Originally Posted by
70sSanO
Regardless of what Sheldon said, rest his soul, cantilevers are a royal pain and really don’t stop better. All the physics in the world could never bring them back after V-brakes. The CX canti’s made a comeback with V-brake pads, but discs will return them back to the parts bin.
I say this with a bike that has very good cantilever brakes (XTR) and I still hate setting them up. I will need to get good V-brake replacements soon as they are quickly disappearing from sight.
John
A good mechanic doesn’t blame his tools.
I have 3 current bikes with cantilevers and have had several cantilever equipped bikes in the past. I work on bikes with cantilevers at my co-op regularly and never found them to be all that hard to work on. The ones I have now are Paul’s and they are dead simple to install and adjust. There are a few things that can make life easier with cantilevers, however.
First ditch that stupid “link wire”. Shimano has had a lot of bad ideas over the years but few are as bad as the “link wire”. A traditional traverse cable is easier to adjust and provides for a better brake feel. Yes, I know that the link wire was invented to solve the “problem” of cables slipping and catching on the wheel, leading to death and destruction but, honestly, I’ve never heard or read of anyone that this has really happened to. I suppose it could if you failed to anchor the cable properly but that’s not the fault of the brake. And, if you give yourself enough room on the lever cable...i.e. don’t cut it too short...if it does slip, you’ll still have brakes enough to stop even with only moderate tightening of the cable bolt.
Another thing to help with the brake is to use a wider cable carrier. I use Paul’s Moon Units which are wider than OEM cable carriers and provide better support to the traverse cable.
Finally, I too don’t agree with Saint Brown entirely. His take on mechanical advantage and long pull on the lever may be technically true, but if the brakes are set up to engage sooner, you have a more possible brake feel and are more confident in the brake’s ability to stop the bike.
Honestly, I can’t tell the difference in any of the brakes I own from cantilever to linear to mechanical disc. They all feel the same and stop the bike with equal efficiency.