Why do some folk like cantilever brakes?

[Brucey]

.......I thought I was being smart by fitting road pad holders rather than have to fiddle with the smooth post cantilevers every time I changed a pad.

Unfortunately, the grub screw that holds the pad from sliding out backwards is blocked by parts of the canti (for the front brakes). So I still have to realign everything!

Ditch the grub screw. Drill the holder to fit an MTB type split pin.
(I once lost a pad which wasn't "retained")

or... simply undo the M6 bolt that holds the canti arm onto the boss, and pull the canti-arm forwards until you have good access. Just be sure to put the spring back into the correct hole in the boss when you are done.

cheers

[Vantage]

These use the split pin method of securing the pad. They can have a bit if a grinding noise after some use but otherwise are very good pad.

Clarks Elite MTB/Hybrid V-Brake Pads W/ Lightweight Aluminium Holder and Triple Compound Insert Pads, 72 mm https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005PVLSP0/ ... hxbKVEWY7A

[meic]

I had two minor incidents with my cantilever brakes which helped remind me why I like dual-pivot caliper brakes.

While carrying the bike down the stairs, the left rear CR720 arm dug painfully into my leg.
While pedaling my right foot pulled out of the cleat (even wimps like me pull on the upstroke a little bit) and kicked the right Cr720 arm. There was a funny noise and the left lever went slack, I had kicked it enough to knock the pad under the rim instead of next to it.

All the paraphernalia around cantis are a pain: cable stop braze-ons, seat clamp danglers, uphangers, light extenders, fatigued then snapped light extenders, in-line adjusters, sticky out cables holing mudguards, panniers, and sleeping bags.

On the plus side at least as they wear they come away from the tyre, caliper brakes move towards the tyre and many a tyre wall* has paid the price for that.

*none of mine though.

[Samuel D]

On the plus side at least as they wear they come away from the tyre, caliper brakes move towards the tyre and many a tyre wall* has paid the price for that.

I think I’d rather have the brake pad hit the tyre than slip under the rim and jam in the spokes! But perhaps jamming does not happen. It depends on the geometry of the whole caboodle.

[meic]

Mine didnt jam and was safely clear enough from the spokes after passing the rim, I was riding for another 20 or 30 metres before I realised that something was wrong.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

My cantis stop me predictably. As a result I've never tried Vs. It ain't broke, I don't plan to fix it.

You old fuddy duddy

"V's" will have you over the handle bars

Seriously my main opinion is that canti's needed four fingers and V's you can get by on two.

[meic]

To contradict my last posts which were about the Cantibrakes on my STI equiped bike.

My "MTB" with Cantis and XT straight bar levers is great because the levers have both the pull and MA needed to give good stopping with enormous rim-pad clearances, brakes two fingered no problem bringing myself and tag-a-long to a comfortable halt on the steepest of Welsh hills.
It also has low profile Cantis which dont stick out like the CR720s. The levers more than make up for the low profiles' problems.

It is still a pain trying to mount a battery light at the fork crown though!

[Brucey]

While carrying the bike down the stairs, the left rear CR720 arm dug painfully into my leg.
While pedaling my right foot pulled out of the cleat (even wimps like me pull on the upstroke a little bit) and kicked the right Cr720 arm. There was a funny noise and the left lever went slack, I had kicked it enough to knock the pad under the rim instead of next to it.

that says something about wide profile cantis perhaps, but they are not all like that. You must have knocked it pretty hard or the brake wasn't set up right....? you can knock any other form of rim brake too BTW, people do it all the time.

All the paraphernalia around cantis are a pain: cable stop braze-ons, seat clamp danglers, uphangers, light extenders, fatigued then snapped light extenders, in-line adjusters, sticky out cables holing mudguards, panniers, and sleeping bags..

In order

cable stop braze-ons, seat clamp danglers, uphangers,

frames for cantis can have braze-ons or not, just like frames for derailleur gears can have the right braze-ons or not. If you frame doesn't have the right braze-ons, blame the frame builder, or the bloke that bought the frame...?
Even if you don't have canti braze-ons, hangers cost little and work very well IME.

light extenders, fatigued then snapped light extenders,

Admittedly there can be problems here but perhaps you bought/made/chose the wrong combination of parts...?

in-line adjusters,

you bought the wrong hangers...?

sticky out cables holing mudguards, panniers, and sleeping bags.

er, who left the cables poking out? Would this have happened with lower profile cantis...?

Horses for courses; don't use wide profile CX cantis on a touring bike that is meant for carrying panniers, not without ensuring that the cables are out of the way and there is clearance to the bags etc. Also if you have little heel clearance to the brakes anyway, maybe cantis are a bad choice, and wide profile ones doubly so?

Ah, I see you have a second post on this point...

cheers

[meic]

Ah, as ever, you can always blame the operator for failing to deal with the faults of the system.
Or you could just have a system that didnt need all the effort to deal with it.

I miss the simplicity and neatness of the dual-pull calipers. The question was "why do people like Cantis?"

and I agree with the feelings behind that question, compared to dual-pivot calipers, they are a complicated PITA to set up and adjust.

[Vorpal]

Why? They are relatively simple, and if set-up correctly, they are good & reliable. I won't say I'm keen, but I also don't see anything wrong with them. They stop me as well as the brakes on any of my other bikes with the possible exception of my disc-braked mountain bike.

On my hybrid, I change wheels and tyres a couple of times a year (for studded tyres for winter). One set of rims is old, worn, and a different type to the other. That change would be so much more hassel with other types of brakes.

[meic]

Why?

The other brakes are self-contained units, they can dangle off the end of an outer cable.
The canti's need to be set up with an additional point as an end stop and have a straddle cable.
That straddle cable may need fussy positioning (often where you would like your front light).
The endstop can have a pulley that snaps cables, cause fork judder or make a third item to try and squeeze on you forkcrown bolts.

At the moment, three of my four brakes are cantis so, I know they have their uses. With the XT levers I can get away with anything as they have the pull and MA, I can swap from 19mm to 24mm rims without adjusting anything more than the copious barrel adjusters ON THE LEVERS. With STIs I find you have to set up carefully and may have to redo it within the lifespan of a set of pads, you also have to find some way to introduce adjusters.

First thing that I did on fitting CR720s was to grind off the ends of the cable barrels' cradles so that I could unhook the cables for wheel removal.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
V's use a direct pull mechansism unlike canti's, so its a no brainer why V's are superior.
Friction and deflection play a large part in efficiency loss.
I agree with 531colin on canti's.

[Brucey]

Ah, as ever, you can always blame the operator for failing to deal with the faults of the system.
Or you could just have a system that didnt need all the effort to deal with it.

fair point, but then again cantis are (by far) not the most complicated and troublesome thing that you might find on a bicycle. And the alternatives to cantis all have their shortcomings too, it is pretty much a case of 'choose your poison...'

cheers

[mig]

i've found that the choice of block is critically important with cantilever brakes. the ones supplied with my cheapo set seemed to accelerate the bike! once changed to salmon blocks the same set up performed in a hugely improved fashion.

[reohn2]

Why do some folk like cantilever brakes?

With so much better kit on the market,I haven't a clue