V-brakes vs. cantilevers

[Ziggy]

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/canti-trad.html

When set up properly, a decent set of cantis with decent pads are quite capable of decent power. V-brakes are just (much!) easier to get power out of! Hence cantis on my 'nice' retro bike & v-brakes on the SS (adjustment? it doesn't even get cleaned!)

 

[Neil]

I did all of my off-roading using cantis, and they were always powerful enough then.

As people have said, V-brakes are easy to get setup to perform well, but I've not been amazed with the difference (it's only been in the last year that my 95 DB Apex has sported a front V-brake), if noticed any obvious difference at all.

Cantis setup well, stop good. But V-brakes need different brake levers, but have the advantage of not needing any cable hangers - and providing better clearance for the tyres.

 

[MagD]

Velo - I remember this ride!!

I didn't crash only came to a stop with cranks level and on the earth in a two foot deep 4x4 trail with the canti actually pulled under the rim towards to spokes......

Hence purchase of LX'99 V's and a set of spds etc to get free postage being the tight git I was BITD.... unliek now of course ;-)

 

[velomaniac]

Sorry magnus , old age makes events blur into each other.

You were not at all happy with your brakes though, thats for sure !

 

[Jones]

Cantis set up properly are very good, the trouble is cantis set up even a little bit out can be VERY bad :shock:

I can lock up the XTR cantis on my Kilauea in an instant

 

[Neil]

Cantis set up properly are very good, the trouble is cantis set up even a little bit out can be VERY bad :shock:

I can lock up the XTR cantis on my Kilauea in an instant

That's the myth, though, about Vs ain't it - that they're inherently more powerful.

There are differences in mechanical advantage - true enough - but that's kinda evened up with the levers. It's the setup and simplicity that's the difference.

As you say / suggest, Vs are easy to setup and perform well. Cantis take a bit more experience / skill / nous.

 

[theboy]

V Brakes are much more powerful than Canti's as discs are more powerful than V's-it's called progress!

agreed, and magnetic brakes will be even better!

I get lulled into this sense that canti's and u-brakes aren't that bad really when I've been riding the Karakoram a lot.

Then I get on the Orange with V's and I realise I've been a poor deluded fool!

and, as above, you then go from cantis, to V's, to discs and you wonder how the hell you ever rode without them (well, I do)

 

[madjh]

Give me one pair of avid trialign 2 and I´ll give you all the V-brakes.

 

[dyna-ti]

A mechanic i know has suntour superb xc pro canti'swith a ti Odyssey Straddle Rod thingy ,they really suit his original polished P7,and he swears there as good as v's
I also remember when v's first came on the scene,the local bike oldies called them 'rim crushers'

 

[messiah]

Give me one pair of avid trialign 2 and I´ll give you all the V-brakes.

I swapped Avid Ultimate Black-Ops V's for Avid Tri-Align Canti's on my Lloyd.

The Ultimates with XTR levers are the best V's I have ever used, and yet the Tri-Aligns with Real levers are almost as good. In the dry they feel as good and only in the wet do they feel any different, which could just be the compound.

The Tri-Aligns also look much better