sjanzeir

I'm flying this up the BMX flagpole because these are primarily marketed to the BMX cohort.

Although stopping power is fine, the issue I'm having is flexy V-brake arms that result in somewhat poor feel and modulation at the lever. As you might expect, because of the longer cable and housing, the issue was more prominent in the rear brake than the front. Changing the spiral cable housing to a compressionless type helped a lot, but the problem is now more pronounced; the brake arms just bend more the harder I pull at the lever.

What I'm looking for is stiff brake arms that don't flex (as much) with harder braking. I'm no engineer, but it would seem to me that the design of the LDCs and the Speedlines goes a long way to minimize flex in the V-brake arms.

Given the price difference in favor of the LDC, I wonder what the Speedline has to offer over the LDC. Can those who have experience with either or both share their thoughts? Thanks in advance!

SkinGriz

Have you tried kool stop pads?

One way to reduce flex would be to use a stickier brake pad. Because you aren’t putting as much force in to get the same friction.

sjanzeir

I haven't tried Kool Stops, but I have considered ordering a set and seeing what happens. I'm just making sure that I'm covering all bases. My original question still stands.

Viich

Have you looked into a brake booster? Seatstays are often the tubes on a frame with the most flex, while no doubt the arms are flexing a little, frame flex might be contributing as well - that and cable/housing are pretty much why the rear would be worse than the front.

sjanzeir

Thanks. We've already covered brake boosters in the thread I linked to earlier and I had decided that it wasn't the kind of route that I wanted to go down. I've been able to solve the problem with a compressionless brake outer and Litepro brake arms out of China that are much stiffer than the factory Tektros. Though I'm perfectly happy with the way the rear brake performs and feels now, I am looking into the possibility of brand-name replacements from LDC, Bombshell, Bullseye, and Speedline.

sjanzeir

I tested some salmon City pads, both with the flexy original Tektro A310 brake arms as well as with the Avid SD7s and the smooth-pivoting, overpass girder-stiff Litepros, and I was far from impressed. The City salmons had this vague, rubbery feel to them that left me underwhelmed. I took them off after a day and put on a set of cheap Baradine brake blocks with replaceable pads (claimed by Aliexpress sellers to be made in Taiwan) that had a considerably more positive feel and modulation to them, and were far easier to install, align, and tow in to boot, so I'm sticking to those.