Bicycle brake type compatible?

D

Dino

New member
The brake pads in the rear slip against the rim, even when I exchange them with pads from the front that do not slip.

In the front are stock side-pull brakes and in the rear are cantilever brakes--both acting on aluminum rims.
The rear rim was cleaned, sanded with fine sandpaper and cleaned again with no braking improvement.
There is practically no brake friction in the rear after all proper pad adjustments, but brakes work well in the front (even though the rim seems to be in worse condition).

Is something wrong with my rear rim or is it still worth replacing the cantilever brakes with side-pull as a possible cure?
 
Try sanding the brake pad as they sometimes will develop a glaze that will hinder braking performance. If that doesn't work, try finding a pad that is a softer compound.
 
Has this issue persisted since you've owned (or ridden) this bike?

The reason I ask is because centerpull cantis can be troublesome to adjust if you don't have much experience with them. You can have clean rims with excellent braking surfaces and new brake pads in perfect alignment with the rim BUT still have poor braking. If this is what you're experiencing, I'd say it's a brake set-up issue; specifically, the stradle wire isn't in its optimum position to promote ideal leverage (mechanical advantage).

Not all cantilevers perform well with the same stradle wire position. Depending on they profile of the calipers (narrow, normal, wide) and the leverage provided by the particular brake lever it's mated to, the yoke angle will vary. It can take some fussing and fidgeting to get it right, but you'll notice the difference immediately. Improper setup is the single biggest cause of poor cantilever performance, and many bike shops let new bikes roll out the door without wanting to invest the time to get the brakes set up correctly.

Read this page from Sheldon Brown's site. It took me two or three reads to really grasp it, but you're probably sharper than I am. In the unlikely chance that setup isn't the issue with your bike, it will still be good for you to understand this.
http://sheldonbrown.com/cantilever-geometry.html
 
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