Early Club Tour rims

[AdrianStone]

I've seen a number of early Club Tours with Mavic T261 rims, so I gather they must have worked OK with the cantilever brakes?  I ask as my LBS tells me the front wheel which sports a Mavic T261 is too wide for the brakes to work effectively, not even if I switch to a V brake.  Opinions?

Thank you

[B cereus]

I guess this relates to your earlier post about an ineffective front cantilever brake. Have you tried lowering the straddle wire as I suggested? Doing so shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes, and it’s the simplest, cheapest and probably the most effective thing you could do.

I own a Club tour of similar vintage to yours. It has the same Shimano cantilever brakes as yours and has Mavic T261 rims. The only difference is that mine has drop bar levers but there’s more than enough stopping power to get the rear wheel off the ground.

I think I'd be looking for another LBS.

[AdrianStone]

Thanks for the reply, and yes it is.  I've felt a bit caught between the advice here and the LBS.

Back to the LBS today to explain my concerns, they're going to look again at simpler solutions.

Thank you for the advice again, it is appreciated

[mickeg]

I've seen a number of early Club Tours with Mavic T261 rims, so I gather they must have worked OK with the cantilever brakes?  I ask as my LBS tells me the front wheel which sports a Mavic T261 is too wide for the brakes to work effectively, not even if I switch to a V brake.  Opinions?

Thank you

Let us know how wide the rims are (outside, not inside width), as I have never heard of such an issue.

Most brake pads can be adjusted for width by how the washers are placed on the pad.

[PH]

Back to the LBS today to explain my concerns, they're going to look again at simpler solutions.

I'm interested to hear the explanation!  The T261 was a popular touring rim about thirty years ago, it's 26mm width isn't in any way exceptional, it was the standard rim on many bikes including the Dawes Galaxy. There was some variation in brake boss widths until V brakes standardised it at 80mm, but forks designed for touring tyres wouldn't have been far off that.  Your canti brakes are pretty standard fare for the time period as well.  As said in your previous thread, those brakes work better the lower the straddle wire, as a consequence that also increases the distance from the rim.  I may be missing something, but I can't see why your brakes wouldn't work as well (Or as badly) as cantis have always worked.
If it were me and the bosses are wide enough and you're not concerned with keeping it original, I'd fit V brakes, there's good reason they replaced cantis, though they will also require different levers.

[mickeg]

If you switch to V brakes, as PH noted, those need different brake levers.

Or, if you want to keep using the same brake levers, you can use one of these:
https://problemsolversbike.com/products/travel-agent

Those are getting harder to find now when so may people use disc brakes instead.

I use those on my Nomad Mk II and on the front on my Lynskey.  On those bikes I am using normal road brake type brake levers.

I am using the longest Tektro V brakes that I could find, they have an arm length of 110mm.  On my Nomad I want as much clearance as possible since I use 57mm wide tires and 65mm wide fenders.  Thus, a long arm length was needed.

[B cereus]

I would recommend you have a go at solving this problem yourself. It will teach you the finer points of setting up this type of brake and give you the confidence to keep them performing optimally as the pads wear. The Park Tools web site is an excellent source of bike maintenance information.

https://www.parktool.com/en-int/blog/repair-help

This video deals with cantilever brakes which are very similar to those on your Club Tour.

https://www.parktool.com/en-int/blog/repair-help/cantilever-smooth-post-brake-service

My only criticism would be that I’m not a great fan of straddle link wires. In theory the correct length link wire should help to optimise MA but in practice this doesn’t allow for variations in the distance between the mounting bosses nor their height above the axle. Their main advantage is when running without a front mudguard, where they eliminate the risk of a conventional straddle wire snagging the front tyre and pitching you over the bars if the main cable fails.

[AdrianStone]

Thank you again for the replies.  I do now have the bike back home, the bike shop found some pads which fit, as in they don't extend back inside the forks, they do seem better, though I think I'll have a go at adjusting the height of the straddle wire, thank you for the Park Tools links.

I have checked the rim width with my ancient vernier callipers, these show the front rim to be 24mm (not 27mm!).

I do indeed have the wrong brake/shifters on flat bars, they are Shimano ST-EF35-8 and ST-ET35L, the bike was converted from drops to flats by the previous owner. I gather my options are to change these levers, to something like Deore LX M567 combined shifter/levers or change the cantilevers to V brakes, but again told by the bike shop that this would not be possible, but feel I might do this at some point, just a case of finding suitable V brakes.

Thank you again for all the words of advice and support, appreciated