Ask the experts

[El Chupacabra]

Looking to upgrade the cantilever brakes on my old tandem, and they are functional-ish, but pretty spicy when trying to stop going downhill. Any good options for upgrades that aren't multiple hundreds of dollars?

Would love to just throw a disc on the front, but it's a 1" threaded fork for a 26" wheel and a bit of google makes that upgrade feel like it won't be worth the hassle.

V brakes? Some sort of newer canti? Am I just missing a threaded disc fork?

I had an old 26" cantilever brake tandem and was considering that same thing. There are tandem rated forks, and apparently that's important to have. I ended up just selling the bike, never did anything about the brakes.

[Supermoon]

Oh that’s good to know. So yeah, V brakes it is then. Just need super long rear cable

[Cocximus]

Tektro 926al mini vee are an excellent upgrade. With kool-stop pads pads they are even better. Compression-less housing would stiffen them up, but I was fine without them.

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[El Chupacabra]

Oh that’s good to know. So yeah, V brakes it is then. Just need super long rear cable

I think I have a set of tandem brake and shift inner cables - bought for my project but never used. If I can find them, you can have them.

[El Chupacabra]

That was easy - right where I thought they might be. PM me if you want them. One each, derailleur and brake.

[Supermoon]

That was easy - right where I thought they might be. PM me if you want them. One each, derailleur and brake.

Oh that’s awesome! Thanks! I’ll take them for sure. PM on the way

[El Chupacabra]

They're yours. HAB gave me a brake adapter I needed for a bike build, free (wouldn't accept anything for shipping even) - - it's a maggot pay it forward bike parts swap!

[rideit]

The splines are recessed a little bit on those cassettes. Tough to tell in the pic - are they just hiding in the dirt in there? The splines are kinda built into the center carrier body of the cassette - it's not a separate piece and I don't think they can come off without the entire cassette explodering.

Coincidence?

https://www.mtbr.com/threads/sram-xx...#post-15711112

[Sandbox]

Coincidence?

https://www.mtbr.com/threads/sram-xx...#post-15711112

Yah I’ve been seeing some info on guys stripping them ( not yet an eagle) and having to cut them off.

Cassette is still in decent shape and I’ll ride it until it breaks and then decide how I’ll deal with this. Wheels are in good shape at least! Probably won’t even put them on a bike till next year.


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[joetron]

If you are switching to V-brakes from Canti, you should also change the lever. Otherwise the brakes will feel really squishy then clamp like a pitbull.


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[Supermoon]

If you are switching to V-brakes from Canti, you should also change the lever. Otherwise the brakes will feel really squishy then clamp like a pitbull.


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Yeah. Definitely.

[Cocximus]

That's the thing with mini vees. Their ratio is close to cantis. I switched a bunch of old cross bikes to them and they even work with road brifters.

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[singlesline]

I like my Paul minimoto mini V
https://www.paulcomp.com/shop/compon...akes/minimoto/

shorty V design so it works with road/canti levers. Comes stock with a set of salmon kool stop pads. Easy to set up. Looks cool.

pair with good housing and should have plenty of stopping power.

[criscam]

kid broke his chain for the 2nd time in 6 months. 2 quick links right next to each other now. should i think about just replacing? has a race this wknd and don't want any issues.

[toast2266]

kid broke his chain for the 2nd time in 6 months. 2 quick links right next to each other now. should i think about just replacing? has a race this wknd and don't want any issues.

The quick links are fine - they're plenty strong. I'd be more concerned about what caused him to break 2 chains in 6 months. That's more than I've broken in the last decade. Hamfisted shifting?

[jackstraw]

The quick links are fine - they're plenty strong. I'd be more concerned about what caused him to break 2 chains in 6 months. That's more than I've broken in the last decade. Hamfisted shifting?

Yeah, what would cause that? Seems really odd. Too tight or not enough lube so wearing quickly?

[criscam]

drivetrain is a little older so maybe that factoring in? his shifting could def use some work. he seems to take off in his high gear alot which prob puts a lot more strain on his chain.

[Iowagriz]

Or a poorly manufactured chain.

I'd replace before a race. If he breaks the new one, then a discussion on how to shift

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[toast2266]

drivetrain is a little older so maybe that factoring in? his shifting could def use some work. he seems to take off in his high gear alot which prob puts a lot more strain on his chain.

Does the chain match the drivetrain? I.e. sram chain on sram drivetrain, or shimano chain on shimano drivetrain. If not, fix that. And if it's any chain other than a shimano or sram, fix that too.

[XXX-er]

he wasn't that big as a teen but junior was strong and hard on equipment, he used to pull apart Sram quick links as a teen, he did it at least a couple of times, pulled one apart 10 min before a race so I took to riveting them together with the chain tool instead of using the quick link and that worked so he could break something else

He snapped 3 square taper spindles, i think he could probably snap one on command and he broke a frame completly in half

he grew out of it

[toast2266]

he wasn't that big as a teen but junior was strong and hard on equipment, he used to pull apart Sram quick links as a teen, he did it at least a couple of times, pulled one apart 10 min before a race so I took to riveting them together with the chain tool instead of using the quick link and that worked so he could break something else

He snapped 3 square taper spindles, i think he could probably snap one on command and he broke a frame completly in half

he grew out of it

Modern quick links are much, much stronger than re-pressing a rivet. If you re-use a rivet on an 11 or 12 speed chain, it's fairly guaranteed to break.

[jm2e]

Does the chain match the drivetrain? I.e. sram chain on sram drivetrain, or shimano chain on shimano drivetrain. If not, fix that. And if it's any chain other than a shimano or sram, fix that too.

I have never heard anything like this outside of local bike shops. Is this based in real magic?


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[toast2266]

I have never heard anything like this outside of local bike shops. Is this based in real magic?


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Just my experience (and the experience of most people I know). Mixing and matching brands works in a nominal sense, but it pretty clearly works worse in every combination I've tried. If you want good shifting, your cassette and your chain should be the same brand.

And just so I'm clear, I'm only talking about matching the chain to the cassette. All the other bits and pieces of the drivetrain can be whatever as long a they're compatible-ish.

[rideit]

Shimano 12 (HG+) changed the game, pretty much Shimano/Shimano only, or you are missing out on the magic, in terms of shifting under load.

[XXX-er]

Modern quick links are much, much stronger than re-pressing a rivet. If you re-use a rivet on an 11 or 12 speed chain, it's fairly guaranteed to break.

He could break quick links but never broke a riveted chains, but YMMV as they say

These were 9 spd chains ( Sram 971 ?) which got changed every season, press the pin in and wiggle the chain sideways till the links were not binding

I've used mostly better quality Sram, KMC, less Shimano ( which uses a rivet BTW ) as long as its the correct chain for the number of speeds a chain is a chain IME