Euro Style Brakes??

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Permalink Reply by andrew on February 23, 2009 at 10:53am

Hey David,
I'm guessing you played with the spring holes, or didn't have that option on the frame/fork?

Anyway, we've been fortunate to use both Spookys and TRPs and both have worked really well. The Spookys were simple and light as were the alum EuroX, and loved the adjustability of the pads and cable tension with the high-end white mag EuroX. Anyway...

As for spring tension, if don't have spring holes, you can often slightly tweak the spring tension by just rotating the brake inwards against the spring. You have to do this gently, without the wheel in place. For some old systems, this was the only way to effectively center the brakes! If you go too far you can break the spring too. But I'm guessing this might not be enough if you still have hand problems.

I haven't tried on the TRP, but for some brakes you could swap the spring from left to right and that would really alter the spring rates - you might give that a shot.

One more thing - on the EuroX, you can actually put the spring in a few places - in the cut out or below the arm. I think our Issue 1 has a pic of the spring in the non-standard location, but I can't remember whether that made the spring stronger or weaker. You could take your spring/bike into a shop and rummage through their parts bin to see what they've got for springs too. Every shop has that random canti parts bin.

Let us know what you end up doing.

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Permalink Reply by David Hutton on February 23, 2009 at 11:25am

Ill let you know. I am going to fiddle with some cool looking springs I found at the local shop here. My euro-x's may have just felt tight from accumulating crap in the cable housing. But this gives me a reaso no play with new stuff you know!

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Permalink Reply by andrew on February 23, 2009 at 11:36am

hey - thought of something - I know you mentioned spring tension, but the one thing that also might help if you haven't tried yet is set them up super loose - almost-to-the-bars loose. this will allow you to use more of your whole hand to brake, and not just your fingers. I bet that will help...same principle as downhilling - easier on your fingers and forearm for long periods of braking if your brakes aren't instantly on, far away from the bars.

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