How To Adjust Cantilever Brakes
Adjust brake levers, re-surface pads, set cable tension and center cantilever style brakes.
If you like this video, buy me a coffee! 
DownloadIn today’s tutorial I’ll demonstrate how to adjust cantilever style brakes. I will cover linear pull, or V-brakes in a future tutorial. For this job you’ll usually need a 5mm allen key, a 10mm open-end wrench, a strip of sandpaper, and an optional cable puller.
Adjust Levers
The first step is to set up your brake levers. Start by loosening the clamp and then align the levers so that they match the angle of your arms when you’re riding. Once the angle is set, tighten the clamp.
If you have smaller hands and your levers are hard to reach, you can set them closer by tightening the reach adjustment screw on the inside of most levers.
Check Wheel Center
Before you begin, you should also check to make sure your wheel is properly centered in the frame, as this will affect the position of your brake pads. Make sure the axle is securely fastened all the way up in your dropouts. If the wheel is still off-center you may need to check the dish, which is further explained in the previous wheel truing tutorial.
Set up Brake Pads
Now loosen the tightening bolt on your brake arm and tighten the lever’s barrel adjuster all the way.
Loosen and then remove both brake pads from their mounting posts and inspect both their surfaces to make sure they are not too worn. If you see any metal poking through the pad surface, you’ll need to replace them. If the pads are in good shape, it’s a good idea to resurface them using some sandpaper.
With the pads removed, adjust the brake cable until both brake arms are parallel straight up and down, and then tighten. Using a cable puller makes brake cable adjustments a lot easier.
Now reinstall the brake pads and align them so the pad face is flat against the rim. Then tighten the pad so that it’s snug, but still loose enough to move around.
Take a look from the side to make sure the pad is in line with the rim’s brake surface, and not touching the tire or hanging off the bottom of the rim. If you can’t avoid one or the other happening, your pads may be too wide for your rim, and you’ll have to find some narrower pads.
Cantilever brake pads should be set so that the front of the pad touches the rim before the rear when you pull the brakes. This is called ‘toe-in’, and it prevents squealing when you use them. It’s a bit tricky to set up, so you may have to re-tighten the pads several times before it is correct.
For proper toe-in adjustment, there should be a gap of a few millimeters at the rear of the pad when the front is touching the rim. Park Tools recommends temporarily wrapping a rubber band around the back end of the pad to help set the spacing. Don’t forget to remove it when you’re done adjusting the pads.
Adjust Cable Tension
Some bikes like mine have a link unit that sets the straddle wire position for you. If you’re using a carrier style with a pinch bolt, make sure the carrier is tightened as low as possible, while still providing enough clearance for your crossover cable, tire and fenders.
Now adjust the cable tension on the brake arm by pulling the cable through the pinch bolt and tightening. You’ll have to play with this adjustment until your brakes feel good. I like to have mine set so that the pads hit the rim when my lever is pulled about 1/4 of the way.
Make sure both pads now have equal clearance, and are not rubbing against the rim.
Centering
For minor centering adjustments, there is usually a screw on the left brake arm that sets the spring tension on one side. Tighten this clockwise to pull the pad away from the rim, and counter-clockwise to set the right pad closer to the rim.
Related Tutorials
This video is also available on DVD Volume 1
Recommended Books
Comments & Questions - Help Forums
9 Responses to “How To Adjust Cantilever Brakes”
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Your videos are amazingly well done, I do hope you will continue posting new ones, that maybe go into more detail in some more tricky aspects such as how to properly center the brake pads using the screws that control the spring tension on each brake arm.
Again, very well done, many thanks for making our lives easier!
Hey Alex,
I’m having a problem that is not covered in this tutorial and I was wondering whether you could advice me on it, since I suspect many other cyclists are having it as well.
I have lost the screws that control the tension in the springs located in the two metal pieces that hold the brake pads, and thus am unable to fix an imbalance that has arisen – namely, the brake pads are unequally distanced to the rim, and when I press the brake lever, only the left metal piece moves and brings the left brake pad closer to the rim, while the right one barely moves, thus keeping the right brake pad far away from the rim. Thus, braking is extremely inefficient and I am basically left with two options:
1. tighten the cable so that the right brake pad is brought closer to the rim (but this means the left brake pad is always rubbing)
2. loosen the cable so that the left brake pad doesn’t rub against the rim (but then the right brake pad can’t reach the rim when pressing the brake lever)
I would really appreciate it if you could shed some light on this problem, thanks very much in advance!
Tudor
The only effective solution I would suggest would be to visit your local bike shop and get a replacement screw. If you don’t have a bike shop handy, maybe your local electronics or hardware store has a small metric screw that will fit. It shouldn’t cost too much at all, and it would allow you to center your brakes properly.
Thanks for your reply Alex. Before posting, I had tried to look for a replacement screw, however the people at my local bike shop told me they don’t have one but that it is possible to center the brakes without it, and I guess after learning so much bike DIY from your videos lately, I got ambitioned into trying to find a workaround for it.
Is it therefore not possible to use the allen bolts that keep the metal pieces in place, or maybe adjust the right position of the nut that holds the brake cable, to get this centering done, or is the spring tension screw really unreplaceable?
Many thanks.
The adjuster screw is replaceable and is the only thing that sets the brake arm centering. For safety reasons I would highly recommend getting a screw that fits, as you want your brakes to function how they were intended. The allen bolts that hold the brake arms in place only serve that purpose, and loosening or tightening the brake cable bolt will only adjust how tight your brakes are.
Here’s some more info about centering from Sheldon Brown. Check the section titled ‘Spring attachment’ for another possible solution to your problem. This only works if the brake bosses on your frame have three holes. You’ll have to carefully remove and install the brake arm to change the position.
On the bike I am fixing, I have old style cantilever brakes that do not have a screw to adjust centering. I am wondering if you have any suggestions of how to center them when there is no adjustment device.
Bryce, you may have to adjust the position of the brake pads so they are off-center a little bit. You can also play with the crossover cable to center it sometimes.
If you can’t find a replacement screw, you can use a pair of pliers to bend the metal spring on each side to provide the appropriate pressure. It’s a lot harder to calibrate, but it is certainly possible if you can’t find replacement screws. (It’s worse if you have the screws, but stripped the soft metal ring they screw into… the only alternative is to buy new brakes, or pray your local bike shop has a spare.)
Great tutorial Alex, your website has been an inspiration to me and has made my entire biking experience much better because I am now much more confident with tuning/fixing my bike!
In response to Bryce’s comment (which was posted over a year ago but I’ll respond anyways), I also have old-style cantilever brakes that do not have a screw for adjusting spring tension. Instead, my brakes have a hex nut that is connected to the spring — this needs to be turned to adjust the spring tension. To rotate the nut, there is a recess for a 5mm allen wrench for tightening/loosening the nut.
In order to adjust the spring tension, you need to have one hand with a crescent wrench on the hex nut and the other hand turning the allen wrench. Loosen the hex nut by turning the allen wrench– you’ll feel it when the nut is loose enough because the spring will suddenly push the brakes against the rim of the tires. You can then use the crescent wrench to turn the hex nut to the desired position, then use the allen wrench to tighten and keep it in that position.
Hope this helps for anybody else who also has older cantilever brakes!