Help setting up cantilever brakes (Kinesis Crosslight 5T)

[Frankenorange]

From the pic there are things that stand out immediately.

Fat squishy pads are no good and stop you from being able to angle the arms so they can make an optimal angle with the straddle cable. Swissstop BXP pads in cartridges will make a big difference both in gripping the rim and arm setup. There is a set of 4 with cartridges on ebay right now for £16 or best offer. A very good price. They aren't mine!

The next thing, which could be something else, is it looks like there is an outer cable making a big arch near the seatpost and i guess that is the rear brake cable. That needs reducing to the minimum required to get from the last cable guide to the stop for the rear brake. That excessive arch will reduce the capability of the brake.

The rear setup isn't pictured but i beleive the rear cable stop is a nice chunky thing welded to the frame. This is a good thing and i would suggest making sure the front cable stop, at the headset, doesn't flex. Any excessive flex in a canti setup will not get a good result.

I don't know what make of cable you have but don't cheap out on the cables. Always use quality cable(inner and most defintely outer), like Jagwire, purchased from a reputable source.


@Ugo51 - disregard this next bit. You have to have a particular type of canti and parts to do this.

Also; you can use gear cable as a straddle wire(again buy quality stainless) which forms better through the hanger and reduces some take up you get with thicker straddle wires. It won't snap.

All of the above will help alot.

 

[Ugo51]

@Ugo51 let me know how you get on with other pads (if you decide to try that) am curious to find out, also congratulations on the Kinesis Crosslight 5T, fantastic bike.

Thanks for your input.
I will give it a try and see, and if I decide to change the pads, I will let you know

 

[Ugo51]

From the pic there are things that stand out immediately.

Fat squishy pads are no good and stop you from being able to angle the arms so they can make an optimal angle with the straddle cable. Swissstop BXP pads in cartridges will make a big difference both in gripping the rim and arm setup. There is a set of 4 with cartridges on ebay right now for £16 or best offer. A very good price. They aren't mine!

The next thing, which could be something else, is it looks like there is an outer cable making a big arch near the seatpost and i guess that is the rear brake cable. That needs reducing to the minimum required to get from the last cable guide to the stop for the rear brake. That excessive arch will reduce the capability of the brake.

The rear setup isn't pictured but i beleive the rear cable stop is a nice chunky thing welded to the frame. This is a good thing and i would suggest making sure the front cable stop, at the headset, doesn't flex. Any excessive flex in a canti setup will not get a good result.

I don't know what make of cable you have but don't cheap out on the cables. Always use quality cable(inner and most defintely outer), like Jagwire, purchased from a reputable source.
Also; you can use gear cable as a straddle wire(again buy quality stainless) which forms better through the hanger and reduces some take up you get with thicker straddle wires. It won't snap.

All of the above will help alot.

Thanks. All very insightful points.
I have to say that at the moment the lack of braking power is mostly down to a poor mechanical advantage more than flex/squishiness.
Probably because of these thick pads (which are new, so I wonder if the previous owner just got the cheapest available just for the sale).

I am out of town now for holidays, but when I'm back I will have to decide whether to keep the bike. I got it for a steal, and was planning to use it as commuter, but I am having to cull some bikes as I need space, so I might decide to either store it, or ...sell it

 

[hamster]

One last question is the levers?
Shimano have had a good old fiddle with the design in recent years with NSSLR, which has a longer cable pull. As a result it's not compatible with older DP calipers and also (by inference) cantis.

 

[bikeworkshop]

From the pic there are things that stand out immediately.

Fat squishy pads are no good and stop you from being able to angle the arms so they can make an optimal angle with the straddle cable. Swissstop BXP pads in cartridges will make a big difference both in gripping the rim and arm setup. There is a set of 4 with cartridges on ebay right now for £16 or best offer. A very good price. They aren't mine!

The next thing, which could be something else, is it looks like there is an outer cable making a big arch near the seatpost and i guess that is the rear brake cable. That needs reducing to the minimum required to get from the last cable guide to the stop for the rear brake. That excessive arch will reduce the capability of the brake.

The rear setup isn't pictured but i beleive the rear cable stop is a nice chunky thing welded to the frame. This is a good thing and i would suggest making sure the front cable stop, at the headset, doesn't flex. Any excessive flex in a canti setup will not get a good result.

I don't know what make of cable you have but don't cheap out on the cables. Always use quality cable(inner and most defintely outer), like Jagwire, purchased from a reputable source.

All the advice above is brilliant, but i'd be wary of:

Also; you can use gear cable as a straddle wire(again buy quality stainless) which forms better through the hanger and reduces some take up you get with thicker straddle wires. It won't snap.

You could only do this on cantis with a cable clamp each end.

The head of a gear cable is too small to carry the load correctly into the recess in this canti arm, (usually shaped to take a brake barrel end these days) and as a gear cable takes very little load, the attachment of the head (and breaking strain of the wire) won't have been tested to brake requirements.

I love to repurpose components, but your life depends on the operation of your brakes!

 

[Frankenorange]

All the advice above is brilliant, but i'd be wary of:

You could only do this on cantis with a cable clamp each end.

The head of a gear cable is too small to carry the load correctly into the recess in this canti arm, (usually shaped to take a brake barrel end these days) and as a gear cable takes very little load, the attachment of the head (and breaking strain of the wire) won't have been tested to brake requirements.

I love to repurpose components, but your life depends on the operation of your brakes!

Yes. It is something that can't be done with all cantis. I should not have mentioned this in the reply, to the original post, to save confusion.

 

[madjh]

Tektro is not known for his powerfull brakes. They do good stuff, never have a problem with a tektro product but ... reliable and not powerfull, the same for disc brakes and V brakes, other brands do better, perhaps you can change the pads for some Cool Stop Dual compound ones etc

I was close to buy some sorty ultimate some monts ago, I like a lot that V brakes, but I went for the easy way: V brakes despite it is a clasic bicycle.

 

[Guinessisgoodforyou]

I disagree.
The Tektro Oryx on my Randonneur will lock the wheels up with 20kg of luggage on. Careful setup is most important.

 

[legrandefromage]

Still no picture of the cable stop then. Lots of theories and explanations but if the cable stop flexes, then there is absolutely no point in doing anything else

 

[stephan]

Still no picture of the cable stop then. Lots of theories and explanations but if the cable stop flexes, then there is absolutely no point in doing anything else

Am sure the cable stop on that model of 5T is on the bar side, mine below (excuse the dirt) is solid on the forks, as I say great brakes in the dry those, but they do use V Pads. Not retro Canti Pads.