Road bike brakes

Pezski

Hey there

A question for those that know: after growing up on a road bike, I've been on mountain bikes for the last 15 years - but, as I do most of my miles on the road anyway I wouldn't mind investing in a road bike. But why do road bikes STILL have calliper brakes? They're bloody awful! Why not linear pull (V) brakes? If anybody could give me a good reason for this I'd be most obliged.

ugo.santalucia

You are wrong, or you are stuck with 1970s calipers...
Modern calipers are excellent, even the cheap ones... V brakes are terrible, especially combined with low pull road levers. A set of Campagnolo skeleton brakes have enough power to stop a train... we often have the opposite problem, the brakes are too good and lock the wheel if you are not gentle.
I run discs on my bike and I can't say they are better... of course if it's wet and the roads are filthy I am happy with my discs, but on a dry day... same power

neilo23

+1. Never had a problem with the stopping power of my Campagnolo brakes. Even in the wet they do the job.
You could always go for a cyclocross bike which will have your "V" brakes.

g00se

Just to add, recently, Campagnolo changed the brake options so that the rear went back to the single caliper configuration as using a dual-caliper like the front often lead to lockups inthe wet. Saying that, you have the option on single or dual at the rear now.





However, now the UCI have changed the rules allowing discs on road/cyclocross competions, you'll see a load more discs about - though they'll be a lot smaller that MTB discs to avoid lockups.

Pezski

I confess my experience is some years out of date. It wasn't so much the stopping power of callipers that I had a problem with, but the fact that I always found V's more 'user friendly' - ease of adjustment, wheel removal, not having a horrible tendency to work out of true).

I had assumed they's improved (otherwise why would they still be used so widely), but didn't know the details.

Thanks for your help everyone!

g00se

Just for info, modern calipers are just as adjustable as modern 'V's - they have grub screws in the side of the caliper to change sprint tension - no more malleting a screwdriver into the sping.... Also, as the dual-calipers have the pivot points away from the fork/frame mountings, so they don't have much of an effect on the mounting moving out of true.

They have quick release mechanisms which are less fiddly than v brake noodes. Most have quick release cams on the caliper's cable clamp which allow the arms to open a little further (Campagnolo have a quick release button on the brake levers).

billysan

This article raises some interesting points.

http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/02/14/roa ... they-work/

Forget the fact that the author was responsible for his misfortune in at least two seperate ways, his concerns do have some validity.

rake

this isnt a revelation to me. ive been banging on about why i dont want discs but people dont seem to listen and try to contradic everything. im glad ive seen this, shimano are saying all the things i pointed out. some think all a problem needs is a solution designing. in this case the solution isnt as efficient and i deem it no good for a full on race bike.i really hope this crap doesnt take off.

ddraver

See here - viewtopic.php?f=40020&t=12835775

Stop being so bloody miserable rake!