Centre pull brakes replaced with v brakes

[Gasman71]

Hi,

I have recently been upgrading a few bits on my Wife’s old Raleigh MTB. One of the things I wanted to replace was the centre pull pully brakes with v brakes to improve the braking. I replaced the front brakes ok but on the rear wheel I am having real problems getting them to adjust properly.

If I have the cable slack enough that the rear wheel can spin freely then the braking on the rear wheel is ineffective. If I tighten it to the level where I can get ok braking(although still not as good as front) then the wheel doesn’t run freely as the pads are still touching. I have tried different pads and still have the same problem.

Looking at the brake pads the front end of the pads touch the rim. At the rear of the brake pads there is a gap of a least a few mm. I have tried to re adjust this without success. The v brake set I bought was a very cheap one off of eBay. What I am wondering is am I doing something wrong in the set up of the brakes? Have I made a mistake in trying to replace the centre pull brakes with v brakes? Should the rear v brake be different to the front v brake? Is it because I have bought a cheap product? Any help appreciated.

[mattsccm]

Have you swapped the levers? You probably will have to as the various types of brakes have different amounts of cable pull. Generally one type of lever won't pull the other type of brake effectively.

[cyclop]

Most,half decent,v-brakes have a series of sculpted washers to enable perfect alignment and toe in.A few mm gap is miles too much.I use a piece of card,.5mm maybe,to set them up."Very cheap" can mean cheap and nasty or,if used,may be a bargain.Look on the net how to set "toe in" and take a careful look at the brake shoes and how they are fixed to the arms,mainly whether there are these special shaped washers enabling fine adjustment.This is your first port of call.

[rogerzilla]

As mattscom says, "normal" brake levers are no good for V-brakes, which require much more cable pull. Check the levers (at the cable stirrup) as some flat bar levers can be switched between V brake or normal using a cam. Otherwise, you will need to buy new levers.

The good news is that they are cheap and totally effective for flat bars; V-brake levers for drop bars are unusual and rather poor.

[Brucey]

your old brakes are usually known as 'cantilever' brakes. When you say centre pulls most people think of a different kind of brake, one that can't be replaced by V-brakes.

If you have not replaced the brake levers with new 'V-compatible' ones, the chances are excellent that the old levers have the wrong cable pull for V brakes. V-levers pull about half as much cable again as brake levers for cantilever brakes; if you try and use the old brake levers you will only get a brake that works at all if you set the brake blocks unfeasibly close the wheel rim, and that is not only a PITA to set up but it is also dangerous because they will only last five minutes in the wet (when the brake blocks are wearing fast) before the brake lever comes back to the handlebar, leaving you with no brakes at all.

Your old brakes might have been unserviceable for some reason, but if they just needed brake blocks, cables and a smear of grease on the pivots, there is no special reason to suppose that you will greatly (if at all) improve matters by fitting a cheap set of V-brakes in their place.

If the brake levers (having the correct pull for cantis only, too short for Vs) are integrated with the shifters, I earnestly encourage you to put some cantilever brakes back on the bike; the alternatives to this are mostly expensive.

cheers

[EDDROBB]

Check for the free movement of the brake cable. From your description it seems like there is some resistance preventing the brake releasing correctly.

[iandusud]

Hi,

I have recently been upgrading a few bits on my Wife’s old Raleigh MTB. One of the things I wanted to replace was the centre pull pully brakes with v brakes to improve the braking. I replaced the front brakes ok but on the rear wheel I am having real problems getting them to adjust properly.

If I have the cable slack enough that the rear wheel can spin freely then the braking on the rear wheel is ineffective. If I tighten it to the level where I can get ok braking(although still not as good as front) then the wheel doesn’t run freely as the pads are still touching. I have tried different pads and still have the same problem.

Looking at the brake pads the front end of the pads touch the rim. At the rear of the brake pads there is a gap of a least a few mm. I have tried to re adjust this without success. The v brake set I bought was a very cheap one off of eBay. What I am wondering is am I doing something wrong in the set up of the brakes? Have I made a mistake in trying to replace the centre pull brakes with v brakes? Should the rear v brake be different to the front v brake? Is it because I have bought a cheap product? Any help appreciated.

