V brake / Canti Lever

[whutn18885]

Hi All

I am trying to get my Dyna-Tech bike back up and running, It came with Canti brakes which are 'ok' but not great - Even after testing with both SwissStop Rat and KoolStop Eagle 2 pads I find that the wet weather performance is bordering on dangerous.

Given the fact that I am a big chap (6" / 90kg) I was keen to try and improve on this situation. I have some new XT V brakes that I want to try, I am aware that direct pull brakes (V Brakes) have a different cable pull ratio and ideally you need to use either travel agents or dedicated V levers but I have neither. I don't like the travel agents (look fugly) and the levers are combined with the shifter so I cannot swap them over.

Given the above anyone out there have any experience of using 'V' brakes with canti brake levers - I have been informed elsewhere that by setting the pads to be close to the rim then they can actually work quite well ? I have big hands and like having my lever reach to be far out anyway so a long lever throw would actually suit me better

Thoughts ? Is it in anyway dangerous to run this setup (i.e forks designed for Canti ok for v brake etc).

Thanks

 

[The History Man]

Or mini v brakes? Require less pull and work with canti levers

 

[whutn18885]

Cheers - Did might look into that, I have the XT 'V' brakes just lying around tho so if I can avoid buying more bits would be good.

 

[hairybiker]

Always had Shimano Canti brakes on my 96 GT and never felt that they were underpowered. Just need to set them up to use as little pull as possible with good pads and they are OK. I used to be an 18 stone rider at one point so I know they work LOL

 

[Pyro Tim]

get the M739 brifters. Shifters and v brake levers combined. They won't work with canti levers.

I'm about the same size as you, and have no issue with cantis though

 

[dirttorpedo]

I ran first generation Shimano XT v-brakes with canti levers accidentally BITD and it was a disaster. If you don't want to upgrade your lever/shifter combination, get the travel agents. Sure they look fugly, but if you use them you will actually experience the benefits of switching to v-brakes. Otherwise keep the cantis - they will perform about the same.

 

[Silvergoat]

Re:

Sadly, I had to retire my faithfull Dia Compe 986 cantis to the crate of museum pieces. These worked fantastic for several decades, but required three hands and some cursing to get set up correctly. I got two pairs of Avid Single Digit 5s. These were fully installed on the bike in well under 10 mins out the box. The stopping power is immense. After high mileage commuting, I've wigged the original pads and have now replaced them with the 70mm long Aztec V-grippers. Just awesome. I'm running the Avids with original Dia Compe SS7 levers from BITD. Might get round to fitting some travel agents but so far, so good. Recommend the Avid Single Digit 5s. They're a 5 star bargain at £9.99 a pair from Chain Reaction too. Might get a second batch...

 

[xerxes]

Re:

Or mini v brakes? Require less pull and work with canti levers

I've seen those, I think they're primarily designed for cyclo cross bikes with drop bars. They might work, but I wonder how much space you'd have with fatter MTB tyres, or if you want to fit mudguards. :?

I have V-brakes on two bikes and they're great, loads of stopping power and an absolute doddle to set up. I previously had a set of old style "sticky outy" cantilever brakes and they were OK stopping power-wise, but it took a lot more faffing to get them "just right".

 

[drcarlos]

Some Canti's take an awful lot of setting up to get them working well and it's probably down to setup more than pad choice that's killing the power. You can even find that the same canti on a different frame can be an utter twat to set up. Take my Suntour SE rear cantis. These take about 10 minutes to get working well on the wishbone rear end of the Muddyfox prestige comp. Same brake on my Raleigh Team takes upwards of an hour with a different pad, angle cable length and pad spacing to the fox frame. If you don't do this at every pad change they are hopeless, get it right and they are progressive and very powerful (enough to stop a 14 stone man and 30kg's in the panniers from 50 mph).

Carl.

 

[cce]

v brakes with canti levers = nothing,nothing,nothing,OVERTHEBARS!