Lets talk brakes..

[davidj]

What happened to parallel push V Brakes? These were the future 15 years ago, but today it appears to me that no one makes them.

Rim brakes in general appear to be obsolete for all but road bikes. As far as I can see all front suspension for 2015 are disk only.

I don`t buckle wheels, I don`t race in conditions that wear away my rims in a matter of months. Rim brakes have brought me to a halt for over 40 years for the nominal cost of blocks and cables.

Is it a case of the industry developing a product that for most is unnecessary but increases cost to the end user regardless?

I am toyng with building my first disk brake bike, obviously it will be a Coyote from around 2000 but I am struggling with the notion that I am conforming to fashion!

 

[02gf74]

60 years ago the same was said about car drum brakes..... but any car you can buy today will have disc up front and very likely at the rear too.

Do not lament the passing of v brakes, parallel bushing, or otherwise. I am convinced disc brakes are an improvement.

 

[Fatal Swan]

You're not the only one by any means.

I'm not most retro of retrobikers but I really don't see the weakness of V-brakes that means that no decent manufacturer is capable of putting bosses on forks any more. A couple of months back I took the plunge with cable discs when I had the chance of getting a nice set of disc wheels pretty cheap. The setup was XTR levers, Avid BB7s, a quality compressionless cable outers - about as good as it's supposed to get for cable discs. Even aware that they probably wouldn't be at the same level as a hydro setup, after hours of fitting, adjusting pad clearance, bedding in, truing discs etc, I was completely disappointed. 2 different pairs of brand new discs seemed to need constant truing with no more use than a test ride or two round the block, and the tolerances in the pad clearance seemed so marginal that they would just need constant readjustment to get a setup that was barely usable, let alone anything better. Personally I couldn't get the performance close to matching the level of XT/XTR V's or the higher end Avids, before even considering the amount of fiddling that would be required to do it compared to setting up V-brakes. And to boot, the whole set up was a fair bit heavier, with some of that carried in the rotating weight.

I would be happy enough just to continue bucking the trend with V-brakes on my bikes while there are plenty of decent quality second hand ones around in good condition (and even cheap ones work fine) but the fork manufacturers are the killer as the decent ones that still have bosses are far harder to come by in the second hand market as their lifespan is limited.

 

[greencat]

Re:

Yep, I've recently taken a step backwards (!) to v-brakes and rigid forks.

I can get front disc brakes set up no problem. My rear? Not even my local bike shop can get it set up so that it's not catching/producing horrible sounds after about 100 miles or so. I don't need that kind of hassle from a brake - even with the incredible power on offer. Least not when I can set up or adjust a v-brake in about five minutes.

The rigid titanium forks came with my latest second hand bike. I thought I'd be quickly trading them for suspension - but frankly I prefer them, and I'm putting in faster times with v-brakes/rigid than I was with suspension/discs.

I can see myself eventually going back to a disc on the front, perhaps with suspension, and a v-brake on the back though. Perhaps as the weather deteriorates later in the year.

 

[jono63]

If you don't ride in wet and muddy conditions disc brakes are a waste of time unless you want to be trendy. They merely add weight and complication.

A good engineering shop should be able to weld on some bosses to whichever forks you have, suspension or otherwise.

Despite what all the magazines tell you it isn't rocket science!

 

[davidj]

60 years ago the same was said about car drum brakes..... but any car you can buy today will have disc up front and very likely at the rear too.

Do not lament the passing of v brakes, parallel bushing, or otherwise. I am convinced disc brakes are an improvement.

I take your point but car performance has increased leaps and bounds. Whereas humans are effectively stagnant on performance improvements.

The fastest cyclists, over distance, on the planet do not use disk brakes!

 

[syncrosfan]

"A good engineering shop should be able to weld on some bosses to whichever forks you have, suspension or otherwise."
I'm afraid that's a non-option with 99% of modern forks since the lowers are made from one big cast magnesium piece (I might be wrong but I highly doubt you can weld on cast magnesium). A clamp-on solution like Pace have for their rigid forks could work (pending the section in the clamping area is round, many modern forks tend to make funky shapes in the lowers area where the arch connects, making it but impossible to even do a clamping solution, a friend of mine tried to do this with a set of Manitou Blacks and gave up).
The other problem is: it's getting harder and harder to find nice quality NOS rims for rim-brakes in the 26" variety (they don't even make 29" or 27'5" rims in rim brake versions, disc-only). Basically if you want to go rim-brake you have to go retro (which isn't necessarily a bad thing).

 

[kyle888]

Re:

After laying my hands on a virtually nos set of deore disc hubbed mavic d521's i made the decision to 'upgrade' to discs as i didnt want to put any wear on the rims.

I was using parallel push xt v's and have changed to a bb7 disc setup.
Yes they are more fiddly to set up but the performance of the discs (203mm front) is alot better than v's!!

This is coming from someone who has championed v's in the face of criticism from modern bike riding friends.
I am now a convert!

Kyle

 

[02gf74]

I take your point but car performance has increased leaps and bounds. Whereas humans are effectively stagnant on performance improvements.

The fastest cyclists, over distance, on the planet do not use disk brakes!

Really? Ill bet todays tdf rider will leave any of those that took part in tdf 60 years ago way behind. Better nutrituon and training, not to mention drugs, ensures that.

Some of the fastest cyclists are the downhill racers, cant see them going back to v brakes.

Re fastest cyclists over distance, the reason why you dont see disc brakes on tdf bikes is because they are banned by the uci - just googled that so it must be true. Partial ban to be lifted sept this year so lets wait and see.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2015/04/ ... ust_366590

 

[02gf74]

If you don't ride in wet and muddy conditions disc brakes are a waste of time unless you want to be trendy. They merely add weight and complication.

!

Id be interested to see weight comparison. I expect disc brakes to come a bit heavier but less than what one may expect, dont forget that the rim not having sidewalls will be lighter. Discs move rotating weight inwards and will lower c of g, all of which is good (on paper anyway, in practice is probably diddly squat)

The added complication is bleeding those that need syringes, other than that it is easy peasy.