Picked up a new, (used), CX bike the other day as I plan to race this coming season. Whilst everyday riding is great the brakes feel dreadful.
Its got Tektro Onyx brakes and normal, (non carbon), rims, and 105 STI brakes/shifters.
Are Froglegs or TRP brakes better, or have I been spoilt by the XT disk brakes on my fat tyre bike, and canti's are just frightening to use?
You've been spoilt 
I've played about with the brakes on my Spesh Tricross a lot. I tried Froglegg style cantis. Loads of rim clearance but a wooden, low power feel to them. Then some Medium profile cantis. Bit more power, bit less rim clearance, then tried mini V brakes. ALmost enough power but had to be set extremely close to the rim. It's a simple study of mechanical advantage. The "men" will be along shortly to tell you how that have hands that will crush 6" cast iron pipe like a cornetto and how cx racers never stop, they only slow down but the bottom line is, the brakes are pants. That's why I've treated myself to a frame with disc mounts and I'm swapping all the kit over.
Just be thankful you don't have judder too
The thing you have to remember is that for CX racing you don't really need brilliant brakes so they are as they are - eg they work but not like mtb brakes.
But with the popularity of CX bikes, most people aren't actually using them for CX racing so the brakes come up short and that's the issue.
Can kinda agree with the racing element, but then that argument was also spouted when the move to disks from canti's was made in the MTB world cup.
Trouble is I enjoy riding my CX bike on the singletrack but wet roots and rocks are scary enough on thin rubber with no suspension, let alone with bad brakes to boot.
Agreed - the frog legs I used first were so bad that I kept getting completely dropped by all my mates on any descent because I had to ride on the brakes the whole way down so that I could avoid the sudden turns...
Changed to Avid shorties which were definitely better along with a very low straddle cable but still just ok.
Recently swapped to mtb v-brakes and travel adaptors and they're brilliant - easy wheel locking if I want. