Side pull brakes

sad Bastad

Having bought a proper touring bike (Condor Fratello) it outperforms my old cheap (very cheap in fact, I won it in a raffle) hybrid Claud Butler in every way, bar one - braking. Not sure what make of brakes they are as they are badged Condor, but their stopping power is weak, becoming abysmal in the wet, particularly if using them from the hoods. The only way to get any stopping power is to get right down on the drops so that you can exert full leverage and even then there's no comparison with my old clunker's V-brakes.
Is this normal for side pulls?

roger_merriman

i'd think not, my old road bike, stopped fairly decently even on 22 year old suntour brakes. does brake better with newer brakes now though....

AndyManc

I've got v-brakes on my trek 7.3 hybrid .. they aren't great :?

BUT ..... this time of year I don't mind being brought to a halt slowly , it beats my rear (or front) locking up and ending up sliding down the road on my a**.


Are your rims clean of any contamination, have you tried new blocks ?

dafruk

I know there were some issues with early makes of interupt levers, or is it the brakes from the drops that are rubbish?

Or if it is both then maybe just the blocks/mechanism are garbage.

Have you checked the amount of play in the cables?