At the risk of jerking this thread even further awat from the original
intent: has anyone ever gotten Mafac cantilevers to work well? If you did,
how did you do that? Those on my erstwhile Herse were among the worse
brakes I've ever used, and I tried, in front, the longer tandem version as
well as
I'll add: for cantilevers, the front brake housing hanger. I recently
swapped out a very nice, sturdy Shimano steel hanger for a *tres chi chi* RH
hanger because I wanted a headset-mount and stiff hanger to get more drop
(3.5 cm vs 1 cm). The braking is modestly, but noticeably better with the
RH
At best I can say that "everything matters". The pad, the rim, the brake,
the bike, the rider, the conditions, the intangibles ... all that equates
to infinite variety of what's called "the experience". Heck, it varies from
day to day for that matter. While I've used mostly Kool Stop pads over
Pads, brakes, brake levers, rim braking surface, and even the frame and
fork that the brakes are mounted on -- they are an integrated system, they
all work together to slow and/or stop the spinning wheels. Change any one
part and, for better or worse, you've altered the system.
On Tuesday,
