On Sunday, March 10, 2024 at 9:11:20 AM UTC-5 Bill Lindsay wrote: ...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.
Such a great, thoughtful response, Bill. I encourage everyone to read it through, even though I've kept just a small part of it here. I had a laugh because Dia Compe 986 are exactly what I had in mind about impossible to readjust brakes. 20 year old me had them on both a Marukin Northstar and a Santana Elan. The Santana was especially challenging because Santana placed the mounts way too close together. They might have worked on a 5mm wide rim. The tandem was my wife's and my wedding gift to each other, and around our 30th anniversary I had Waterford do a full repaint and I replaced all the components with updated parts. Shimano CX-70 brakes were a revelation and for the first time I had fully confident braking on the bike. Wished I had them on our honeymoon, camping in Vermont! I hadn't thought much about rim width in writing my initial post, probably because I'd forgotten about the initial installation and choosing the right bolt/spacer combo on the CX-50s. But I don't think my mind is changed about the extent to which the Shimano CX system improves on smooth posts. On the contrary, the fact that I didn't have to think about that part of the setup when changing pads illustrates one of its advantages for me. Different length bolts and spacers would be compatible with the adapter I have in mind. Fortunately, having put 4 sets of CX brakes on bikes, I have a pretty good supply of spacers and bolts :-). I don't think the weight gain, if there is any, would be enough to change my mind. One thing that the CX and Rene Herse brakes have in common, that makes them such a pleasure (and so much easier) to work on, is the quality of the hardware. 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/cda7a295-5c56-440f-abd3-d6b5ddd7c194n%40googlegroups.com.
