Last year I swapped out the brakes on my bike, from some old Dia Compes (smooth post pads) to some Avid Shortys. I love the new brakes, but there's one PITA - in back, the V-Brake pads are too long (in the forward direction), and hit the seatstays when I unhook the straddle cable, making it impossible to insert an inflated cross tire. :mad2:

Does anybody know of a threaded-post brake pad that doesn't extend very far forward, or is thus just the price I pay for using a Touring bike for 'cross? Worst case, I can take a hacksaw to the 1-piece koolstop thinline pads i've got there now, but i'd prefer a lazier solution.

I had a similar problem and solved it with the thinlines.

Check Koolstop's website. I remember that it had some very short pads. I also wondered about running the pads backwards.

DK

I had looked @ koolstop's page before, but at that point I was thinking differently - looking for a thinner pad - this is what lead me to the thinlines. It turns out that any brake pad hitting the stays gets in the way, so the thinline still causes a problem, running it backwards will just make it worse.

There are a few pads on koolstop's page that look like they might work: The Supra, Eagle Claws, and The Eagle 2.

I'll take some measurements, and fire off an email to koolstop.

They said none of theirs would work, they suggested the hacksaw-pad method. While I don't mind terribly, anybody know of pads from somebody else that might work?

It's 1.5 cm from the post to the seatstay, in case that helps anybody.

Id use a Dremel with a cutoff wheel, probably work better than a hacksaw?

there's a Czech Mfr of post style that are thin, brake great and don't squeal. I posted pix of them about 3 years ago, I'll see if I can find.