Why are canti breaks so crap?

thehamo

Just wondering, I was out on the bike the other day going down a steap hill and as hard as I pulled on the breaks, they mad a lot of noise but not a lot of action! The bike has frogleg canti brakes but thinking already of changing over to a set of v breaks instead

Lumen

Cantis are fine if they're set up right. It just takes a bit of effort to get right.

ednwireland

they aint setup right, i just built up a commuter for my self specifically put cantis for better tyre/ mudguard clearance, cant say that ive noticed any difference between that and calipers. in fact if anything they are more powerful

billy.fish

My cross brakes (TRP Euro-X's) are probably better than my road brakes (Ultegra something or other number).

You've not set them up right.

Check the straddle cables, height, canti angle, and toe in. Leonard Zinn had an article on it somewhere.

doozerie

Over 15 years on and the original cantilevers on my MTB are still working very well. I'm not sure that I'd find v-brakes any better myself and badly setup v-brakes will be just as bad as badly setup cantilevers. As already mentioned, look at how they are set on your bike.

Lumen

These are useful:

Technical FAQ with Lennard Zinn: A detailed look at canti’ geometry

The Geometry of Cantilever Brakes, by Sheldon Brown

It's not necessarily intuitive stuff, particularly the bit about powerful brakes feeling spongy.

thehamo

I took the pads out and gave them a bit of a sand down and repositioned them ab bit better. Breaking is definitely stronger and no squeeqing. But ive noticed a good bit of bike shudder when breaking hard which is something ive read on other forums.
Anyone notice this before?

Lumen

thehamo wrote: »

But ive noticed a good bit of bike shudder when breaking hard which is something ive read on other forums. Anyone notice this before?

Yes, brake judder can be a problem. It is fixable.