I have always liked cantis, and the Tektro 720s are my favorites. I have disc brakes (Avid BB7 wit h8" rotors) on one tandem (didn't have a choice, and thought may as well give them a chance. Every few rides I need to adjust the pads because they rub. In the rain, they squeal like crazy. Don't see the advantage over cantis. I have also had the last generation of single pivot Campy sidepulls. They were fine, but not as nice as cantis.
V brakes have lot's of stopping power (with special levers) and I concur that they look terrible. In addition, they are so powerful that lightweight riders can very easily endo. My 100 lb ex did that once while cruising at 12mph or so in the park, casually grabbing the brake to come to a stop on a low-end Cannondale mtn bike. So try some Tektro CR720s with Koolstop pads before going to V-brakes, and warn your wife about their grabbiness and high power. Cheers, Gernot On Aug 31, 6:33 am, dougP <dougpn...@cox.net> wrote: > Michael: > > Thanks for sharing your experiences. I plan to try a high profile > canti set-up on my wife's Atlantis as a first measure. Hopefully that > will replicate the braking performance of her old bike. If not, I'll > look into V-brakes & new levers, but that probably has its own > learning curve. > > dougP > > On Aug 30, 2:53 pm, Michael Hechmer <mhech...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > > > > > Doug, you pose the perfect question for me to share my experience with > > cantilevers and why I continue to believe in hi straddle and hi profile > > cantis. > > > My first experience with cantis, after years of good riding with Campy Grand > > Sport LR brakes and Chorus SR brakes came around 2000, when I bought a SOMA > > DBL Cross for commuting and had it outfitted with my first Ultegra 9 spd. > > system and the then new Ultegra Low Profile canti brakes. The bike and > > brakes were installed by the best mechanic in VT, including the very short > > straddle wire supplied by Shimano. Braking was awful, downright scary for > > commuting. I replaced the pads with Salmons and that helped somewhat. I > > finally abandoned the SIS brifters, replacing with Cane Creek & Silver > > shiftes and the braking rose to the level of OK. Setup, with Shimano > > Brifters, was also pretty tedious and the brakes needed to be re-centered > > every time I put the bike into the back of the car or did any almost thing > > else. The brifters, which were designed for short reach side pulls, simply > > did not work together with cants. I have avoided low profile brakes (and > > briftes) ever since. > > > After a poor-braking-near-death-experience, I bought a pair of hi profile > > Pauls and found that with a very hi straddle wire, as recommended by Paul, I > > had easy set up and great braking. > > > My next experience with Cantis was a pair of hi profile, short arm di comp > > which came on a 1984 Trek 620 I bought on ebay. Much to my surprise these > > brakes also delivered mediocre power, even with salmon pads. > > > Now my Ram and my tandem have Paul's Racer Ms and Racers respectively. My > > Ebisu has neo retros with a hi straddle wire and my now pretty beat up > > winter bike SOMA has those di comps, which I'm planning on replacing with > > Tektros and a hi straddle wire. > > > When I was much younger I would say, "Who needs brakes, they just slow you > > down!" Now, medicare not withstanding, I really like having brakes I can > > rely on. Intimations of mortality no doubt. > > > michael > > recovering from lower back strain and Irene, in Vermont -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
