Originally Posted by
adamess
Thanks!
I think the problem was too much caliper travel, though. I had to grasp the levers really hard to get the bike to stop -- it wasn't like the levers were easy to actuate and I was running out of pull.
I'm not sure where that leaves me -- I think I should just go to another shop and get their advice. I am also now wondering if maybe the Sora levers + Mini-V's would do the trick.
With any mechanical rim brake system it's about
:
1) clean, aluminum rims - best performance, especially in the wet
2) good quality brake pads - Kool Stop Salmon are among the best I've tried
3) good quality cables and housing - Shimano basic level is good enough and rather cheap
4) caliper quality and lever quality - for all I know, both your levers and calipers are quite decent
5) brake setu
About setup:
If your pads move all the way to the rim with little lever travel, and you get a very firm feel on the levers?
If so, you need to set your brakes for more mechanical advantage.
If the levers move all the way to the bars when pulling hard on them (from the drops), or feel too spongy, you have too much mechanical advantage.
Neither is good.
For cantilever brakes:
a) the closer the calipers are to 90% angle, the more mechanical advantage you have. 90% is when the part where yoke cable is attached is at the same height as the caliper pivot points (where they are attached to the frame). Works vice-versa - the higher the yoke attach point is from the caliper pivots, the less m. advantage.
b) the lower the yoke cable goes, the more parallel to the ground it is, the more mechanical advantage - and vice-versa.
The two mentioned things affect each other - leaving the a) with a 45 degree angle makes it possible to run the b) lower, at a more parallel angle to the ground. Moving a) to about 80 degrees, makes it hard to keep the b) angle parallel to the ground and low compared to caliper mounts.
It is a bit of trial and error, but can be managed.
Mini V-brakes make setup a lot less trial and error, although even there, with altering pad distance from the caliper mounts, one can affect m.advantage noticeably. However, there are only two settings here - altered by the arrangement of the wider spacer on the pads.
Conclusion: in terms of braking power, cantilevers are easier to adapt to particular levers used, since they offer a wider choice of mechanical advantage. With any V-brakes, youre more or less stuck with what you've got. On the other hand, V-brakes are easy enough to set up, so very few people get it completely wrong. Cantis do have a reputation of being weaker than V-brakes, but IMO, it's mostly down to poor setup.
Having said all that, I also prefer V-brakes (and variants) for their ease of setup.
Good pads:
road:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...e0c1cfd84c7f2a
V-brake (not the mini-V):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...8c185cbdfae4c6