Originally Posted by Ithaka

Okay:

1. maybe I moved the pads around to a less than ideal position, but the bike braked badly when I first started riding it.

2. the cable that has the little 'tabs' on it that pull the calipers up is a certain length . If I lower the yoke, the brake pads will rest even farther away from the rim... how can this help?

3. I said in the OP that I had replaced the pads twice in a last couple years.