Chainstay brakes with straddle hanger before seat tube

I recamend you switch to 30 to 9 gearing , not only does it totally kick ass and build more leg muscle and hit higher speeds quicker but it will give you more room for your brakes

Im fine with 25/9. Plenty of room with chain clearance.

Put the wide washer the inside of the brake arm, so it's on the pad, that will push the brake arms further away and give a bit more room.
Squeeking isn't always the pads, it could be from the vibration, make sure everything is tight with plenty of grease on the threads. Also, file the pads down a little bit, just enough to make them feel a bit rough.
You could also toe the pads in a little bit, so the front of the pad touches the rim first, it'll make the brake feel a little spongey, but helps getting rid of squeeks

That's a poor design. Chainstay brakes are only good on a longer chainstays. You could put the barrel adjuster in the cable guide and use a longer straddle cable, so you don't use the hole in the seattube. Depends where the cable guide is though as it would pull the cable at a funny angle. It won't be as efficient either, but will be easier to set up and adjust

Its a terrible design. i noticed that the springfields had play in them, even with the bolt tightened down. That could be the cause too. I cant toe in the pads since there is no adjustment with the ghost pads. I need real brakes. I rigged it with a cable hanger around the seat tube. The guide in the frame is not meant to stop the cable housing. I had to flatten the end of the metal housing end to get it to catch in the guide.

Can't you put the barrel adjuster in the guide? I've fitted a Springfield before, fitting was easy but I don't like the lack of adjustment

grumpySteve wrote:

Can't you put the barrel adjuster in the guide? I've fitted a Springfield before, fitting was easy but I don't like the lack ...more

grumpySteve wrote:

Can't you put the barrel adjuster in the guide? I've fitted a Springfield before, fitting was easy but I don't like the lack of adjustment

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No, the guide on the frame is meant to pass the cable housing. A barrel adjuster won't fit inside.

I have a Hartbreaker with the same design. It was a pain in the ass to get set up but once set up my brakes work and feel great.

I'm using Odyssey brakes (not the Springfield ones) and I'm using one of the very cheap cable hangers. They are smaller, allowing for more room.

30/9 FTW

I hated my Springfield, and I've been dialing my own ubrakes since the 90's. I had play with mine as well and had to go buy some washers to shim the brake arms, it worked to eliminate the play but that didn't help braking obviously. I couldn't get them to grab at all.

Colonydirt94 wrote:

30/9 FTW

Colonydirt94 wrote:

30/9 FTW

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My issue has nothing to do with the clearance between the brake arm and the chain. 25/9 works fine.

pnj wrote:

I have a Hartbreaker with the same design. It was a pain in the ass to get set up but once set up my brakes work and feel ...more

pnj wrote:

I have a Hartbreaker with the same design. It was a pain in the ass to get set up but once set up my brakes work and feel great.

I'm using Odyssey brakes (not the Springfield ones) and I'm using one of the very cheap cable hangers. They are smaller, allowing for more room.

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Yes, hartbreaker. same here. What kind of Odyssey brakes? What a PITA! I think I am going to go with the EVO 2's, the Colony Brethren or Demo Vulcan. No bikes stores around me carry brakes. The arm end has to have a pinch bolt since I need to run the stradle cable very short.

I'm running Evo brakes. And a cheap cable hanger. Not the one that comes with the brakes.

My straddle cable is very short.

Ok. Thanks. If unget a chance and could snap a pic of ur brakes that would help. i think im going to order the evo II brakes

You're going to have to go with brakes where the springs are in the arms, this isn't a new setup before the brakeless trend and seat stay brakes this is exactly how all the old school bikes were. I got a ccr coming tomorrow I bought hombre brakes, I currently have fly brakes on my mutiny they have crap pad adjustment but I'll be modifying the hanger to work I'll post pics when I get it together

bguminey wrote:

You're going to have to go with brakes where the springs are in the arms, this isn't a new setup before the brakeless trend ...more

bguminey wrote:

You're going to have to go with brakes where the springs are in the arms, this isn't a new setup before the brakeless trend and seat stay brakes this is exactly how all the old school bikes were. I got a ccr coming tomorrow I bought hombre brakes, I currently have fly brakes on my mutiny they have crap pad adjustment but I'll be modifying the hanger to work I'll post pics when I get it together

...more

The issue with this particular bike is the chainstays are short, so there's not much room for the straddle cable/yoke. The credence has long chainstays, just like frames from the 90's, giving more room

bguminey wrote:

You're going to have to go with brakes where the springs are in the arms, this isn't a new setup before the brakeless trend ...more

bguminey wrote:

You're going to have to go with brakes where the springs are in the arms, this isn't a new setup before the brakeless trend and seat stay brakes this is exactly how all the old school bikes were. I got a ccr coming tomorrow I bought hombre brakes, I currently have fly brakes on my mutiny they have crap pad adjustment but I'll be modifying the hanger to work I'll post pics when I get it together

