Which drop levers for these cantis?

mattbibbings

Hi Folks,

I'm building a Midge-barred, 26 inch wheeled, do-it-all bike and I am planning on using On-One Frogs Bollox Cantis. I am having trouble though trying to work out which concelled cable, drop-bar aero levers will work best with them. Any thoughts or recomendations?

I have set up every other concievable brake combo but never tried setting up cantis with drop bar levers before so any other gems of wisdom will be gratefully recieved in this area.

Monty Dog

Any road brake lever will be OK for cantis as the cable-pull ratios are identical.

marcusjb

Just as a word of warning - the Frogs Bollox are, frankly, bollocks.

Cantis are challenging to setup correctly and toe-in is important to eliminate squeal and get good performance. The Frogs Bollox have very limited possibilities for setting up the brake pad - including no toe in.

I found them awful - the standard pads they came with were appalling. I'm pretty good at setting up cantis even though we only have one other bike in the stable with them.

I gave up with them on my Pompino - I actually ended up with Deore XT V-brakes with Travel Agents on - amazing performance, well-chuffed.

I really would rethink the cantis - there are far better units out there from the like of Tectro etc.

Monty Dog

If you want good value, easy to set-up cantis try Tektro 720s. Mini-vees are even easier to set up but can suffer from lack of brake feel (on-off) and poor mud / tyre clearance.

unixnerd

I gave up with them on my Pompino - I actually ended up with Deore XT V-brakes with Travel Agents on - amazing performance, well-chuffed.

I fancy doing the same on my tourer. It's cantis are useless, came down Cairngorm with them once and had cramp in my fingers by the time I got to the bottom (and scared the pants off myself at the hairpin). I've tried a few different brake pads and they make the difference between frightening and poor, but nowhere near good.

onbike 1939

Monty Dog wrote:

If you want good value, easy to set-up cantis try Tektro 720s. Mini-vees are even easier to set up but can suffer from lack of brake feel (on-off) and poor mud / tyre clearance.

+1

unixnerd

Just bought these, bit pricey though:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0261124865

and some Shimano V brakes, will fit them over the Christmas break.

tim_wand

In theory it shouldnt matter. But in my experience Shimano Sti's work best with Frogs Bollox

(They are a bitch to adjust and modulate, this has been recognised with the new TRP style camber adjust pads)

If you havent got the newer style then a "Fourth hand tool " or big zip tie around the calipers is needed to get clearances right against the rim with set up.

Funnily enought (Same distributor) Sram levers work best with Avid cantis,

On my Kaffenbach I started of with old style Frogs and Shimano r600 aero levers (Okay for cx, crap for touring and road)

Next up was Sram 500 brake levers and Avid shorty fours ( pretty good but no feel)

Next Sram 500 brake levers and Avid Ultimate Shorties (Excellent but bloody expensive)

The frame has been built up many times and now is on Shimano 105 sti's and Shimano BRR -550's which in terms of all round performance and value is the best i' ve found.