response 18 of 70:

Jul 2 03:39 UTC 2004

Jim says if it is two separate attachments to the forks that is cantilever
(not caliper).  Caliper has one attachment at the vertex of the Y of the fork
or whatever ou want to call it.  Calipers come in center pull or sometimes
side pull and those are the ones found on old Murray bikes.  

response 20 of 70:

Jul 3 23:51 UTC 2004

I have tried granny gear and it is easier to get off and push.

response 22 of 70:

Jul 14 03:45 UTC 2004

Contrary to keesan's experience, I've had far better luck with
center-pull brakes than with side-pull ones.  The side-pull ones would
never pull in evenly so one side usually wanted to drag on the rim.

response 24 of 70:

Jul 20 15:23 UTC 2004

Could be old, hard brake pads.  The rubber loses its resiliancy as it
ages.  Try a new set.

response 26 of 70:

Jul 21 02:02 UTC 2004

Try sanding a bevel on the leading edge, maybe.  It sometimes works on
squealing car brake pads.

response 28 of 70:

Nov 2 22:12 UTC 2005

Thanks for the tip, Andy.
Here's a review of the C200 I found on epinions.com

Full Review 
I made the decision this year to get serious about cycling and in order to
do that, I had to get a new bike. I had only done some recreational riding
before and had a typical "toy store" bike (A Murray 18 speed). So I began my
search in a couple of ways.

The first was to talk with a friend of mine who was a serious mountain biker.
He was able to tell me a lot about frame and component construction, as well
as reputable names. The next step was to look at some of the current issues
of various biking magazines. I was lucky enough to find the "buyers guide"
issue of Bicycling available. I nearly memorized that issue and learned enough
to be really dangerous in a bike store. Then came step three - actual visits
to a bike store.

Surprisingly, even though I am middle aged, I can't say I had ever been in
a professional bike store. I thoroughly enjoyed the process. All of the stores
I visited were very helpful and all but one had bikes available for test
drives. My criteria when talking with them were simple: I wanted a good
quality bike that would allow me to easily hop on for a quick tour of the
neighborhood, but also was sophisticated enough for longer tours. I also had
a very limited budget. I finally settled on the decision to go either for a
mountain bike or a hybrid, which is halfway between a road bike and a mountain
bike. After test driving about twenty different bikes, I was convinced that
a hybrid was right for me.

Here's why:
1. Road bikes require you to often be "in the drops", meaning you are bent
over with your hands on the lower curved portions of the handlebars. This put
on strain on my back.
2. I wanted to be able to switch between riding on pavement and some hard
packed dirt trails without having to have two bikes. The hybrid allows this
because of the slightly wider tires.
3. I still wanted to have things like better shifting mechanisms, toe clips,
and a lightweight frame. Good hybrids have all of these.

The reason I finally decided on the Raleigh C-200 had a lot to do with the
advice of the bike shop I chose to do business with. This shop owner explained
that the Raleigh bikes were high quality, and surprisingly, one of the last
brands still manufactured in this country. Most of the other major brands were
made in the Orient. The frame of this bike is all aluminum. This ordinarily
results in a very stiff ride, but this model has a shock absorber on the fork
as well as the seatpost. The seatpost shock absorption is also adjustable to
custom fit it to your style. The components are all in the mid range of
quality.

This bike has a triple chain ring and eight gears in back for a total of 24
speeds. This is great for any type of terrain. The 700 cm wheels are
approximately equivalent to a 27". This gives a little more of an advantage
for speed than the typical 26" on many low quality bikes. The shifters are
in the twist grips, making it easy to change gears. 

Raleigh has also included a device located in the center of the handlebars
that they call the "CI-Deck". It looks like a speedometer, but all it really
amounts to is a gauge to tell you what gear you are in. This is a totally
useless waste of the handlebar space it takes up. They should have just put
markings on the shifters. The whole bike weighs about a third of what my old
bike did, even though it looks a lot bigger. This makes pedaling a lot less
work. 

I have put about a thousand miles on this bike this summer, including a two
day, 150 mile, charity event. My typical ride is 20-40 miles. I have learned
to love this bike after making a couple of modifications. I replaced the seat
since they chose to include a heavily padded seat with springs. This sounds
good but in reality only resulted in the numbness many males experience from
improperly designed bike seats. I also added bar ends, which I installed in
a downward pointing position to allow a modified drop position. 

I have had no malfunctions with any part of the bike and have only had to make
minor adjustments to the cable to keep the gears shifting properly.
I would highly recommended this bike to anyone looking for a high quality,
low cost ( I paid $375) bike that is more than a mountain bike but less than
a racing bike. 

Recommended
Yes

Component Package: Shimano C-201
Recommended Use: Daily Rides 
 

response 30 of 70:

Nov 3 16:39 UTC 2005

I have a gel cover for my seat but need to upgrade to something like the C200.
My Peugeot Iseran has the old skinny tires and is murder after about 10 miles
of hauling my litter of milk monsters.  Plus, I'm unsure about the
brakes/rims.

response 32 of 70:

Nov 3 19:47 UTC 2005

Yes, we have a trailer and they have helmets.  There is an awesome 16 mile
trail by my house that follows Cedar River.
The brakes blow when I have the trailer..and even sometimes without it when
I'm slowing downhill.  I definately need an upgrade.  I've swapped out the
brakeshoes but no difference made.  The Peugeot bike has the brakes mounted
to the frame but I suspect the disc type brakes on the C200 are much better.

response 34 of 70:

Jan 9 18:06 UTC 2006

One incentive for biking with the kids in tow is the destination being a
playground where they can burn off their energy.  Its no fun if there's no
incentive for the child to come along.

response 36 of 70:

Jan 25 16:39 UTC 2006

Did they wear helmets?

response 38 of 70:

Feb 6 04:34 UTC 2006

I looked at some inexpensive bicycles in K-Mart (I was in
there buying some other things). I could buy a pair of bikes
(one for Mrs. ball) for the cost of the C200 that I have
been pining for, but the inexpensive bikes might not have
(standard) replaceable parts.

response 40 of 70:

Feb 6 18:06 UTC 2006

keesan has a point.  One of the problems with department store bikes is 
they're often heavy.  For quite a while I had a Roadmaster bike (which 
I think is a Western Auto brand.)  When it broke and I replaced it with 
a used Schwinn LeTour, I was amazed how much lighter and easier to ride 
the Schwinn was...and the LeTour is actually a pretty heavy bike by 
road bike standards. 

response 42 of 70:

Feb 8 20:44 UTC 2006

Most of the used bikes we find were barely ridden.  And you can pay a bike
repair shop less to repair a bike than you would to buy a shiny new one,
assuming you don't need the shiny.  The chains wear out after a while and you
might need new brake pads.

I carry my bike over train tracks and through muddy patches and appreciate
it being 5 lb lighter.