brake info please

Hey guys, this is a bit off topic but I could use some advice. I just bought a cheapish bike off craigslist for the Grubee Skyhawk 66cc I ordered. Both front and back use the center pull cantilever brakes.
I adjusted the rear ones so they are just barely off the rim and make contact with a slight pull of the lever. The problem is even when I squeeze the brakes extremely hard they don't stop my bike. Just slow me down some. At first I thought it might be due to old brake pads, which I am going to replace. But after reading about Mechanical Advantage I wonder if the problem is actually coming from the angle of my traverse cable, giving me not enough mechanical advantage. I'll have to try lowering the yoke cable so the traverse cable is closer to horizontal, but I have doubts since the reflector (that I'm assuming is stock) would then be in the way.

My second problem is the front brakes squeal like mad. I've heard many times (including in this thread) that the way to fix this is by having the front of the pad make contact with the rim first. With these brakes I see no way to do that. Perhaps I need to overhaul my brake system entirely?
let me know what you guys think.

I had a buddy with those style of front brakes. While it is not a funny kind of accident, his was he did not get hurt. If your front brake [especially] gets a broken caliper cable that transverse cable can catch the tire. YOU WILL BE GOING OVER THE BARS!!

Danger Will Robinson! YouTube - DANGER WILL ROBINSON DANGER - LOST IN SPACE

I would recommend using newer style V brakes my self. If anything on the front..


Linear-pull brakes or direct-pull brakes is a good brake..

Bicycle brake systems - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Looking at the pic ,it looks like if the center cable where relaxed and the brake pad rods were slid in toward the tire ,making the brake arms stick out to the side further,then adjust the brake cable and adjust the lever,it would give a stronger pull,as it would be pulling at a right angle to the arms and not at an almost even angle with no leverage

The reflector is the safty device that keeps the problem goat herder mentioned above from happening,It catches the cross wire should the main front wire break,,,if there is nothing to catch the cable on the front brake then you should rig a safty loupe attatched to a higher place,to catch the cable from falling on the tire should the center cable break

Good point!

You can adjust the toe on these brakes by loosening the eyebolt nut and manipulating the beveled washers between the nut and brake arm body probably on both sides. They may be a little different but when you loosen the nut you will be able to see what I am discussing. If you pull it apart make sure you put those little round beveled parts back in the correct order.
About Cantilever Bicycle Brakes
You should do some reading up on the adjusting and care of these brakes. They may take you a little practice to get the adjustments correct. If the reflector is in the way remove it. If it will not work there than purchase a reflector bracket that will hold it elsewhere.

remember to put safty loup from a higher point to keep the tire and cross cable seperated from each other if u remove the reflector

The straddle cable falling onto the bicycle tire is only a problem if you allow other people to work on your brakes or you have no idea how to maintain them. I have used cantilever brakes since the mid seventies and have never had this happen on my brakes or any that I have worked on.

Thanks for the help guys. After lots and lots of adjusting I couldn't get the brakes to act how I wanted them to, so I found a cheap set of Direct Pull V-brakes on ebay. Now I'm waiting on the new levers to arrive, since direct pull brakes need more traveling distance.