There are probably a number of issues here. Quality of cables and their runs, the set up of the brake blocks, the lever's compatibility... however the most single most significant factor is probably this: "The v brake set I bought was a very cheap one off of eBay". They are probably what I refer to as "rubber brakes"! No matter how carefully you set them up they will never work well. Good v brakes are not expensive (I just looked on Spa Cycles website where a set of Shimano Deore brakes cost £18 and you can no doubt find similar quality cheaper) and whilst I'm all in favour of being careful with the pennies brakes are certainly not worth skimping on (unless you have good life insurance policy for you wife ).

[Bonzo Banana]

Don't forget to put your cantilever brakes on ebay. People converting old mountain bikes to gravel bikes often need to find cantilever brakes so they can use drop handlebars and levers so a quick clean up and a decent photo might get you reasonable money depending on their condition and model.

[Gasman71]

I am learning a few things here and now have some things to try so thanks for all your responses. To add to the details . The brake set I used cost £10. This included Brackets ( sorry don’t know technical term for them) cables and levers. I bought separate brake pads of reasonable quality (i didn’t use the ones that came with the set). I didn’t replace the levers because the ones that came with the set were really cheap and nasty. It seems this may be the problem from your messages. It did seem that the brake cable was not moving enough when adjusting. I will look up some new levers and install those.

Regarding the brackets, I did go to to a bike shop to see how the quality compared. There didn’t seem to be any real notable difference. I still have my doubts that the rear brackets aren’t quite right. I am tempted to get shop bought ones for the rear. I’ll probably end up using very little of the set I paid £10 for (I already bought separate noodles and boot as didn’t like the ones that came with the kit.

I think will also be worth checking if there is any friction on cable.

[Gasman71]

Don't forget to put your cantilever brakes on ebay. People converting old mountain bikes to gravel bikes often need to find cantilever brakes so they can use drop handlebars and levers so a quick clean up and a decent photo might get you reasonable money depending on their condition and model.

Thanks for tip. I have saved the components but would probably have thrown away as didn’t think they were of any use.

Long story short but I came off my bike in the summer( breaking my collar bone) and in the process went into the back wheel of my wife’s bike. I needed to repair a few bits on the the bike, including new back wheel. It seemed a good time to do some upgrades on bike.

[peetee]

Has it been suggested to you that v-brakes would improve the braking?
In my experience many old Raleigh bikes were fitted with very effective cantilever brakes with a light action and positive feel. What makes them poor is deterioration of the cables or lack of care in replacing those cables, decay of the brake blocks and/or corrosion of the brake pivots.
Attend to all these issues and the brakes will be more than adequate for even spirited or loaded riding.

[Gasman71]

Has it been suggested to you that v-brakes would improve the braking?
In my experience many old Raleigh bikes were fitted with very effective cantilever brakes with a light action and positive feel. What makes them poor is deterioration of the cables or lack of care in replacing those cables, decay of the brake blocks and/or corrosion of the brake pivots.
Attend to all these issues and the brakes will be more than adequate for even spirited or loaded riding.

I was comparing to the braking on my giant bike. My wife’s bike braking was soft and spongey with brake squeal, thought this was down to the old brake system on it. So probably my wrong assumption.

[Gasman71]

Has it been suggested to you that v-brakes would improve the braking?
In my experience many old Raleigh bikes were fitted with very effective cantilever brakes with a light action and positive feel. What makes them poor is deterioration of the cables or lack of care in replacing those cables, decay of the brake blocks and/or corrosion of the brake pivots.
Attend to all these issues and the brakes will be more than adequate for even spirited or loaded riding.

I was comparing to the braking on my giant bike. My wife’s bike braking was soft and spongey with brake squeal, thought this was down to the old brake system on it. So probably my wrong assumption.

[Brucey]

I agree with Peetee. The idea that ten quid Vee brakes are definitely going to be an improvement is a bit of a stretch to say the least.

cheers