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V-brakes vs. Cantilevers

Old 04-01-19, 07:58 AM
  #151  
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It's time to not stop.
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Old 04-11-19, 06:07 PM
  #152  
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Some time ago I've bookmarked this thread. Glad to see it's still going strong! I'm posting this 3 days past its birthday, which is actually a few months before mine. This is awesome.
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Old 04-16-19, 10:28 PM
  #153  
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If this thread were a person it would have graduated high school last year.
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Old 04-21-19, 06:53 PM
  #154  
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Still relevant info!
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Old 05-26-20, 05:08 PM
  #155  
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I want to be a small part of this long running thread -- its 20th birthday was last month.

Now on to the topic "at hand". Last year, our son replaced the Tektro Oryx cantilever brakes on his (older) Surly Long Haul Trucker with V brakes. He says the V brakes are far easier to adjust and work better than the stock Tektros. So there's that.

On the other hand . . . maybe cantis aren't that hard to adjust. Yes, for years, I had heard that adjusting cantilever brakes was difficult, so I avoided the job. Recently, the cantilever brakes on my old Trek 720 were squealing (they weren't toed in enough), and I was going to bring the bike in for adjustment, until my son pointed me to this Park Tool video (described by one commenter as the "Citizen Kane of cantilever smooth post videos"):

After watching the video, I was able to fix the toe-in problem with my cantis! Thanks, Park Tool! Maybe it's just a question of good instruction.

Maybe somebody else can celebrate this thread's 21st birthday next April.
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Old 05-26-20, 06:54 PM
  #156  
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Originally Posted by OldZephyr
I want to be a small part of this long running thread -- its 20th birthday was last month.

Now on to the topic "at hand". Last year, our son replaced the Tektro Oryx cantilever brakes on his (older) Surly Long Haul Trucker with V brakes. He says the V brakes are far easier to adjust and work better than the stock Tektros. So there's that.

On the other hand . . . maybe cantis aren't that hard to adjust. Yes, for years, I had heard that adjusting cantilever brakes was difficult, so I avoided the job. Recently, the cantilever brakes on my old Trek 720 were squealing (they weren't toed in enough), and I was going to bring the bike in for adjustment, until my son pointed me to this Park Tool video (described by one commenter as the "Citizen Kane of cantilever smooth post videos"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_tDym0G6zo

After watching the video, I was able to fix the toe-in problem with my cantis! Thanks, Park Tool! Maybe it's just a question of good instruction.

Maybe somebody else can celebrate this thread's 21st birthday next April.
Calvin Jones does awesome diy demos.
I switched to mini-v brakes on my touring bike. With 21st century braking tech and power, I just couldn't get used to canti brakes anymore.
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Old 05-29-20, 09:15 PM
  #157  
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Originally Posted by qclabrat
Calvin Jones does awesome diy demos.
I switched to mini-v brakes on my touring bike. With 21st century braking tech and power, I just couldn't get used to canti brakes anymore.
Care to share a pic or two of your setup? Curious if, and what, v-brakes can accommodate narrow post width.
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Old 05-29-20, 09:17 PM
  #158  
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Originally Posted by Barrettscv
I'm going to contact Paul. These and the touring Cantilevers look promising.
Guess this is kind of old, but did you ever hear back from Paul re: whether Motolites can replace narrow-post cantis?
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Old 05-30-20, 06:04 AM
  #159  
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Originally Posted by ctak
Guess this is kind of old, but did you ever hear back from Paul re: whether Motolites can replace narrow-post cantis?
Sorry, all I can remember about cantilevers on my two vintage bikes that have cantilever brakes is that one needed a new semi custom fork and the other project was never completed. For some reason, older touring and cyclocross bikes had cantilever posts that were installed with very narrow center distances of 55mm. More recent bikes with cantilevers have much wider post centers. I never did find brakesets with the right geometry for older steel bikes. I literally had a fork built with modern post center distances so that I could use a modern cantilever brakeset.
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Old 05-30-20, 08:13 AM
  #160  
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Originally Posted by ctak
Care to share a pic or two of your setup? Curious if, and what, v-brakes can accommodate narrow post width.
I got these TRP miniVs after reading about them on a bike touring forum somewhere. Too lazy to pull down the bike at the moment, but here's the fork. The pivot positions are pretty spot on. Like I've said plenty of power with these rims. Also remember rim quality also makes a difference. For cheap rime, consider Alex Adventure 2s. They perform nearly as well as my cliffhangers and TK540s for a fraction of cost. I'll snap more this weekend if you need better angles or close ups
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Old 05-30-20, 02:06 PM
  #161  
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Originally Posted by qclabrat
I got these TRP miniVs after reading about them on a bike touring forum somewhere. Too lazy to pull down the bike at the moment, but here's the fork. The pivot positions are pretty spot on. Like I've said plenty of power with these rims. Also remember rim quality also makes a difference. For cheap rime, consider Alex Adventure 2s. They perform nearly as well as my cliffhangers and TK540s for a fraction of cost. I'll snap more this weekend if you need better angles or close ups
Thanks, I'd love to know the post width (center to center) measurement for front and rear if you don't mind... My Pro Tour's fork posts are rather narrow at 58mm apart (69 in the rear), as with many 80s touring machines. Might splurge for Motolites
https://www.pedalroom.com/bike/cinel...ork-sscx-34291


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Old 05-30-20, 08:11 PM
  #162  
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Originally Posted by ctak
Thanks, I'd love to know the post width (center to center) measurement for front and rear if you don't mind... My Pro Tour's fork posts are rather narrow at 58mm apart (69 in the rear), as with many 80s touring machines. Might splurge for Motolites
https://www.pedalroom.com/bike/cinel...ork-sscx-34291

They are pretty wide, have even used 48mm tires. Though currently have 42mm Vittorias now. I'll try to measure tomorrow
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