I bought Tektro 520s for my Sam 2 years ago and have now worn down the brake pads. These Tektros came from Riv with mountain style cartridge pads, whereas Riv now sells the Tektros with road style cartridges. While I have always preferred the road style ones for aesthetics and the brakes' ability to open wider for ease in mounting wheels with fat tires, I now have discovered another reason why the road cartridges are superior on slender rigid steel forks: The cotter pin you need to pull to remove the pads is perfectly centered inside the fork blade. Basically no way to get to it. I ended up removing the entire brake to get the pads off. :) Sorta defeats the purpose of replaceable brake pads, but it was probably time to grease the brake studs anyway.
On the rear, the pins are easily accessible, but I replaced the stock pads with Koolstop Salmon, which seem to have a different enough shape that the brake pads didn't line up anymore (the worn out ones sat a bit low, the new ones too high; it's possible that I readjusted the pads when they were half worn, but I don't remember; also if you perfectly square the pads with the rims when new, shouldn't they stay more or less aligned with the rims as they wear?). Anyway, I realized that the Tektro 520s spring design makes pad alignment very easy. Using the ball end of a 4 or 5mm allen key, I lifted the straight extension of the spring off the brake arm, and could now easily push the pad flat and square against the rim without resistance while tightening the bolt. Then I replaced the spring arm using the allen key again. Piece of cake. I hope this trick helps someone out who grumbles about cantilever adjustment difficulties. I have always thought the Tektros were great brakes for the money, but I am starting to think they may just be one of the best brakes around. (I do own and love the early 90s wide profile Campy cantis, but they ARE harder to adjust, like all older cantis with smooth brake studs). Cheers, Gernot -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
