Comments on: How To Adjust Cantilever Brakes

By: Michael Hsueh

Michael Hsueh — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:58:09 +0000

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!

By: Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 20:30:20 +0000

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.)

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 02:17:47 +0000

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.

By: Bryce

Bryce — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 22:54:41 +0000

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.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:57:37 +0000

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.

By: Tudor

Tudor — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:46:16 +0000

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.

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:27:42 +0000

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.

By: Tudor

Tudor — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:49:50 +0000

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

By: Tudor

Tudor — Sun, 18 May 2008 21:14:44 +0000

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!