I appreciate your thoughts, Jeremy. I actually find it MUCH more satisfying to hear that there is an inherent flaw or downside to the Tektro brake rather than there being an issue with how I have it set up.
I'm going to stick with them, refresh cables and housing, and probably grab some Yokozuna pads. Thanks! On Monday, December 20, 2021 at 12:00:06 PM UTC-6 Jeremy Till wrote: > Unfortunately the VO Grand Cru brakes are 47-57mm reach and the sidepull > Sams were designed for 55-76mm reach brakes. The nomenclature gets > confusing because for a while the former was the spec for "long reach" > caliper brakes, until the latter came along. Following Paul Components, who > used to make versions of the Racer brake for both reach specifications, I > usually refer to 47-57mm brakes as "medium" or "mid reach" and 55-76mm as > "long reach" now, but I'm sure that's not universal across the industry. > > As others have noted, in 55-76mm reach the options are very limited, with > the longer-reach Paul Racer (distinguished from the mid-reach Racer M) > being the usual upgrade if Tektros aren't cutting it. Unfortunately, the > longer-reach Racers are now out of production so you're looking for used or > NOS ones. I think Dia-Compe also makes some centerpull options but I'm > skeptical if they would be an upgrade over Tektros. > > Personally, as much as I respect Grant, my feeling is that 47-57mm is > pretty much the reach limit for center-mount caliper brakes; anything > longer than that and you're really battling flex in the long arms, and > would be better off going to cantilevers or brazed-on long reach > centerpulls like the Rene Herse or Grand Bois MAFAC clones. > > -Jeremy Till > Sacramento, CA > > On Monday, December 20, 2021 at 8:24:37 AM UTC-8 bjmi...@gmail.com wrote: > >> Ryan, >> Thanks for that...if Jan likes them, I'm sure I would, too. His one >> gripe, though, is that they don't open up wide enough to clear a 31mm tire. >> I take off my front wheel to transport my bike to trails...I guess I could >> just deflate/inflate when I do that. I'll give it some thought. >> >> Thanks again, >> Ben >> >> On Monday, December 20, 2021 at 10:11:32 AM UTC-6 Ryan wrote: >> >>> VO Grand Cru brakes are good. Jan Heine reviewed them very favorably >>> here. Not dead cheap but they're good looking and they work well. I >>> replaced some Super Record brakes with these paired with TRP RRL's and I >>> have no complaints. >>> >>> >>> https://www.renehersecycles.com/product-test-velo-orange-grand-cru-brakes/ >>> >>> >>> I >>> >>> On Monday, December 20, 2021 at 9:24:34 AM UTC-6 Shoji Takahashi wrote: >>> >>>> Hi Ben, >>>> For rim brakes, it's hard to beat the power of V-brakes. >>>> >>>> Side-pull R559 is at a further disadvantage because of the arm length. >>>> They worked ok on my AHH, but I changed to Paul centerpulls, which seem to >>>> have more power. I recall reading that VO's Grand Cru brakes work well-- >>>> perhaps because they're beefier than R559. >>>> >>>> (Also consider the brake pads. Riv seems to like the "ebike" Kool Stop >>>> pad.) >>>> >>>> Good luck! >>>> shoji >>>> Arlington MA >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Monday, December 20, 2021 at 10:02:43 AM UTC-5 bjmi...@gmail.com >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Good morning! >>>>> I picked up a 2013 Sam in late October and LOVE it for a billion >>>>> different reasons. >>>>> >>>>> However...one area where I really prefer my Atlantis is braking. I >>>>> have the Shimano DXR MX70 levers and v-brakes on the Atlantis and I feel >>>>> like the stopping power is incredible. This is my commuter bike, set up >>>>> with chocos for upright riding with lots of stops. >>>>> >>>>> Sam has Shimano Tiagra levers and the Tektro r559 brakes. They just >>>>> feel a million times weaker. I can stop, but it's a much more gradual >>>>> experience than the v-brakes. The braking feels squishy. Like...I pull >>>>> the >>>>> levers and the pads hit the rims, but I can keep pulling the levers and >>>>> there's just not much that happens in terms of stopping. It's almost as >>>>> if >>>>> not enough force gets transferred into the pads. >>>>> >>>>> The brakes are set up correctly, slight toe-in, arm that moves up >>>>> toward the rim has pad touching at bottom of braking surface, arm that >>>>> moves down toward rim has pad at top of braking surface. I think they >>>>> contact the rim with the appropriate amount of movement of the lever, too. >>>>> >>>>> I'm about to re-do all cables and housings (even though it kind of >>>>> kills me to undo one of Mark's bar wrap jobs). Any tips on getting a >>>>> little >>>>> better braking out of this setup, or are the r559s just going to not be >>>>> as >>>>> good as v-brakes no matter how nicely they're set up? >>>>> >>>>> Thanks for any and all thoughts! >>>>> >>>>> Ben in Omaha >>>>> >>>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/9983f508-5dc1-4c24-9278-2cfd68b1acd2n%40googlegroups.com.
