Rim brakes for drop bars

pedalpower

What are the best cantilever brakes? SJScycles are selling off the suntour self-energizing ones very cheap. They used to recommend them. I have them on mine but have never been all that happy with them.

Anyone recommend these:
http://www.paulcomp.com/neoretro.html
or know where to get them in the UK?

Do the Tektro levers work well with V-brakes and drop-bars? Can I use V-brakes on an old bike with cantilever bosses? - Are the bosses the same? Thanks

RimTape

You can use MINI V brakes also sometimes known as BMX brakes with normal road levers.

You cant use normal mtb V Brakes unless you fit special levers or "travel agents".

I have some Tektro Mini Vs which work better than cantilevers but you need to put an inline barrel adjuster in the cable ideally to adjust them.

I think the reason that cyclocross people still use cantilevers is that they have better tyre/mud clearance.

Cheers
Velox

pedalpower

Thanks.
But the Tektro levers i was referring to are special road levers for V-brakes. I think they're supposed to be better than the old dia-compe version. But not sure.
I'm not sure it's worth replacing my levers either. Are V-brakes that much better?
What are people's favourite cantilever brakes?

andymiller

pedalpower wrote:

Thanks.
But the Tektro levers i was referring to are special road levers for V-brakes. I think they're supposed to be better than the old dia-compe version. But not sure.
I'm not sure it's worth replacing my levers either. Are V-brakes that much better?
What are people's favourite cantilever brakes?

You an still get the Diacompe levers (from spacycles and One-One and no doubt others). I think they are very good (never tried the tektro ones you're on about).

You can use mini-vs with normal levers (although people will claim you can't) but they will work best with long-pull levers.

pedalpower

Looking into this further I've narrowed it to three options:
1) Tektro CR720 cantilever. (Might get in the way of panniers on the back so might need something else back there)
2) Avid Shorty 6 2009 model. (stories of squeal but are these new ones better?)
3) Get V brakes and Tektro levers (I'm reluctant to change levers too - is it really worth it?)

geoff_ss

I don't know about modern cantilever brakes but I've used Shimano cantilevers with drop bars on touring bikes (with camping gear) perfectly successfully in the past. Used the same ones on the tandem too though there were times on very steep descents (eg Park Rash or Long Mynd) when we couldn't completely stop. We never found interference with panniers to be a real problem.

V brakes will fit on normal cantilever bosses. Actually V brakes are no different from cantilevers - they just have a much longer lever and move its position. That means you need to pull more cable to operate them. As I understand it, in order to get reasonable clearance when the brake is off, brake levers pull a lot of cable initially but less once the shoe engages the rim. Surely there must be dropped bar levers available that do the job by now. It was always a bug bear when we wanted to use V brakes on the tandem (with drops) that suitable levers weren't available then.

Geoff

andymiller

Geoff_SS wrote:

ISurely there must be dropped bar levers available that do the job by now. It was always a bug bear when we wanted to use V brakes on the tandem (with drops) that suitable levers weren't available then.

There are: Diacompe 287Vs. They've been available for at least 5 years (when I bought my first set - so probably a lot longer than that).

pedalpower

The Diacompe's have always been unpopular. The Tektros are supposed to work better but I've tried neither.

andymiller

pedalpower wrote:

The Diacompe's have always been unpopular. The Tektros are supposed to work better but I've tried neither.

I've never had the Tektros, but equally never had any problems with the Diacompes, but at the end of the day I'm sceptical about whether there would be any significant differences between two brake levers.

Stuck on a Giant

I changed from mini-Vs to Tektro 520 canti because I found to get the Vs to work, they had to be set within 0.5mm of the rim - not really feasible, wheel goes out a fraction and it starts rubbing, slacken off clearance, and levers hit the bars before the stopping power really kicks in. I've got Tiagra shifters

Put the canti's on, much more clearance but still plenty of stopping power even when fully loaded for touring.

I've got a Spesh Tricross, and I've used an 'uphanger' for the front brake, and this has also eliminated break squeal.

andymiller

Stuck on a Giant wrote:

I changed from mini-Vs to Tektro 520 canti because I found to get the Vs to work, they had to be set within 0.5mm of the rim - not really feasible, wheel goes out a fraction and it starts rubbing, slacken off clearance, and levers hit the bars before the stopping power really kicks in. I've got Tiagra shifters

Put the canti's on, much more clearance but still plenty of stopping power even when fully loaded for touring.

I've got a Spesh Tricross, and I've used an 'uphanger' for the front brake, and this has also eliminated break squeal.

Mini-Vs work better with long pull levers, but I have a pair on my Pompino that are set up with ordinary aero levers and they work perfectly well - and believe me I wouldn't know what 0.5mm even looks like never mind be able to set up brakes to that sort of clearance. OK , maybe a fixie isn't going to be as testing for brakes because of the braking effect from the transmission but even so...

Stuck on a Giant

Andy, maybe the aero levers have slightly longer pull than STIs?

I never got on with the mini-Vs, and interestingly Spesh now fit canti's on the Tricross as standard.