new brake on my pompino - only campag or it dosnt matter?

mushi123

Hi all;

I am thinking of upgrading to a better set of brakes on my pompino (on one fixed gear) currently it has a cantilever brake system which is pretty bad. Especially on a rainy day when I am going fast it can get pretty scary (I commute in london). In any case I thought might as well buy a proper pair of capagnolo brakes. Looking at the prices (ebay) of the Centaur/Chrous/Record range they seem a bit pricy. Do you think I am exagerating, I mean is there a real difference other than weight (I am not to bothered about weight at all) or maybe I could go for veloce/mirage/xenon range. Of what I understand the high range (chorous/record) are differential and the (chrous/record/veloce/centour) are the new skelton system.

Any thoughts?

Any other brands that you recommned. I really want a good brake

cheers

mushi

fluff.

Don't think you can use standard road brakes on a pomp, mini v brakes can work with a bit of fiddling though, or you could just get some better pads for the cantis?

NorwegianBlue

Got to agree with fluff, don't think calipers will fit a pomp.

However cantis should be no worse than caliper brakes at the same price point. Either go for new pads or a complete new set of brakes. I always find vees a bit much on road tyres, and mini vees never seem any better than cantis so I'd suggest a quality set of cantis. The Avid Shorty 6 is a good brake at under £60 a set. Cyclocross style "frog leg" cantis are probably the best cantis around and the CB2 from 4ZA is about as good as it gets, expect to pay about £80 the set.

graham_g

Tektro Oryx canti's are the often recommended replacements for the stock pompino brakes - although when ordering remember that you need 2, others have been stumped!

mushi123

Thanks. Naively i thought the clippers would fit. :shock:

Am I wrong to think that cantilevers brakes are bad compared to cantilever ?

mushi

NorwegianBlue

I've certainly never found caliper brakes to be better than cantilever brakes, pound for pound you'll get about the same stopping power.

If you want serious stopping power go for vees, you will need new levers (Dia Compe do drop bar levers for V brakes). However in my experience V brakes are too powerful for skinny tyres on wet tarmac.

bryanm

Have you contacted On-One for advice? They seem a likeable bunch and open to offer advice?

smiorgan

Calipers won't fit your bike.

The poor stopping power of the stock pompino brakes has been attributed to anything from pads, to cantilever setup which is variable. Sheldon Brown knows all:

http://sheldonbrown.com/cantilever-geometry.html

I've never had the pleasure of setting up cantis, that will change shortly when I build up my pomp with them (empella frogglegs). But at a guess you'll have an easier time going for v-brakes, even if you have to change the levers. Some people rate mini-Vs on a pomp, others say they're a waste of time; the advantage is that they should work with the levers you already have.

Oh, and I commuted on a hybrid with v-brakes and hard 28mm tyres in all weathers, never once locked up a wheel, no problem with modulation. OTOH I destroyed the back tyre of my new race bike by accidentally locking up the rear - that was with a campy mirage caliper. Plenty of people on FGG have v-brakes on their pomps, they seem to do OK.

steverile

You need Vs or cantis (or mini Vs) I have SRAM 5.0 Vs on mine, no shortage of stopping power. You'll need new brake levers if you go from cantis to Vs, to account for the different cable pull, like 287Vs.

2muchCake

Do what I did and slap a hydraulic disc on the front - sorted.

You might want to draw the line at painting you bike pink though...

Monty Dog

A canti brake such as the Avid Shorty are nearly as easy to set-up as vees - but have the advantage of working with normal brake levers. Pad choice is pretty critical with cantis too.

NorwegianBlue

2muchCake wrote:

Do what I did and slap a hydraulic disc on the front - sorted.

You might want to draw the line at painting you bike pink though...

Shirley not very practical with drop bars?

rendo

fluff. wrote:

Don't think you can use standard road brakes on a pomp, mini v brakes can work with a bit of fiddling though, or you could just get some better pads for the cantis?

depends on how old your pomp is, mine takes a caliper on the front. i'd also say calipers are better than canti's, i find canti's need adjusting regularly to maximise efficiency.

if it takes a caliper, only get campag if you use a campag lever, as you have no quick release (for removing the wheel) on the caliper.

NorwegianBlue

rendo wrote:

depends on how old your pomp is, mine takes a caliper on the front. i'd also say calipers are better than canti's, i find canti's need adjusting regularly to maximise efficiency.

A brake would only need regular adjustment if the cable was stretching or slipping, the pads were wearing quickly or something was moving. None of these are anything to do with whether the brake is canti, caliper, vee, disc or anything else, but either poor quality components or poor maintenance.

rendo

NorwegianBlue wrote:

rendo wrote:

depends on how old your pomp is, mine takes a caliper on the front. i'd also say calipers are better than canti's, i find canti's need adjusting regularly to maximise efficiency.

A brake would only need regular adjustment if the cable was stretching or slipping, the pads were wearing quickly or something was moving. None of these are anything to do with whether the brake is canti, caliper, vee, disc or anything else, but either poor quality components or poor maintenance.

well my experience of cantis is, to gain the best mechanical advantage, as the pads wear, which in my case they did, was that they had to be adjusted regularly i.e. tightening the cable. with calipers you have the barrel adjusters for this. i found this to be a pain. commuting thro the winter accelerated this.

NorwegianBlue

rendo wrote:

well my experience of cantis is, to gain the best mechanical advantage, as the pads wear, which in my case they did, was that they had to be adjusted regularly i.e. tightening the cable. with calipers you have the barrel adjusters for this. i found this to be a pain. commuting thro the winter accelerated this.

I've never used a bike with cantis that didn't have a barrel adjuster on the cable hanger, just as easy as using the barrel adjuster on the caliper.

mwr549

I put some sram v brakes on the front of mine, all works fine, you just do not have fine adjustment.

I don't find them to powerful, but I like how they stop compared to the canti's (hated them)

love rest of the bike...........