Well I'd love to know more details about that.
I had a folding bike with 20' wheels with v-brakes that had brakes that would squeal painfully at the front. Swapped out the v-brakes, still squealed. Cleaned rims.... still squealed. Changed brake pads to Koolstop salmons... still squealed.... I was beginning to think it was the rims as they were a cheap wheelset.
I was almost at the end of my tether until I decided to use a fork brace -voila! Mind you, will still squeal under really heavy braking but it's vastly improved.
I know different brake levers can pull different lengths -but sometimes that seemingly insignificant 1-2mm difference really is the difference between marginal and really good braking (though this tends to be for short pull brake levers).
Originally Posted by
Peterpan1
A lot of the value of building your own bike goes out of the project if you have to ask the question. Buy a well set-up bike and then start substituting parts as you gain experience with alternatives you feel you need as you get some experience. If you are in Toronto, you should visit the Urbane Peddler, they will build you the bike you want and allow you to substitute parts, or use existing components you may own.
I know from personal experience that it is possible to build your own bike and get some things badly wrong. I have been wrenching on bikes for 40 years, but I never had a bike with cantis and drops. So when I bought a touring bike from UP, one of the parts I decided to fill from my own stock, after extensive research, was the brakes. What a disaster, I went through quite a few tours changing brakes in and out and gradually getting something that worked on the fork in question. Just bad luck, but even substituting bling components didn't solve my problem until I finally figured it out. Good learning experience in a number of regards.