Merzperson

Everyone, thanks for your help. I'm going to take the bike in to a shop today and see what they have to say.

Just to clear a couple things up:
Yes, the brake lever QR was open because I had the wheel off (sorry)
QR is usually closed which means the yoke normally doesn't rest on the fender (but it is very close; I can always lower the fender)
The link-wire is never at a 90 degree angle and as far as I know with this length of link-wire it will never be 90 degrees

[EDIT] I briefly spoke with Bruce and his advice was to take it to a good shop, so that's what I'm going to do.

scruggle

I have no idea how it is possible to have a situation where this link-wire can never be set at a 90 degree angle, especially with something as common as the BR550. The length of the link-wire cable and housing don't seem to matter to me. Unless, that is, the cantilever brake arms are sticking straight out 180 degrees from each other and can widen no further, or are hitting the fork legs.

I can see how, if the link wire is set at 90 degrees, that your pads are not where you want them. If your pads are too close to the rim, swap the thick spacer washers to the outside, or get some thinline pads. Is this the problem - that when you have the link-wire set up properly (at 90) the pads are too tight on the rim? You should have tried swapping the thick concave washers with the thinner ones. This is pretty much what TimeTravel_0 has been saying, I think.

Someone tell me what I am missing.

Merzperson

OK, I see what you're saying now. Yes, I agree that it would work to move the thick spacers out to get the thing at 90 degrees and that would have probably been a simpler solution from the start. However, the Shimano BR-550 yoke is angled at ~115-120 degree angle, implying that is the 'correct' angle. Whether 90 degrees or 115 degrees gives more stopping power doesn't really matter too much to me right now. I took the bike out for a quick spin today and the brakes work just fine, and took it to the shop and they said there was nothing wrong with the brake.

TimeTravel_0

see angle.



did you tighten up the cable to the anchor bolt? that's all I'm saying.

Merzperson

Which angle are you talking about here? I had assumed you were talking about the angle between the two cables running to the arms being 90 degrees.
I am still not positive I understand what you are saying. The 'free' end of the brake cable IS securely tightened down via the anchor bolt (right-hand side of my posted picture) and I am not sure why you'd doubt this, because it (no offence) is fairly obvious in the photo I doubt this is what you're talking about.