V vs Canti

[Mr Panda]

Good people of Retrobike - what am I to do?

Sitting in my kitchen is an Orange C16R frame (bought recently off here ) onto which I have placed a pair of light Mavics and lightweight tyres, LW bars and Orange SK8 stem, plus a set of really dodgy rigid forks (all I had in the cellar that would fit)

Plan is to use as commuter/general hack and as a spare bike for x/c work.

Question is this - should I fit V brakes, which I know well, or go into uncharted territory with cantis? ( I've had cantis long ago but never got the hang of setting them up right)

Not bothered about looks - just seeking opinions on v's or canti's - I have access to both.

cheers
Iain

PS - anyone got a 30mm seat post :roll:

 

[nporternz]

cantis on that frame mate!

 

[FluffyChicken]

Well V would be the obvious choice as they work well when setup poorly, i.e. just slapped on and clamped. I just fitted my first ever V brakes so found that out, but they are now tuned and work great. Setting up the blocks seems more fidly than it did with my cantis though.

Though I don't find them any more powerful than my old Canti setup of M900 cantis and m900 levers which I could setup well.

True it take more time and a bit of understanding of where the straddle should be for you and your levers. (i.e. few months of having fun playing around.

If you want to play go cantis. If you want fit and not bother too much go v brakes.

 

[velomaniac]

Never thought I'd say this but well set up canti's can perform almost as good as vee's. Fitted some cyclo-x style canti's to my Alpinestars and can stop seriously well, repeatedly without sponginess or fade over time. Fight with them, swear at them but keep trying they'll work eventually and will look right on the bike.

 

[silverclaws]

I have gone through this dilemma too, I was intending to seek out the XT V brake set up, because the parallelogram braking made a whole lot of sense to me, still does, but they are expensive and yes they don't look right on a bike originally fitted with cantis.

So, I am still with the cantis, but modified cantis. Modified in that I have ditched the M-system and gone for an adjustable straddle wire and cable hanger. Set with a low straddle wire, wow, the brakes are powerful, scarily powerful. My bike also came with brake boosters as well, those horseshoe shaped things, supposedly to stop the canti mounting studs flexing, maybe it is these things that are making the brakes more powerful than I remember with my old XT cantis, (current ones are Altus).

Something I am after, which to me will make cantis the dogs bollox, is the Dia-Compe straddle wire hangers, which are little pulleys designed to centre when the brake is actioned, so any buckle in the wheel is taken account of. That, and am going to try the Suntour XC pro self energising brakes on the rear, see how that does.

But, for a hack in traffic, and you want simplicity, v brakes are the way to go, if you are a tinkerer, go for cantis and devise something that suits your need.

Maybe an interesting point or not, but the little yobbos around here seem not so interested in bikes without any form of suspension, v braking or disc braking, hopefully, they will leave mine alone.

 

[tintin40]

Put V on. As you know them well. And plus canti's are a nightmare. Always were

 

[BarneyRubble]

I'd go for a V-s on a commuter, simply because they work better and when someone pulls out on you at a junction you'll need the stopping power!

I recently changed from lx cantis to xtr V's and they are 10x better and have saved my life already!

 

[mtbfix]

If it is not a 'catalogue' build I'd opt for Vs for ease of general life and better power.

 

[clockworkgazz]

If it is not a 'catalogue' build I'd opt for Vs for ease of general life and better power.

have to agree with the above but having said that just putting some suntour canti's on my new work bike so WTF do I know?

 

[barry2017]

Cantis are a fine technology, but Vs have less to them, which makes them easier to set up. But being able to set up cantis is a good skill, and if you're into retro bikes, it will be useful. Plus it means you can have fewer spares.
I found a really good article on setting up canti straddle wires, which I've lost now, but I'll post it up if I find it.