Now that I really looked at your pics, yup, really need to readjust your cable yoke lower and closer to your brakes. But I also agree with Shimagnolo that with such a long cable travel because of your long steerer tube, you may still not get enough braking power and too much shudder. Moving the brake cable hanger thingy to the fork crown should solve that. Never seen this before though.

Braking power is not the problem; A grabby front brake that can't be modulated is what happens with that arrangement.

And the dreaded "canti squeal" gets really annoying after a while! The Vassago I raced on last year had horrid squeal with a stem mounted hanger, my current bike has a longer HT measure and a carbon fork but no shudder because I swapped out to a crown-mounted hanger.

In regards to the fork-crown mounted cable stop - I just bought one from the LBS for $20 and installed it.
Incidentally, this is also on a Miyata that had a too long crossover cable that needed replacing anyway, I decided to make this upgrade at the same time after reading this thread.



This one is made by Specialized, and I had to do some creative fiddling to get it to mount properly with my fenders and not scrape against the bearings. I was hoping to get the Tektro model and in silver, however this is all they had.



What you see is an old washer from a center-pull brake that's been reversed so that the concave section that would normally press against a rounded fork crown is holding the hanger in place, and a lock-washer in between to hold it and act as an extra spacer. Normally this would be mounted with an L-bracket that came with the kit, but the spacing wasn't enough and it interfered with the fender's tab.

I had a photo of the the Tektro one loaded on my phone to show them what I needed at the LBS. The one pictured is labelled "Tricross Fork Brake Hanger" on the package and included mounting hardware for alloy and carbon fibre forks.

Please ignore the rust visible in the photos, I'm still in the process of cleaning this bike up.

Thank you again, everyone. I just want to be clear that my shop didn't say cantis were worthless but it looks like they really over-emphasized the improvement from a v-brake conversion. I will definitely just put on some new pads, as well as shorten the link wire. There isn't any reason to have it much higher than clearing the fender, right?

The crown hanger makes a lot of sense to me. However, the light I ordered also wants to use that hole. I know B&M make cantilever brackets: https://harriscyclery.net/product/bus...acket-1902.htm

Here is the light I have coming: https://www.bumm.de/produkte/dynamo-s...-iq-cyo-t.html

Those are beautiful brakes and I would question any shop that suggested that you ditch these for some lower end V brakes... New kool stop pads and a proper set up will make for some excellent braking.

I just put a set of the Tektro CR720 on my tourer/commuter. They were a little challenging for me to set up. You do need to be at little more patient than with a v-brake setup. But when installed they feel very nice,... much better than those short pull cantis. However, the pads that come with them aren't the best.... when they wear down a bit, I'll be looking for some kool stops.

I have one bike with Tektro Oryx cantis and the braking is so-so, largely because I put too long of a z-link wire on them... and the pads are a little old. I will be replacing them before my next big ride. The other bike has a set of Avid SD4s with short z-link wires and is a much better stopper. Neither are useless by any means. It is just a matter of configuration.

I have canti brakes on 3 bikes and I love them. They key is to set them up properly and replace the pads with something like Kool Stop salmons. A lot of cyclists who promote V brakes seem to gloss over their disadvantages. Altho V-brakes apparently do have good stopping power, you have to set the pads very close to the rims, which can make it harder to fit larger tires and cause problems if you rims get even slightly out of true.

I've got 3 different kinds of cantis on my bikes -- Shimano R550s, Shimano CX50s and Tektro 720s. They all function perfectly. They stop well and do not squeal. They are easy to open when installing or removing wheels, and can handle very large tires. I have replaced the stock pads on all of my brakes with Kool Stops.

I put cr720's on my commuter with koolstops and the braking was fine except for heavy rain. I let four different mechanics try their best at adjusting them and never got reliable stopping in the rain. put a mini V on my front wheel and braking is better. Adjusting is tricky and the clearance is tight, but braking is better.

Though i'm still debating getting a new fork and front disc brake.

Cantis sometimes feel soft, but if it's actually taking longer to brake, that's a pad/setup issue. My cantis are equipped with regular kool-stop pads, not the salmons, and will stop me as fast as road friction allows. Meaning I have the ability to lock the wheels if I so desire (or am not paying attention).

It's not that they're soft. They work fine when it's dry but when it's really raining I end up having to do the Flintstone to stop. A lot of people are quick to argue that Canti's are great and if you have problems they say that they just aren't adjusted right. Which may be true, but 4 different bike shops couldn't adjust them right. I put mini-v's on the front and from the get go they work better in the rain. No complicated adjusting.

exactly where KS Salmon compound pads are made to perform better..

they are made in the metro Portland area, after all.

They are what I use...

If you ask me, properly set up cantilevers =/> v-brakes.

On the other hand, poorly set up cantilevers < fred flintstone-ing.

Well, there is a point where it's too low. By lowering the straddle cable, you increase the mechanical advantage, but:

fwiw I put a set of cheapy xlc brake pads (under $4 for set of 4) on an old trek with lower end shimano cantis and they stopped it just fine. at least in dry weather

that is a cool article. thanks for posting

Others have posted what I think is very good advice about canti brakes. I'll just add another positive view. These brakes have always worked well enough, I think. I never shared the deep frustration some people seem to have. MTB's used to come with them, and I had a lot of fun riding my old bike around before anyone knew any better.

One thing I like about cantilever brakes is that the brake pads can be made to last a lot longer than on v-brakes. You can keep pulling that wire out to keep the pads close and use up nearly all the pad.

Hi Guys Paul here, now I work in a bike shop which is more like a co-op, now something that really gets my boss a bit upset is bike shops saying stuff like "Just replace it".
We keep using stuff for as long as possible, so there are a few things to try with your existing set up. Before you even try new pads I would first File the pads until you reach fresh rubber, also making sure there is enough rubber to keep using the pads.

Remove straddle cable, and then re adjust the pads as high on the rim as possible with out fowling tyre (with a rubberband or thinner cable tie placed between the back of the pad and rim to acheive 1-1.5mm worth of toe in if pads are squealing) it is paramount that from the front or the rear of the bike the pads look level with each other, as high as possible and level will bring out the best in your canti's on road. I am by no means an expert . . I just love canti's!

I think if you can get a better result out of your bike while spending money that has to be a good thing.

I also think a lot of people think canti's are bad brakes . . . they are not bad brakes normally they just are set up wrong.

If you do go the Tektro route I would personally go for their RL340 levers too.

Give the cantis a chance. V Brakes can be very noisey in the wet.

Kool Stop Salmon pads. Lower the straddle cable. Make sure your braking surfaces on the rims are clean. Lightly sand your brake pads periodically to get rid of the "glaze" (gets worse when braking in wet conditions).

If that doesn't work, try some type of mini v brakes (shorter arms designed to work with road levers). Just make sure they will stand off enough from your tires and fenders.

Some cantilevers are crap. I've had a few older mountain bikes with cantis that were pretty bad. That said, good cantilevers are just fine. I love my old XTR cantilevers and my Tektro 720's. Set up right, with good pads, canti's can be all the brake you need. I'm very heavy (~275 lbs right now), ride heavy old mountain bikes (for touring and commuting) and have never not had the stopping power I need, even on descents while fully loaded for touring, and I don't pack light!