Well done Alex !! You’re almost pro now. A little trial/testing will answer your questions about feel and preferences for adjustment. Just double check everything is snug, take it to a quiet road you know well and do a few different braking tests before you wrap the bars and chop the trim the cables etc.
Btw, nice stuff on Haidee’s page !!
Thanks Spirito.
By the way, if the brakes looks familiar - they were once yours. I got them from Matthias along with some other parts for this bike.
So I finished the build and tested it out on the weekend. The rear brake - Paul Touring Canti - is excellent, far better stopping power than any road caliper I’ve used.
The front brake - the Neo Retro - is pathetic. Worse than any caliper brake. No way I could endo. The pads are Jet Black brand and work fine on the back, so I don’t think it’s them.
I’m sure part of this is the paint on the rims, which will wear off soon enough, but really, is this just the nature of a wide-angle setup? Having read Lennard Zinn’s article here I now don’t understand why anyone would want a wide-angle cantilever brake.
I’ve moved the hanger down low, so the cable pull is roughly square to the braking action. Any other tips?
The problem is you’re using a wide profile canti.
Tip: Get another Paul Touring. (Or a tektro CR710)
Rim/Mud clearance.
and I found (after reading it somewhere) that having the straddle cable two fingers above the tyre was the best for power with my wide angle tektros, but it looks like your already there, so I don’t really have any useful advice apart from the bike looks great (which isn’t really advice)
Thanks for the help, I guess.
Anyone want to buy a sweet Paul Neo Retro front brake? Going cheap! Just don’t read the contents of this thread.
I’ve got some tektro oryx cantis if you want them real cheap. They’re probably worse than the paul’s.
You could try switching the mounting spacers around on the pads, which allows the arms to sit a bit higher up, which then allows the cable to be strung a bit lower. Made for much better braking on my wide profile cantis (tektro cr720)
Also, if your levers have reach adjustment, try experimenting with more reach (if you can still reach em…) to get potentially more pulling power from your hand.
subscribed
surely there was a reach around joke in there too.
Good idea Mik - I know what you mean about the cup/dome parts. I tried a few different positions and mounting angles. The lever feel was better, but overall performance still pretty ordinary.
I had another idea though, and think I’ve fixed it. I got some BMX brake pads (smaller contact area and much softer compound) and they seem way better. Will find out tomorrow. Also dropped the hanger even lower and reduced the spring tension a bit.
By the way, for those searching this thread for actual useful data, you can’t go past this link: http://www.circleacycles.com/cantilevers/canti-geometry.pdf
Kool stop and tektro make cartridge “cross” pads that take road refills. I use them extensively.
endorsed.
Also KS salmons 4eva.