I dont know if there’s a ‘random thoughts thread’ but I’m sort of regretting my noodle bike brake choices. It rides great but I for the life of me cannot find a brake combo that works well. Cantis kinda suck. I should have just done braze on center pulls or gone dick brakes eh?
Cantis absolutely suck. Have you tried v brakes?
can you make mini vees work with your tyre/fender/boss placement? (assuming full size vees will lead to travel agent fuckery for drop bar shakes)
Get some vintage shimano medium profile smooth post cantis and a canti whisperer to set them up?
Not on this bike. If I go with V brakes then i have to figure out drop bar lever situation
Can you link me to what a ‘vintage medium profile post cantis’ and a ‘canti whisperer’ is ?
I have BR-R550 now and maybe it’s just the pads? I dont know but they feel kinda spongy too.
I’m thinking of trying the cheap Shimano CT-91 (altus)
I googled those terms and see that the brakes you seem to refer to are the Altus copies now. I’m sure the Altus are worse but how much worse?
http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=86744697-791f-4cdc-a8fc-52bd9b847b8f&Enum=117
http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=6333bfa5-df46-4ed7-94fa-e71e30d94855&Enum=117
altus are low profile.
BR-MT60 (or the XT version) are medium-wide profile. And just about the best canti ever made. Have to ebay them or rat around co-ops. Be sure they’re complete as there are enough small parts that can easily get lost.
Other than the pads, these brakes are effectively as good as any other cantilever brake, maybe even better. I just wish they had dual sided adjustment screws.
1 Like
I’ve got some Methyl Ethyl Ketone in my garage that should take that off if you need to borrow some.
Travel agent(s)
I think you are right. I had enough of canti’s in the late 80’s early 90’s and they made my life a misery in XC races. But two weeks ago I built up this bike, and it actually came with these brakes on it. All I needed to do was give them a small tweak and build a straddle cable for the rear one, concentrating on keeping it pretty low. I was really surprised at how good they were. It did not match my memory of how shit they were back in the day, but I think I was probably using the lower profile versions then. These are very solid, but don’t feel very progressive. Full vees with travel agents are great, or mini-vees, if you have clearance. I reckon these are the ones in your piccie Blakey?
yeah, looks a lot like them. The model is cast in on the back side of the arm.
Someone who is skilled at setting up canti brakes, because aligning smooth post canti pads is some awful arcane magic. (I say this as a person running smooth post cantis on a bike right now, god knows why)
Yep, the Altus BR-CT91 is basically just a cheaper version of the Deore XT BR-M737 or Deore LX BR-M560/M565. Never used the Altus version; I imagine they operate just the same but are made of cheaper/heavier materials.
Yeah, MT60 and M730 these are great! Put some Koolstop Eagles on them to replace whatever 30-year-old rock-hard pads they come with.
What about BR-CX50/CX70? I’ve heard those are the bees knees, as far as modern canti brakes are concerned.
Stock replacement pads equal to price of canti’s, not sure if after market ones will fit. edit refers to CX50
They’re particularly cool because of how the installation process is designed to be fully discrete. if you can follow simple instructions it all just falls into place with no compound adjustments.
The pads are on fixed-length spacers that you pick from the set based on your rim width and how far apart your canti studs are
The CX70 comes with standard pad holders, just replace the insert
I ordered a couple sets from GB a few weeks ago, they should be here soon
I’ve also seen something very similar mentioned as “Viva bag clips”
1 Like
Man that sounds great. Imagine that, not having to adjust and hold 2 translational axes and 3 rotational axes simultaneously! Not gonna lie, every time I have to poke at my oldschool XTR canti brakes, I consider selling them and replacing with CX70.
Thinking of trying this with p-clamps instead