brake question

Richard Goodman said:

I'm building up a bike for road use based on a mtb frame, drop bar STI levers. My brake options to
work with these levers seem to be 1) mtb V brakes & travel agent 2) mini-V's 3) Cantis. Anyone
have an opinion on which would be better and if so why?

Cantis are good, powerful, cheap, easy to adjust and work OK with normal road-style levers. V brakes
need special levers because they need more pull on the cable.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) jasmine.org.uk~simonOpen ↗

my other car is #<Subr-Car: #5d480> ;; This joke is not funny in emacs.

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Cantis are good, powerful, cheap, easy to adjust and work OK with normal road-style levers. V
brakes need special levers because they need more pull on the cable.

I know V's need more pull on the cable - that's what Travel Agent's are for - they are adaptors
that double the cable pull of drop levers. I understand, though, that 'mini V's' do work with
directly with drop levers. Hence my question - which of ordinary V's with Travel Agents, mini V's
and Cantis? I've heard that Cantis are more difficult to adjust than V's, although I wouldn't be
too concerned about that as I'm reasonably mechanically skilled, but don't necessarily want to make
work for myself. I've heard that V's with Travel Agents are a bit mushy, but I don't know. I'm
interested in the best combination of effectiveness and ease of maintenance/use. Anyone with
experience of all three?

Rich

"Richard Goodman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Cantis are good, powerful, cheap, easy to adjust and work OK with normal road-style levers. V
brakes need special levers because they need more pull on the cable.

I know V's need more pull on the cable - that's what Travel Agent's are for - they are adaptors
that double the cable pull of drop levers. I understand, though, that 'mini V's' do work with
directly with drop

levers.

Quoted message said:

Hence my question - which of ordinary V's with Travel Agents, mini V's and Cantis? I've heard that
Cantis are more difficult to adjust than V's, although I wouldn't be too concerned about that as
I'm reasonably mechanically skilled, but don't necessarily want to make work for myself.

I think I'm reasonably mechanically skilled, but I still hate adjusting my cantis - there's just too
many degrees of freedom.

In your situation I'd look at one of the modern canti designs which use V brake pads, eg Avid Shorty
or Tektro. There's less to adjust on these.

cheers, clive

"Richard Goodman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

"Simon Brooke" <[email hidden]> wrote in message

Quoted message said:

I know V's need more pull on the cable - that's what Travel Agent's are for - they are adaptors
that double the cable pull of drop levers. I understand, though, that 'mini V's' do work with
directly with drop

levers.

Quoted message said:

Hence my question - which of ordinary V's with Travel Agents, mini V's and Cantis? I've heard that
Cantis are more difficult to adjust than V's, although I wouldn't be too concerned about that as
I'm reasonably mechanically skilled, but don't necessarily want to make work for myself. I've
heard that V's with Travel Agents are a bit mushy, but I don't know. I'm interested in the best
combination of effectiveness and ease of maintenance/use. Anyone with experience of all three?

Rich

My tourer has cantis and compared to the Vs on my (flat barred) hybrid they are indeed a pain to set
up. However, it's far from impossible and they are very effective. Both bikes have pulled loaded
trailers and I'd say the Vs just shaded the "effectiveness" comparison, but only just. I have no
experience of travel agents or mini -Vs but would be wary as to what they compromised (maybe
nothing?). Of course, in 10 years of satisfied use I didn't realise my cantis were a pain to set up
until I used the Vs so don't be put off too much by this factor. I think its more a case of Vs being
extremely easy to set up. I haven't really been much help here, sorry! tony R.

Richard Goodman <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

I'm building up a bike for road use based on a mtb frame, drop bar STI levers. My brake options to
work with these levers seem to be 1) mtb V brakes & travel agent 2) mini-V's 3) Cantis. Anyone
have an opinion on which would be better and if so why?

Do you have hanger positions for Canti cables? If not..... At the front it is normal to use a
headset hanger, but you need to have space to put it, and preferably NOT immediately below the stem
(else the cable outer will have a sharp bend) At the back you can get hangers that hang off the
seatpost binder bolt - may be awkward to track down.