As they will have a much higher mu once scuffed in, take your time setting them up. Just toss them on and they'll work. Get the contact patch maximized and least toe you can run without squeaking and they'll have more power, modulate better, have more bite and self clean even better. The Koolstops have a built in rim squeegee. With shitty pads, setup matters less since they're shitty regardless.

 

My MTB needs new tires. 26" (26x1.95 currently), I'd like to stay the same width-wise, maybe narrower. Bike sees 80% tarmac, 20% dirt. Suggestions?

 

In the past, I've always just set up rim pads to be perfectly square in all axis. Wasn't even aware that playing with the alignment in this regard would affect the noise they make.

TBH, squealing doesn't bother me- if anything, it alerts the pedestrian who just stepped out in front of me that I have had to get on the brakes hard to avoid slamming into them.

But in terms of maximizing performance... suggestions?

 

Are you commuting?

 

No, strictly recreational.

 

Flat to the braking track will probably squeal. Good grippy pads are more prone to squeal than crappy pads. Running flat also makes them grabbier and sometimes more difficult to modulate. This gets worse after some dry running when pad rubber builds up on brake track increasing its cf. A bit of toe in will reduce or eliminate squeal and improve modulation. Too much toe makes for squishy brakes. Every pad/brake/rim combo has it's sweet spot. I'd start with about 1mm at the trailing edge.

Pad height is also important. Look at the arc of the brake arms. As the pads wear, or compress and distort, the arc can put the pads into the spokes. For this reason, you want your pads up higher on the brake track. Too high and you run the risk of a slightly bent wheel allowing the pad to cut into the sidewall. Take a quick eyeball measurement on pad and brake track width. Put the pads slight above the centerline towards the tire. Keep in mind that if your rims are bent, the arc of the brake arm can put the pads into places where they shouldn't go.

Other stuff
Make sure your bike has perfectly functioning cables. All the pad set up finesse can be undone by draggy, binding cables. Most cheap bikes come with galvanized wire with round wound cables. The best are stainless cables that are either flat ground or at least have low drag liners in the housings. Again, cheap bikes have no liners. The difference in force the brake sees from cheap to the good stuff is an order of magnitude.

It sounds like you already figured out the mechanical leverage sweet spot of the linear pull brake. Easy to see if one understands basic type 2 levers.

I clean aluminum brake tracks with ispropyl alcoohol and 00~000 steel wool or scotch brite.

Google Sheldon Brown too

 

I'm afraid I don't really follow football.









(I keed, I keed.)

I understand the concept you're describing, I just never realized it was possible to do. The cheap pads which I have used in the past (including these Grey Matter pads that Leafy suggested) have always been of a design wherein no adjustment of toe was possible- only adjustment of the height and angle of the pad relative to the braking surface of the rim.

(Yet another reason why I prefer disc brakes- adjustment is MUCH simpler...)

These SS pads do appear to be of a design which permits such adjustment (the look to have a ball-and-cup sort of washer between the pad and the caliper) so I shall give that a shot.

 

Arm is looking better, mobility is way up:

I just saw the road bike in the garage, it was really sad.

 

Ashy.

 

No one else answered but with how much pavement you ride on, maybe a cyclocross tire would be a good idea. I put some club roost ones on my race bike because the 80's vintage gum wall super low rolling resistance tires were a bit sketchy if you drove over someone's spit, never mind wet grass or sandy pavement. They dont roll as easy as the roady tires but they handle the off the clean pavement stuff as good as the shitty MTB tires on my MTB.

 

That's a lot of money to spend when he simply needs narrower tires. Plenty of good 1.5~1.8 width short **** tires that will work for his use.

I suggest using race tires. They tend to be softer durometer (grippier), faster rolling and lighter. Downside is they wear a bit faster but that's only a concern if you are putting in big miles like a racer or hardcore recreational rider will.

 

They're like the same money as any other bike tire, the ones I bought were like $2something in 700c, should be cheaper in 26" or a bit more in 29".

 

Looking good, buddy.

 

Is it normal for my hand to shake all the time now? Is this some kind of nerve damage symptom?

 

muscle memory.

 

Its because you have no muscle left in your forearm...unless you were like that before.

:P

I kid. Shaking is going to happen I believe until your mobility is back to full and you have some weight training to gain the muscle back.

 

AWS?

 

I was pretty fit before this happened.

 

Best friend (big time bike fanatic and works in bike shop) recommended me some geax easy riders. They should be here tomorrow or the weekend. Also threw in fresh inner tubes and pads. We'll see how it goes.

 

Holy **** atrophy: