|   Paul's crosstop brakes | Ben Gelman
Jul 18, 2002 3:14 AM | | I have had these brakes since I got mu bike about 4 years ago, and recently they've started feeling very mushy. The levers I've been using are LX (not for v-brakes). Is this a case of brake/lever incompatibility? I didn't think so because they started out very strong. Any ideas? Experience with these brakes? Thanks |
| re: Paul's crosstop brakes | uphiller
Jul 19, 2002 5:24 AM | | hey man,
i run the same brakes myself on my trials bike and love them. they were designed and made before v-brakes came out, and as such will not work worth a d@mn with v-brake levers. if you do use v-levers, your brake will feel rock solid at the lever and not stop worth jack. i've tried it.
first, clean your pads and make sure your cable is clean and all that good stuff.
did you happen to change rims in the meantime? these brakes are extraordinarily sensitive to rim width, canti stud width and height, etc.
also, it's important to make sure that the caliper with the linkage on it is at about 10-15 degrees from vertical when the link-side pad hits the rim. run minimal toe-in.
as for the non-link side, it should be at around 15-20 deg when the pad hits. again, minimal toe-in.
it's going to require fiddling, though- that's almost certain.
another thing you might do is find some levers like the old shimano lx, xt, and xtr canti-levers, the ones that say 'slr plus' on them, they have a special mechanism inside that gives both more pad clearance and more power.
tell us what happens in a new post. or just email me at insectoid@angelfire.com- i have extensive experience with these brakes.
tim |
| re: Paul's crosstop brakes | bgg1
Jul 26, 2002 3:28 AM | | Well, today I decided to do something that I thought I had already tried - shortening the cross-linkage bar, and guess what? I think it worked! The brakes feel like they're much tighter now, but I haven't ridden yet today to be sure. However, since I've been fiddling with them, I'd like to make sure the settings are back to normal, so I'd appreciate it if you could send me some more detailed instructions on making adjustments, etc. By the way, since these brakes came on a used bike, I didn't have the instruction sheet, so I caontacted Paul and they sent me one. However, the sheet indicates that there's some sort of set-pin needed to set the proper angle of the link side, but I don't have this. Is it needed?
Also, If you happen to have a copy of that sheet that you could e-mail me, I'd greatly appreciate it (I'm overseas without access to mine). My e-mail address is bgg1@cornell.edu (that's a 'one' before the @).
Thanks |
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