My mountain bike's got traditional Deore LX cantilever brakes with a link wire. Due to normal wear of the brake blocks I was finding that when I squeezed the rear brake lever so that it reached the handlebar, the blocks were only just touching the rim.
To fix this I moved the brake shoes along the axis of their posts so that they sit closer to the rim in their relaxed position. This cured the original problem: I only have to pull the lever a bit for the blocks to make contact with the rim.... but although the brakes feel nice and firm with the bike stationary, they don't inspire confidence when moving. I have to squeeze hard to get any effect, and then they're likely to just lock up the wheel.
Reading Sheldon Brown, it sounds like I don't have enough mechanical advantage in my rear brakes:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/canti-trad.html
I'm trying to understand what's going on. Could moving the brakes along their posts cause a decrease in MA?
Sheldon Brown suggests lowering the cable yoke to increase the MA. What's the best way of lowering the yoke? Do I have to thread more cable all the way from the brake lever so that there's more cable at the wheel end, hence the yoke hangs lower?
To fix this I moved the brake shoes along the axis of their posts so that they sit closer to the rim in their relaxed position. This cured the original problem: I only have to pull the lever a bit for the blocks to make contact with the rim.... but although the brakes feel nice and firm with the bike stationary, they don't inspire confidence when moving. I have to squeeze hard to get any effect, and then they're likely to just lock up the wheel.
Reading Sheldon Brown, it sounds like I don't have enough mechanical advantage in my rear brakes:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/canti-trad.html
I'm trying to understand what's going on. Could moving the brakes along their posts cause a decrease in MA?
Sheldon Brown suggests lowering the cable yoke to increase the MA. What's the best way of lowering the yoke? Do I have to thread more cable all the way from the brake lever so that there's more cable at the wheel end, hence the yoke hangs lower?