...more

grumpySteve wrote:

The issue with this particular bike is the chainstays are short, so there's not much room for the straddle cable/yoke. The ...more

grumpySteve wrote:

The issue with this particular bike is the chainstays are short, so there's not much room for the straddle cable/yoke. The credence has long chainstays, just like frames from the 90's, giving more room

...more

My mistake I thought it was on his hartbreaker which is pretty much the same as a ccr as far as length goes

bguminey wrote:

You're going to have to go with brakes where the springs are in the arms, this isn't a new setup before the brakeless trend ...more

bguminey wrote:

You're going to have to go with brakes where the springs are in the arms, this isn't a new setup before the brakeless trend and seat stay brakes this is exactly how all the old school bikes were. I got a ccr coming tomorrow I bought hombre brakes, I currently have fly brakes on my mutiny they have crap pad adjustment but I'll be modifying the hanger to work I'll post pics when I get it together

...more

grumpySteve wrote:

The issue with this particular bike is the chainstays are short, so there's not much room for the straddle cable/yoke. The ...more

grumpySteve wrote:

The issue with this particular bike is the chainstays are short, so there's not much room for the straddle cable/yoke. The credence has long chainstays, just like frames from the 90's, giving more room

...more

That is it exactly. On my Hartbreaker there is very little room between the brake bosses and seat tube. The cable that connects between the arms needs to be pretty much straight across. My S&M Holmes (circa 1998) has much longer chainstays.

Get better brakes. I love my fly manuals

Ricked_Em wrote:

Get better brakes. I love my fly manuals

Ricked_Em wrote:

Get better brakes. I love my fly manuals

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Only issue with the fly brakes is they're are designed for short axle adjustment I have them on my villij they eject you over the bars but I have to have my wheel slammed because the pads are as far out as they can go. Chris harti runs hombres on his hartbreaker and Chris moeller runs them on his ccr so I bought them for my ccr but I'll be modding my fly hanger and using my fly brake pads to really dial them in I'll post pics when I'm finished in a little bit

Here is a better illustration of my setup with the Springfield brakes. I already ordered the EVO2. Look at the short travel distance of the straddle hanger (1.). Also, the cable tying the two arms (2.) needs to be almost straight across. Because of this, there is no way to detach the cable to release the brakes manually. So if you want to remove your back wheel, you have to unlock the wire and then re-adjust it after. This is a terrible system! I wonder if certain brakes have shorter arms than my Springfields. Meaning that the arms would be at a sharper angle to offer more space between the seat tube.
btw, in this pic, I could not dial the brakes in. The straddle hanger hit the seat tube before the pads hit the rim. The #2 cable actually needed to be pulled tighter, which obviously wouldn't work with the Springfields.

Cool, thanks for the pic. So you cut a cable hanger. Interesting. Do you experience problems with the hanger pulling to one side? I would guess that the arms have to be tensioned exactly the same.

bguminey wrote:

Only issue with the fly brakes is they're are designed for short axle adjustment I have them on my villij they eject you over ...more

bguminey wrote:

Only issue with the fly brakes is they're are designed for short axle adjustment I have them on my villij they eject you over the bars but I have to have my wheel slammed because the pads are as far out as they can go. Chris harti runs hombres on his hartbreaker and Chris moeller runs them on his ccr so I bought them for my ccr but I'll be modding my fly hanger and using my fly brake pads to really dial them in I'll post pics when I'm finished in a little bit

...more

ahh, good to know! Do they make Hombres anymore? I saw some Hombre Fiesta brakes. Those look great! they have angled arms too! Wow, pretty cheap on J&R too.
http://www.jrbicycles.com/diatech-hombre-fiesta-996-u-brake

That's not my bike I'm building mine later but doing the exact same thing I think a lot of your problem is the springfields and yes they still make hombres I got mine from albes

Ok, cool. I'll take a look. It seems they made a newer version of the Hombres that includes low-pro springs and angled arms. I think these are the fiestas. Not 100%.

EDIT: I just called Albes, they list the fiesta and hombre separately. he said the Fiesta brakes have different color parts and the springs are a little smaller for better chain clearance. The ones with the angled arms seem to have been discontinued and are hard to find.

https://www.instagram.com/p/-_5B8UnTQ8/

That's my set up. Hope the link woks. I'm on my old phone....

pnj wrote:

https://www.instagram.com/p/-_5B8UnTQ8/

That's my set up. Hope the link woks. I'm on my old phone....

pnj wrote:

https://www.instagram.com/p/-_5B8UnTQ8/

That's my set up. Hope the link woks. I'm on my old phone....

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yes it works. Thanks. That's pretty much how I envisioned it. I will set mine up the same way. Someone should really tell Chris Harti that this setup sucks.

Or, a nice improvement would be the addition of an extra barrel adjuster on the last cable housing on the down tube. This way we can just run a standard cable hanger that straddles the seat tube.