Cyclocross Brake Noises...

dave_o_brien

So I recently got a loan of a cross bike (a Columbus X-Wing with a mix of Ultegra and 105 and an FSA chainset) from a friend who's off in Australia for a while. The brakes squeal like rude things. They are TRP cantilevers. Does anyone have any advice as to reducing this squealing? The rear is worse than the front, although the front brake judder is impressive in it's own right... Enjoying the bike, set up is similar to my road bikes, but I've been enjoying tree dodging on it!

dave2pvd

dave_o_brien wrote: »

So I recently got a loan of a cross bike (a Columbus X-Wing with a mix of Ultegra and 105 and an FSA chainset) from a friend who's off in Australia for a while. The brakes squeal like rude things. They are TRP cantilevers. Does anyone have any advice as to reducing this squealing? The rear is worse than the front, although the front brake judder is impressive in it's own right... Enjoying the bike, set up is similar to my road bikes, but I've been enjoying tree dodging on it!

Adjust the pads so that they are toed-in.

dave_o_brien

I have done, although there seems to be a lot more torsional freedom on the canti's compared to either calipers or v's... By this I mean there is quite a bit of movement allowed to occur at the brake arm allowing movement of the pad compared to the other systems. I tightened the mounts following this, and still there was minor play here. I'm assuming this is because of the wire mechanism, but maybe I'm wrong.

dave2pvd

dave_o_brien wrote: »

I have done, although there seems to be a lot more torsional freedom on the canti's compared to either calipers or v's... By this I mean there is quite a bit of movement allowed to occur at the brake arm allowing movement of the pad compared to the other systems. I tightened the mounts following this, and still there was minor play here. I'm assuming this is because of the wire mechanism, but maybe I'm wrong.

Wear maybe? I assume you mean at the pivots? If so, add more toe in.

Lumen

Fork crown mounted hanger.

dave_o_brien

Thanks, I'll try to toe them in a bit more, see if that helps, then change the pads if that's not a solution.

dave_o_brien

Lumen wrote: »

Fork crown mounted hanger.

By this do you mean the cable guide at the top of the headtube? It has that alright. I presume this is a proposed solution to fork judder rather than the brake squeal?

Lumen

dave_o_brien wrote: »

By this do you mean the cable guide at the top of the headtube? It has that alright. I presume this is a proposed solution to fork judder rather than the brake squeal?

Nope, bottom of the headtube. Brake squeal and fork judder are both caused by flexing of the headtube/steerer thingamijig, or at least that's the theory I subscribe to.

seve65

Clean the pads & rims
Dont necessarily toe ie. e.g. kool stop salmon are not meant to be toed in
Make sure there is no play in the wheel(s)
Make sure pads are nicely horizontally and vertically aligned to the rim
Check the rims havent started to develop a groove
and other technical stuff to do with leverage that I dont understand !

feck sake lads

seve65 wrote: »

Clean the pads & rims
Dont necessarily toe ie. e.g. kool stop salmon are not meant to be toed in
Make sure there is no play in the wheel(s)
Make sure pads are nicely horizontally and vertically aligned to the rim
Check the rims havent started to develop a groove
and other technical stuff to do with leverage that I dont understand !

Have to disagree with you her i have canti brakes and coolstop salmon on my thorn tourer.
last week i made the mistake of cleaning both rims and pads the squeel could be heard from the next village.only solution was to TOE the blocks only took a few minutes no more noise.:cool:

Mycroft H

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-help/cantilever-brake-service

Make sure there is no debris embedded in the brake pads.

seve65

feck sake lads wrote: »

Have to disagree with you her i have canti brakes and coolstop salmon on my thorn tourer.
last week i made the mistake of cleaning both rims and pads the squeel could be heard from the next village.only solution was to TOE the blocks only took a few minutes no more noise.:cool:

yes, i have had mixed experiences myself. Did you ever try cleaning with very fine sand paper as some advocate ? I always clean the pads (scrub with water and a tooth brush or edge of a knife), at least that gets any grit/shards out. I only touch the rims lightly with some heavily diluted washing up liquid. Seems to work fine for me at the moment. A bit of oil spilt on the rim can result in squealing. I know when I cleaned my rims with stronger household products like vim, squealing seemed to be the result (although not every time) (nice and shiny though)

dave_o_brien

Thanks for all the responses.

Lumen, that makes sense for the fork judder, but I can't get my head around how it would contribute to squeal. Still, I'll give it a shot to see how it affects things. The judder is less of an issue than the squealing, really. The squealing is obnoxiously loud!

To everyone else, the pads are toed in, I will try to increase the angle. The pads are clean (and, as of today, sanded, in the hope that that might help), the rims are in good nick (relatively unused Racing 7's). The rear seems to be a lot louder than the front, for reasons unclear to me...

feck sake lads

dave the reason the for the shudder is the blocks grabbing the rims almost like your fist opening and closing. i'm sure you know this but make sure you have them toed in from front to back .

dave_o_brien

feck sake lads wrote: »

dave the reason the for the shudder is the blocks grabbing the rims almost like your fist opening and closing. i'm sure you know this but make sure you have them toed in from front to back .

Yep, I have no confusion about the why of the fork judder. I Coming from a road bike or a mountain bike, it is more of a surprise than an issue to experience that. The ear-piercing brake squeal is an issue, though. I'd prefer slowing my bike down not to sound like torturing a small animal.