Ted I agree with you that contemporary cantilevers with their various concave/convex washers are easier to set up. I think your product development idea to make some adapter object that converts smooth post cantilevers would find some buyers and may get some vintage brakes into the rotation, but I don't quite see how you'd get out of the initial setup challenge inherent to smooth post cantilevers. In my view the Shimano CX70 and CX50 were uniquely good because they came with three completely different and separate bolt/washer combos so the user can accommodate for rim width. I hope everybody using those brakes have retained those extra bits for future setup (or resale)
I'm "almost" ALL-IN on smooth post cantilevers, for those same reasons. I just did a survey of the bikes in my garage at the moment. 9 have cantilever brakes, and 6 of the 9 have smooth post cantilevers. The three that don't are 2 bikes with V-brake style cantilevers, and my commuter. "Easy to set up" brakes is great because it "raises the floor". Instead of ~20 things you can do wrong, now there's only like 4, so a home-mechanic has a much better shot at getting to "good enough". That's a very good thing. I think they were adopted to make bike assembly easier and faster (thus cheaper), which helps everybody. Smooth post cantilevers, in my view, raise the ceiling for a good mechanic. I feel like the extra work required represents the mechanical "envelope" to get things perfect. On these forums (RBW, IBOB, 650B) I've advised that the typical home-mechanic should probably not take on Rene Herse Cantilevers, it's too heavy a lift. The second reason is that smooth post cantilevers give me more room to play with rim width. In the hands of the right mechanic, I think smooth post cantilevers are preferable. I agree that there were models of cantilevers that would deform all to heck if you over tighten them at initial setup. The first Ritchey Logics, and the Dia Compe 986 in the late 80s were the ones that 20-year-old bike-builder ME would squish all to heck. I avoid those now. Some non-smooth post cantilevers also succumb to ham-fisted over tightening. Your CX50s are excellent in that respect. The vintage brakes I seek out are late-development Shimano's. The cantilevers Shimano made right before V-Brakes took over were absolutely sensational, IMO. When I was stuck with my Rene Herse set up, I considering just throwing on a set of M737 Shimanos and be done with it. Those 6 bikes above with smooth post cantilevers are one Rene Herse, and all the others late Shimano. For what it's worth, all my Shimanos get Kool Stop "Cross Pads" that take the same inserts as your CX50s. Swapping in an insert is the way to go, IMO. Stock Shimano pads were too chunky. I think it's good that most brakes today are "easier to set up". I think having a few "harder to set up" choices out there is good, but it takes a good mechanic (a "brake whisperer") to get the best out of them. Rene Herse are historical re-enactments. That's a fact. "Celebrating the past" may be a more generous phrase than "slave to the past". They are objectively among the lightest brakes ever made, and subjectively have a different look than anything out there. I think it's good they exist as a choice. Bill Lindsay El Cerrito, CA On Saturday, March 9, 2024 at 3:26:23 PM UTC-8 Ted Durant wrote: > Jumping off of Bill Lindsay's RoadeoRosa thread, where he commented on the > varsity level work required to de-squeak his Rene Herse brakes.... > > I love Jan and his stuff, but I think keeping the smooth post brake pads > for his brakes is being a slave to the past. I've never liked any of the > brakes I've had that used them. Hard to set up, impossible to adjust after > tightening (any aluminum bits immediately deform, preventing further > adjustment), limited replacement options. > > I just replaced the pads on the Shimano CX-50 cantilever brakes on East > Coast Sam. I wanted cartridge holders for easy pad swapping, prompted by a > white-knuckle descent of Connor Pass in Ireland on a very wet day. I put on > 105 holders with Kool Stop dual-compound pads, which I've loved on the > Silver/Tektro long-reach side pulls I've had on various bikes. Setting them > up took all of about 5 seconds on each side, and zero squeal out the gate. > (Release the springs, do an initial install and slight tighten, then put a > credit card between the trailing edge and the rim, squeeze the brake lever, > loosen and re-tighten the pad, done. Don't forget to put the springs back > on.) > > All of which made me dream up an adapter that would allow for mounting a > bolt-on pad on a brake that uses smooth post pads. I'm envisioning a bolt > on one end, to attach to the brake arm, and a flat tab on the other, with a > hole for the pad mounting bolt to pass through. The tab probably wants to > be offset from the center axis of the bolt, to put the inner face closer to > the inside edge of the brake arm. > > A bit of Googling came up with zilch. Anybody handy with machining > stainless steel rod stock? > > Ted Durant > Milwaukee WI USA > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/176acd7a-712c-46bf-9f56-4c74ecfdd8d9n%40googlegroups.com.
