Most powerful brakes for Summer riding

[Mike Muz]

Would hydraulic bakes theoretically be more powerful than V or cantis ? Never tried but I would assume it takes less lever pressure to slow down using hydraulics .

basically yes, regardless of conditions modern hydraulic disc brakes are significantly more powerful than any cable brake, V,canti, rollercam or whatever.

In that statement , I mean comparing mechanical rim brakes , cantis and V-brakes , with hydraulic rim brakes , like Maguras .

 

[Splatter Paint]

Assuming 'summer' means not rain ( :roll: ) then most mid-range and up brakes of any variety are ok in my own experience. The only really poor brakes I've used are 300lx Shimano cantis which are awful. Out of preference I'd go for XT discs, XT v-brakes & XT cantis in that order. I have used Suntour X-1 cantis and they were surprisingly good.

This all is based on riding in fairly tame terrain. Big hills and extreme riding necessitates some serious brakes. On the South Downs way my XT disc brakes with sintered pads and 160mm discs were beginning to fade. As per the other posts, bigger rotors to dissipate heat and pads with heat sinks would hopefully improve things. In real terms even the best brakes are cheap in comparison to dentistry and facial reconstruction!

SP

 

[Woz]

My understanding is this.........if weight were that critical, I'd probably look to lose the weight from the porky pie eating bastard in the saddle rather than downgrade the performance of my stoppers.

That's just the wrong way to go about things. You can have your cake and eat it with Crossmax ceramic rims. :facepalm:

 

[redfern1950s]

Ive always used 'scott pederson' self energizers with koolstop pads on the rear, correctly set up, they are fantastic, the forward moving action as they pull in towards the rim is like no other cantilever brake.
On the front i use 'avid' tri align cantilevers, again with koolstop pads, if i put my weight back and pull on the lever, it will skid on the front wheel..
The koolstop pads i use, have the stud off set, i reverse the positioning. they work so much better.
Ive used this set up for years, in all weathers and conditions..
Back in the early 90's, the bike shop i worked for got hold of an early set of 'suspenders' upside down forks, these came supplied with a rear 'bullseye' hub with a special fitment to take a fully floating 9" disk. and was hydrolic, but used a cable so as to use a standard lever.
I used these forks for 2 weeks, the fork was brilliant, but the disk gave me no feedback to the lever....
Straight back to cantilevers for me...., but thats just me...

Plus side to V or cantilevers, they will always be able to be fixed, no matter where you are in the world...

Happy trails

 

[OldFatTi]

In my experience, in the dry, Ceramic rims and decent V-brakes are as good as decent discs in use. More than powerful enough in any situation on our beloved, yet tame South Downs. The ceramic rims really make a difference to power and fade resistance. I prefer that set up over discs for summer. Never had a single problem, whereas on hydro discs I have over heated the fluid and popped a seal leaving me with no rear brake...

 

[patineto]

I have Rim & Disc brake on my tandem and I trust the rim brakes more than I do the disc..

Yes the fork needs to be that massive if not I'm sure it will bend under load when the two brakes are aplyed at ones..

 

[dirttorpedo]

I'm not a technical guy, but I've ridden u-brakes, cantis, v-brakes, mechanical discs and hydraulic discs all in the mountainous and rainy west coast of Canada in all weather. Based on my riding I'd rank the systems in order of effectiveness as follows:

1. hydraulic disc
2. mechanical disc
3. v-brakes
4. canti brakes
5. u-brakes

I've never road a roller cam equiped bike in anger so can't comment on them. I've given up on hydros because I find them a pain in the ass to work on and I don't ride the steeps much anymore. I've got mechanical discs on my commuter and they always work when I need them. I suspect my issues with canti's may have been related to set up - I could never get them to work as well as the shop. I'm trying an experiment using canti's on my Zaskar so we'll see if it was me or the brakes.

 

[Woz]

I have Rim & Disc brake on my tandem and I trust the rim brakes more than I do the disc..

Yes the fork needs to be that massive if not I'm sure it will bend under load when the two brakes are aplyed at ones..

Just curious, how is that lot actuated?

Does the front v-brake work with a double cable lever and do a rear V-brake at the same time?

Or is it something radical where the stoker get's a front brake lever too :!: :?: :idea: :?

 

[patineto]

I have Rim & Disc brake on my tandem and I trust the rim brakes more than I do the disc..

Yes the fork needs to be that massive if not I'm sure it will bend under load when the two brakes are aplyed at ones..

Just curious, how is that lot actuated?

Does the front v-brake work with a double cable lever and do a rear V-brake at the same time?

Or is it something radical where the stoker get's a front brake lever too :!: :?: :idea: :?

They work independent of each other.

But also you can used them all at ones.

 

[Woz]

That's a pretty nifty set-up; never seen it before.