I have bolt-on RAIDs on my Kogswell P/R. The back brake does squeal
sometimes. To fix, I squirt the rim with water from a water bottle,
then go ride a bit with the brake on. I believe what's happening is oil
or something like it (handling the rim changing a flat tire will induce
it for sure, so maybe chain oil or finger oil) gets on the rim in
places; wetting the rim and running the wheel with the brake on wipes
the oil off.
I've also found that having the brake pad at an angle vertically with
respect to the brake track will cause squealing, and that's one degree
of freedom that is definitely present with the Mafac design.
On 04/08/2016 04:21 PM, Jan Heine wrote:
Tim, sorry to hear that your Compass brakes are squealing so much. We
are trying to figure out why they are totally silent on most bikes
after a short break-in, but squeal persistently on a very small number
of bikes. We have a few hypotheses that we are testing. It's a bit
hard, since none of our bikes squeal - but we live in rainy Seattle.
And we never use our rear brakes except when we encounter very slick
roads. You can read about why using the rear brake doesn't help
slowing down here
<https://janheine.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/how-to-brake-on-a-bicycle/>. (https://janheine.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/how-to-brake-on-a-bicycle/)
So my question: Is it the front or the rear that is squealing?
My first remedy would be as suggested by another reader: Get the rims
wet, and then brake very hard. Don't hesitate - if you have decent
tires, apply the front brake very hard. Of course, brace yourself as
described in the article above. It's a good skill to practice, and in
99% of the cases, it'll quieten your front brake totally.
If that doesn't help, I second Will's suggestion to file the washers.
That way, you'll get a permanent solution, as the toe-in will remain
set even after changing pads. So you won't have to fiddle with it ever
again. If you mess up, the washers are available and don't cost much.
You can also file the pads, but the drawback is that you'll have to do
it again every time you change the brake pads. And you have to remove
more material - the washers just need very little removed to get a
toe-in of about 1 mm at the front of the pad (i.e., the rear of the
pad should be 1 mm clear of the rim). If you file too much, and get up
to 4 mm, it's not a problem. But filing the pads also is an option.
One good thing about centerpulls compared to cantis is that pad wear
doesn't bring back the squeal, as the pads wear parallel to the rim.
Cantis see a lot of fork blade twist, and so their pads lose their
toe-in as they wear.
Brake squeal is very annoying - I recall a number of /Bicycle
Quarterly/ test bikes with various Paul brakes that had persistent
squeal. However, their squeal has a higher pitch, so it's not quite as
annoying... I hope you'll resolve the issue soon. If not, don't
hesitate to contact me, and we'll work with you on this. I know that
your bike can be silent, and that is how it should be!
Jan Heine
Compass Bicycles Ltd.
www.compasscycle.com <https://www.compasscycle.com>
On Wednesday, April 6, 2016 at 8:27:47 AM UTC+9, Tim wrote:
Not to hijack the thread but...I just got my custom MAP with
Compass centerpulls and I have a question. Will the front break
stop squealing like a banshee after they break in a bit?!?!? I'm
using them with HED Belgium 650b rims (brand new). I've only been
riding it about a week. Probably around 100 miles. With light
pressure there is no noise but with moderate to hard pressure they
squeal so loud that they turn heads. It's been like that from the
get go. It really kind of sucks. Any ideas?
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