important: Nuts and bolts on your bike should always be tightened to the manufacturer's specifications.

How to Adjust Cantilever Brakes

Adjust brake levers, re-surface pads, set cable tension and center cantilever style brakes.

In 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.

By Alex Ramon

A bicycle geek since early childhood, spent his twenties as a mechanic in bike shops. His passions include flatland BMX, unicycles, cycle touring, mountain biking and road riding.

Recommended Tools

Discuss this topic in the Bicycle Repairs and Mechanics Forum

suspicious broken part after service--is this legit?

Pros & Cons of presta valve vs schrader valves

70's=80's Free Spirit Blaze MTN

Front Disc screeching/vibration .. help please :-)

2nd hand rad rover repair help needed

Axle keeps slipping on applying force/climbing hills..

Need help with Drivetrain Update

Latest post 3 months ago

Hello everyone, I'm an older lifelong cyclist that recently had my beloved old yeti mountain bike stolen, and to try and fill that void, I picked up a 2015 Specialized Crosstrail (I'm riding more paved and gravel trails these days, my full-on mountain bike days are over!). The bike was in very good physical condition, apparently very lightly used. I was unable to ride before purchase, but it looke...

Velowave Ranger break change question

Latest post 3 months ago

Hello! I tried to change my Velowave ranger e-bike breaks and the lever would not have traction. I researched and learned I needed to bleed the breaks, I tried the top method with the cup with a break bleeding kit. Still had the same issue, I tried to use the syringe at the caliper but the hole was too small for any of the included adapters. Is it just trapped air in the calipers/line that is ca...

Eye to Eye Shock Lengths

Latest post 3 months ago

Will my conversion work? I have an old 2014 Giant Trance 1. It is a small frame. It is just a backup bike. It is still fun to ride and works well when a friend is or family member is visiting and bikeless. I hate sending things to the land fill or not being able to keep them repaired and running. I already replaced the fork a couple of years ago. I already found some parts and converted to a ...

Shimano law suit

Latest post 3 months ago

Remember the Shimano law suit? Fortunately I had the"good model series" Thousands of riders trusted these components without a second thought. Now, the story has taken a serious turn. Shimano has agreed to pay an $11.5 million penalty after US regulators found the company failed to report a major defect in its 11 speed road cranksets on time. According to the CPSC, Shimano had received thou...

Question regarding rear hub replacement for possible out of production bike?

Latest post 4 months ago

Hi there, I have a question in regards to either finding a replacement hub for my rear Mountain Bike or just replacing the whole wheel entirely. However when I went to a local bicycle shop (in China, that is so there are language barriers to keep in mind), upon inspection they claimed that the bicycle was too old to accept the replacement of their modern parts, which I honestly find hard to believ...

Need suntour derailleur replacement

Latest post 4 months ago

My sensation crossroads cruz needs a rear derailleur. I need to verify which shimano part and shifter will work. Thanks Bob...

Inner side tube punctures

Latest post 4 months ago

I haven't been riding a bike for about two years, before that I was riding it extensively for about 5 or more years. It is a 26 inch mountain bike (if that matters at all). The bike was just staying on flat tires for these two years. After i decided to put the bike to life again so to speak I started to get inner tube punctures (punctures on a tube from the inner side, the side not facing the road...

How to adjust shock preload?

Latest post 4 months ago

These are Noleen NR-1 shocks on an old Girvin ProFlex MTB. How do I get a grip on the preload adjuster? There is very little surface area & there are no notches for a typical spanner & a pipe wrench, vice grips, etc. which are sure to mar the springs if I can even get them in there to grip it. The working space on the fork shock is especially tight. See attachment photos. Thanks! ...

How to Adjust Cantilever Brakes

Adjust Levers

Check Wheel Center

Set up Brake Pads

Adjust Cable Tension

Centering

Related Links

Recommended Tools

Categories

Discuss this topic in the Bicycle Repairs and Mechanics Forum

suspicious broken part after service--is this legit?

Pros & Cons of presta valve vs schrader valves

70's=80's Free Spirit Blaze MTN

Front Disc screeching/vibration .. help please :-)

2nd hand rad rover repair help needed

Axle keeps slipping on applying force/climbing hills..

Need help with Drivetrain Update

Velowave Ranger break change question

Eye to Eye Shock Lengths

Shimano law suit

Question regarding rear hub replacement for possible out of production bike?

Need suntour derailleur replacement

Inner side tube punctures

How to adjust shock preload?

SRAM rival axs index Q