wonderboy

please office advice! campy brake pads will absolutely not go on more than about a centimeter into the shoe.

i have 2006 centaur calipers, and bought the proper 2000+ genuine campy pads.

nothing works. pliers, "lubing" with alcohol, everything. been at it for 2 hours.

thanks.

CharlieWoo

There is a trick to it, I know I've read it in several places. I don't remember it, but I'm sure someone who knows it will respond. So chill until they do.

CastIron

I just spit on em and PULLED em through the channel. Done in seconds. You must pull, not push.

ridethecliche

I had a similar thing today. I got a pinch flat on my beater bike and it took me two hours to patch the tube and reinstall the tire. The tire just did not want to come off or go on. I broke one tire lever in the process and bent two others...

I need better levers...(and skill)

wonderboy

"pull" how? how do you grip the pad? i'm afraid of screwing up the pads with pliers.

CharlieWoo

I figured out why I was breaking tire levers. After hooking the bead you must pull the lever (hard) to get the hook portion of the lever as close to the bead as possible as you apply leverage. If you don't there will be a much longer effective lever arm and you'll snap the iron.

CharlieWoo

OP:

Here's a thread on your problem:

https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ght=campy+pads

wonderboy

not really, but thanks anyway.

any other thoughts, nothing suggested so far has gotten them any further on.

someone please elaborate on "pulling" if possible. I don't see how that is do-able. ive tried with pliers and hands, you simply cant get any grip or leverage.

CharlieWoo

You can't pull the pad holders and tap the pads in as advised?

ridethecliche

I snapped a cheap nashbar lever. The Blackburn ones were bent a little.

I kept trying to pull them hard, but I guess I wasn't doing it enough. I'll keep it more in mind next time.

Thanks!

slvoid

I have zero gravity brakes, which use campy pads and they're a pain in the ass. I basically measure how big the slot is and shave a way a couple thousandths from the dovetail in the brake pad to make them fit better.

Bob Dopolina 

Did you clean inside the holder with a sharp pointy thing (SPT) before trying to install the new pads?

wonderboy

WAY more so than that. holders were not dirty to begin with, but they got a thorough cleaning with a toothbrush all the same.

i don't know what the f you mean by sharp pointy thing so you'll have to be more specific, and explain why you need an acronym.

urodacus

obviously the humor pack has not been installed either.

kleng

You need to get a Jagwire Elite Pad Press, removing and chaining pads is over in 10 seconds, the LBS should have one in the work shop.

Bob Dopolina 

OOHHHH. I covet your press.

Bob Dopolina 

Sharp Pointy Thing: SPT.

I usually sharpen up an old spoke on the grinding wheel. I always had one hanging on my tool board and, as with every other tool and its' corresponding hook, this one was labelled SPT.

Frustration can be blinding, can't it.

wonderboy

ok, i figured out what the acronym stood for but thanks for making it that much clearer. now can you explain how that gets a brake pad on. please note that I already explained that no further cleaning of the shoe should be necessary, as I have previously express that I:

a) cleaned it with alcohol
b) it wasn't dirty to begin with
c) i additionally scrubbed it with a toothbrush.

I'd would truly be interested in knowing how a spoke (sorry, no grinding wheel sitting in my garage, I hope a grinding wheel isn't necessary to install campy brake pads or i'll really get irritated) will get these pads on. I'm on day 2 here, I really would like to ride tomorrow morning.

Thanks.

wonderboy

please please please please

somebody take pity on a poor soul, i have a ride first thing in the morning, the LBS who sold these is so backlogged they couldn't install them, and I've got ~4 hours invested in this. the one pad i've been working on is starting to crack from the gentle yet repeated mallet blows attempting to pound this thing into the shoe.

I can't buy a a $90 specialty tool to do this, i could buy new centaur calipers for that. is this REALLY supposed to be this hard? I have dremelled away a bit off the pad and still it won't budge.

please help

OneTinSloth

we have one of those at the shop where i work. we've used it precisely once. funny thing about that is that 50% of the guys in the shop ride campy and swap their pads out frequently. what do they do? they use cartridge shimano pads.

wonderboy

do standard 2000+ campy replacement pads not fit 2006 centaur shoes? the new pads are different than the originals (slightly shorter, and more importantly, the part that squeezes into the shoe is perhaps ~0.3mm wider) and perhaps this is the problem? the centaur pads that are original have a "curve" to fit the wheel, while these new ones are straight.

can anyone make sense of this?

wonderboy

problem solved. stupid LBS sold me the wrong pads. the back story is that after they sold me the wrong kool-stops, I took them in 3 days ago to have them pick out the "right" campy ones, and they gave me the pre-2000 pads inadvertantly, and I can't tell the difference. looking at the box now, they put their price tag sticker over the part of the box that tells you which model they are. Stupid.

I trusted them, but asked if they'd verify there were indeed selling me the right pads, and they refused to confirm by at least putting one on a shoe for me in the store. They told me I was "guaranteed" that they were giving me the right ones (no excuse for this, the bike was right in front of them).

aholes.