocks.

If I change the brake levers, I have to change the gear shifters, because they integrated units.
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