Why do cross bikes use cantilever brakes?

[big Pete]

Hi all,

I was just wondering why cross bikes use cantilever brakes. Can one upgrade to v brakes. Is it something to do with the Shimano brake leaver? If Campy leavers were used would v brakes be possible? I have been looking at bikes with Shimano groups.

Thanks

Pete

 

[James Scott]

big Pete wrote:

> I was just wondering why cross bikes use cantilever brakes.

As opposed to caliper brakes? Mud clearance and tradition, but mostly
mud clearance. As opposed to v-brakes? Read on.

> Can one
> upgrade to v brakes. Is it something to do with the Shimano brake
> leaver? If Campy leavers were used would v brakes be possible?

Conventional road levers (ie, all those except the Dia-Compe 287V) have
too-high mechanical advantage for use with v-brakes. Thus drop-bar bikes
with canti studs use traditional, center-pull cantis. If I write
anything further I'd just be parroting Sheldon Brown's page on the
subject, and poorly. See http://www.sheldonbrown.com/canti-direct.html.

FWIW I have a bike with Ergo levers and Avid Shorty cantis and I like
the setup.

JLS

 

[Fintone]

"James Scott" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> big Pete wrote:
>
>> I was just wondering why cross bikes use cantilever brakes.

> anything further I'd just be parroting Sheldon Brown's page on the
> subject, and poorly. See http://www.sheldonbrown.com/canti-direct.html.
>
> FWIW I have a bike with Ergo levers and Avid Shorty cantis and I like the
> setup.

I tried cantis on my cyclocross bike but they absolutley sucked here in the
Indiana snow. Granted both pairs of cantis I tried were older models,
Dia-Compe and Mafac however, when I switched to Shimano LX V brakes
(Sheldon, being a true gentleman, would call them "direct pull cantelever
brakes") with the Travel Agent I got drastically better braking.

That is my story and I'm sticking with it!


Dave YMMV Reckoning

 

[Ron Abramson]

On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 12:24:29 -0500, James Scott wrote:

> big Pete wrote:
>
>> I was just wondering why cross bikes use cantilever brakes.
>
> As opposed to caliper brakes? Mud clearance and tradition, but mostly
> mud clearance. As opposed to v-brakes? Read on.
>
>> Can one
>> upgrade to v brakes. Is it something to do with the Shimano brake
>> leaver? If Campy leavers were used would v brakes be possible?
>
> Conventional road levers (ie, all those except the Dia-Compe 287V) have
> too-high mechanical advantage for use with v-brakes. Thus drop-bar bikes
> with canti studs use traditional, center-pull cantis. If I write
> anything further I'd just be parroting Sheldon Brown's page on the
> subject, and poorly. See http://www.sheldonbrown.com/canti-direct.html.
>
> FWIW I have a bike with Ergo levers and Avid Shorty cantis and I like
> the setup.
>
> JLS

Sheldon also points out that there are direct pull brakes with shorter
arms that will work with ordinary road levers. There are some BMX
versions like this, and I've also seen where people have just chopped MTB
vee brake arms and redrilled/retapped the bolt holes for the cable
attachment hardware. You get cleaner cable routing and arguably more
braking power, but at the cost of less clearance of the cable over the top
of the tire. I have a set of BMX vees on a cross bike and they have
worked fine for me.

 

[A Muzi]

big Pete wrote:
> I was just wondering why cross bikes use cantilever brakes. Can one
> upgrade to v brakes. Is it something to do with the Shimano brake
> leaver? If Campy leavers were used would v brakes be possible? I have
> been looking at bikes with Shimano groups.

Well, you could but I wouldn't call it an upgrade.

Cantilevers offer greater running clearance and the ability
to change the leverage slightly by varying the transverse
length ( or the Link Wire length). And they work right out
of the box with normal road levers.

If you're hellbent on linear style brakes, a host of
workarounds exist, the simplest being a compound pulley to
replace your noodle which changes the cable travel.

If you do choose cantilevers and if you run traditional
transverse wires with a cable carrier, do ensure there's a
light bracket or a reflector carrier under the transverse
wire so it absolutely cannot snag in the tread, no matter what.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971