Cantilever brakes

drumon
drumon Posts: 175
edited June 2009 in Commuting chat
I have plastic C-Star cantilever brakes and levers on my comfy MTB, brakes which I want to upgrade for comfy runabout.

I fancy keeping with cantilevers for the old school aspect, however I have upgraded V brakes on my other MTB and thus know just how easy they are to set up and maintain.

Does anyone, CHOOSE to upgrade to better quality cantilever brakes or do you all go for V brakes? After all, cantilevers are used successfully in cyclocross for example.

Comments

  • nation
    nation Posts: 609
    I think some tourers are canti fans.

    Remember you need different levers for cantis and vs.

    Usually SJS is a good place to look for stuff that is a little offbeat or uncommon:

    http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/category-Bra ... ver-26.htm
  • nicklouse
    nicklouse Posts: 50,675
    great cantis are only as good as poor Vs.

    i know which i would fit.
    "Do not follow where the path may lead, Go instead where there is no path, and Leave a Trail."
    Parktools :?:SheldonBrown
  • drumon
    drumon Posts: 175
    nicklouse wrote:
    great cantis are only as good as poor Vs.

    i know which i would fit.

    Yup, thats what I was thinking deep down, why are V's so popular now vs cantilevers? Exactly. was curious about cantilever's as a "why not" option.

    Will keep an eye out for well priced Vs (with appropriate levers of course).

    anyone else still using "good" cantilevers?
  • roger_merriman
    roger_merriman Posts: 6,165
    V's are modified cantilevers and since they work about the same, and really there is no down side, so getting half decent cant's is unlikely. i thought mostly cycle cross used mini v's but i could be wildly wrong!
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,064
    I can recommend cane creek canti which come fitted with kool stop pads, they have great stopping power in all conditions not a good as disc or callipers but go none the less.
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.
  • drumon
    drumon Posts: 175
    itboffin.

    Am curious.
    Do you find that your Cane Creek cantilevers stop well , like reasonable Vs?
  • star_rover
    star_rover Posts: 318
    I find cantis work better with flat bar levers than with STI/ergos. For a runaround cantis would be fine.
    Empella frogglegs and tektro cr520s are two that I've used and like.
  • Fireblade96
    Fireblade96 Posts: 1,123
    I've got ancient Shimano cantis on the MTB commuter. Properly adjusted they work absolutely fine - well enough to do an unintentional stoppie when a car pulled out in front of me, well enough to stop me at the bottom of my 30mph hill on a daily basis.
    Misguided Idealist
  • itboffin
    itboffin Posts: 20,064
    drumon wrote:
    itboffin.

    Am curious.
    Do you find that your Cane Creek cantilevers stop well , like reasonable Vs?

    Yup set them up 1-2mm from the rims and they stop really well, I suspect the pads make far more of a difference than the brake mech.

    It took me a while to get used to the squeal and the judder at extreme speeds 40+mph :D

    In my infinite wisdom I purchased kool stop pads & blocks for my campy bike and bought the wrong type - doh!
    Rule #5 // Harden The Feck Up.
    Rule #9 // If you are out riding in bad weather, it means you are a badass. Period.
    Rule #12 // The correct number of bikes to own is n+1.
    Rule #42 // A bike race shall never be preceded with a swim and/or followed by a run.

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