rydabent

With the advent of disc brakes this question becomes moot. It is like asking if white or brown horses pull the wagon better.

Steel Charlie

I don't remember any centerpull or cantilevers fondly. I replace canti's without hesitation and have been doing so since linears came into being. Just yesterday I put a set of mini-V's on the Fantom Cross. Works for me.

Eric F 

Not really. The existence of disc brakes has not eliminated the existence of other types of brakes.

big john

He's making the point that if you use your brakes correctly you won't go "flying over the bars".

cyccommute 

Sorry but no. “Linear” brakes are called that because the cable pulls linearly across the brake arms instead of vertically like almost all other cable actuated brakes. Shimano made some brakes that moved kept the pads oriented in the same plane as the rim but those never caught one. Likely because they were too flexible and squealed horribly.

cxwrench

Wrong.

big john

I've had vee brakes on a mountain bike and 2 of my ex's mountain bikes. Even the cheaper ones can work pretty well with good pads, as long as they aren't those super flexy things. Seems to me the OP should be able to get them working acceptably with good pads and careful set-up. If not, better vee brakes are relatively cheap. Probably even used stuff out there.

rydabent

Give them time.

Eric F 

Hmmm...It's been 40+ years since single-pivot caliper brakes were current technology on new bicycles. Yet, they are still in existence, and are still used on many thousands of bikes. Other brake types (besides discs) will still exist long after both of us are gone.

Lombard

I believe this fear is based on either bad experiences as a kid riding a bike and going over the bars or just never learning how to apply brakes correctly. It's like anything else, you have to learn. But many people are still inherently fearful of their front brake regardless of brake type.

50PlusCycling

V-brakes offer more power and better modulation over center-pull/cantilever brakes, and also contain fewer parts. V-brakes do require more frequent adjustment, which takes no time once you get used to them. Higher quality v-brakes offer light lever pressure, and great stopping power with only one or two fingers.

The only adjustments required are the tension screws, which maintain the pad gap and equalize the levers, and occasional cable adjustments as the pads wear. Good levers and cables make the brakes themselves work better.

cxwrench

And you have to adjust pad position as they wear helically. They don't wear flat unless you have XTR/XT brakes w/ the linkage.

HelpSingularity 

I bet there were still millions of bikes with centerpulls being rode and/or being sold (for a song) that were totally serviceable. I admit this far into the 21st century those bikes are a little more rare, but I still see them on craigslist everyday. Of course on new bikes they have been extinct for 30 plus years.

Rolla

Except it isn't moot at all. The "advent" was about 1992, when the first mass-produced mountain bike with disc brakes was introduced. Thirty years later, we still have coaster brakes, cantilever brakes, U-brakes, hydraulic rim brakes, V-brakes, and caliper brakes, and bikes that use these brakes continue to be produced by the thousands.

We have.

mstateglfr 

Good lord, an obvious throw away joking post gets this much pushback. Classic Bikeforums.
Of course there were a bunch of bikes with centerpull brakes being ridden in the 90s.
But no, that wasn't a popular style of brake in the 90s.

Cantilever brakes? Popularly used.
Side pull? Popularly used.
Vbrake? Popularly used.

Centerpulls were not the standard in the 90s, contrary to the OP'S comment and your response.

HelpSingularity 

Sorry about that, that did go swoosh right over my head. I should have said used bikes in my response. You are absolutely correct that centerpulls were not standard in the nineties. I only commented because I see sometimes that younger people might have a skewed sense of history and I just wanted to clear that up a little. Being a geezer I tend to do that sometimes. Again my apologies.

walterbyrd

I am just saying: you only need so much stopping power. Center pull brakes seemed to give me all the stopping power I needed, without the headache of V-brakes.

walterbyrd

Yes, but these brakes seem to need to be re-adjusted if I look at the wrong. I never had that issue with center-pull brakes.

cyccommute 

We still aren’t sure if you are talking about center pull brakes or cantilever brakes. If you want cantilevers on your current bike, it’s not impossible to swap them. You’ll need short pull levers, a way to hang the cables on the front and rear, and the brakes. Alternatively, I’d suggest just replacing the current crappy brakes with better ones. You can find Avid Single Digits for cheap on Ebay or buy TRP new ones for about $25 per pair. It’d be cheaper to go that route.

walterbyrd

> The only adjustments required are the tension screws

I have found that adjustment to be tricky. If it is not done exactly right, the brakes will not center correctly after releasing, and one pad will rub against the rim. That is a problem that I did not have, even with the cheapest center-pull brakes.

With center-pull, there is one spring pulling the pads apart. No need to synchronize two separate spring tensions, and get each one pulling with just the right amount of tension.

With my V-brakes, even after getting the spring tension adjusted for both springs, it seems to go out of adjustment very easily. Sometimes, for no apparent reason at all.

Perfectly adjusted V-brakes my provide better stopping power. But they seem to be a constant headache to keep adjusted, and really, there is only so much stopping power you need.

walterbyrd

You may be right. But it seems to me that disc brakes do not have every advantage. Disc brakes are more expensive, heavier, and - I would think - more difficult to adjust and maintain.

If you frequently ride in wet conditions, I would think that disc brakes would be worth it. Otherwise, I'm not so sure.

walterbyrd

I should have mentioned, back in the early 1990s, I rode the racer type street bikes, not MTBs. I did not ride especially expensive bikes, one was a department store bike, the other was a lower-end Schwinn. I never did an in-depth study of what types of brakes bicycles used back then, but when I was bike shopping, the center-pull brakes seemed to be standard.

70sSanO

Except the 7's. I think SRAM discontinued them after the recall. Good brakes. The 5's are decent, but I never liked the 3's, which are the cheap ones on eBay.

I guess the T4000 is Shimano only offering. Not sure how they compare.

John

big john

Disc brakes may not be needed for a lot of road riders but they are not a hassle to me. I've had them on 2 mountain bikes since 1998.
Like other types of brakes, you get what you pay for.

RCMoeur 

Aha! Mud-collection devices that also double as speed reducers.