Actually, I've found that maximizing braking power with cantilevers or v brakes often results in levers that feel "mushy" compared to say, caliper brakes. In fact, what you are doing is maximizing the mechanical advantage of the system; if the levers are moving a relatively large amount (say, most of the way to the bar) for a relatively short distance traveled by the brake pads, that means you are exerting the maximum possible leverage on the brake pads and the maximum possible pressure on the rims.
Think about what you would do to exert a large force on a heavy weight with a long lever: you would set it up with the fulcrum nearest the weight, so you could move the lever a long ways with relatively little force in order to move the weight a short distance with a large amount of force. The limit case, at least with low-profile cantis, is setting the straddle cable as low as possible and the brake pads as close to the rim as possible without brake rub. That way, the brake pads don't need to travel far; thus lever travel is used less to move the pads and more to exert a greater force on the rim once contact is made. Of course, the practical limits on this setup are clearance below the straddle cable, sufficient pad clearance (esp. in muddy conditions), and sufficiently limited lever travel such that the lever is not bottoming out on the bar. I once set up the front low-profile cantilever on a fixed gear of mine with the pads close in and the straddle cable as low as possible. The lever felt mushy in the stand but I went for a test ride, got to the end of the block, and almost threw myself over the handle bars; I was totally surprised by how much power i was getting out of the brake for how little pressure I was putting on the lever. Cantilever geometry can be confusing and counter-intuitive, but they can produce quite a lot of braking power with a relatively weak grip. It took me a few reads to get it, but Sheldon's article on cantilever geometry and set-up really is the best explanation of it all: http://sheldonbrown.com/cantilever-geometry.html -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/2T2vjVjsByoJ. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
