When deciding on changing from the
VO Grand Cru canti brakes to the
IRD Cafam variety, I found an incredibly nerdy, yet amazing tool. It's called the
MAITOY. I was concerned with the lack of power of the VO's, and with the help of the MAITOY, I discovered that the VO brake was not ideal for my bike configuration (brake post spacing, rim width, etc.). On the MAITOY graph, the mechanical advantage was about 1.5. With the IRD's, the MA is more like 4+. Almost too much, if that's possible.
Solution time. The fixed yoke/straddle that comes with the brake was too short. That is, the yoke height was really low, jacking up the MA, to the point that the brake arms barely move. The brakes are powerful, but lack modulation.
The solution: old school brake straddle cable and yoke. With this new/old school configuration, the yoke height and straddle cable length are adjusted independently. Problem solved.
 |
| Rear brake w/ original configuration. |
 |
| New configuration on the front brake. |
The new configuration is difficult to see, but essentially the brake arms are farther apart, and the yoke height was adjusted to arrive at an optimal MA. It's lovely. Old school wins again. The rear is next.
Today's reason for
Why I Ride a bike: The guy at the bike shop recognized some of the niche components, and had a good "bike talk" session. Camaraderie is excellent.
Yeah that makes sense.... Had the odd combination of old style and new style canti's on my LHT. But it worked to get the best MA and space out of the two locations. Makes sense it is fairly bike specific. Some many people get it wrong on setup. They feel stiff on the levers and there is no power on the rims. Being that I am not a small person and I had 50LBS of gear plus a trailer I could tell the difference pretty clearly... And of course some people don't get that MA is reversed on the old and new style canti's... old style big transverse cable new style small if you want high MA.
ReplyDeleteThat's the canti brakes are use to new style makes Cantilever arms
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