Cross bikes brakes

passout

If I buy a cross bike with cantis, can I swap them with regular set of road rim brakes - 57mm long drop brakes maybe? I guess not, but want do know my options.

Also considering discs but his might be a later upgrade.

Any generic advice on CX brakes welcomed. Non racing, more multi use bike including off road.

CarlosDSanchez

Depends weather your frame and fork have the holes to fit long drop brakes, I would of thought probably not. Same with discs, you will need a disc specific frame (rear wheel drop out spacing is wider than standard) I have seen forks with both disc mounts and canti mounts though.

spatt77

hi, I`ve got a cross bike and while canti`s work there not great! my advice is for what its worth is buy a disc model from the start, it`ll save any upgrading down the line! hope this helps

Monty Dog

Most CX frames have too much clearance to allow you to fit any caliper rim brake. Upgrading a CX bike designed for cantis to discs is nigh-on impossible - the frame and forks need to have disc brake tabs, and then you have the issue of replacing the rear wheel or hub due to different spacing - if you want discs, buy a bike designed for the purpose.

passout

CarlosDSanchez wrote:

Depends weather your frame and fork have the holes to fit long drop brakes, I would have thought probably not. Same with discs, you will need a disc specific frame (rear wheel drop out spacing is wider than standard) I have seen forks with both disc mounts and canti mounts though.

Yes, I should have said that one option is Planet X Uncle John which can take cantis or discs. As above though, I don't think that this is common place. The posts so far have confirmed what I suspected but I have limited experience of cross bikes so I wasn't sure.

Thanks all - very useful.

PS How would V brakes (thinking shimano xt) work on cross bikes - any good or too 'grabby'? Would they fit OK?

asprilla

I've got mini-vs on my CX bike and they are great. Not really sufficient clearance for real mucky stuff, but good for moderate tracks.

billreay

The Minimotos from www.paulcomp.com are designed for CX bikes with short pull levers. OK, they are expensive but are superbly engineered and well worth the money.

passout

Interesting stuff chaps - thanks.

APIII

Maybe have a look at the Trp 8.4's, which are a lot better than cantis. Not perfect, but much more powerful. Clearance has been good enough for cross racing this year too.

animal72

I swapped standard cantis for Onza HO's. pretty-much the best cantis ever made.

If you can find some, I'd do that...

cougie

My cantilevers are fine on my Uncle John. Ok they're not as powerful as the shimano dual pivots but they're probably too strong anyway.

asprilla

APIII wrote:

Maybe have a look at the Trp 8.4's, which are a lot better than cantis. Not perfect, but much more powerful. Clearance has been good enough for cross racing this year too.

That's what I've got. They didn't give me any trouble in the deep snow.

passout

Thanks one and all. TRP, and possibly the others, look like an option if I'm not happy with brakes as supplied on the bike. This has reassured me that I can buy a canti bike in the knowledge I have options.

Now I just need to finally choose the bike - must be a complete bike as its on cyclescheme - at least partially. Uncle John (cantis) or Kinesis Decade Tripster (disc only) are the hot favorites at the moment. Part of me likes the Kona Rove (disc) due to massive tyre clearance & APEX - just a bit too weighty though perhaps on the road & not cheap. All of these bikes allow 40mm tyres or bigger without guards and take guards for winter training purpose (with a change of tyres), which is what I'm after. The braking options is what confused me most.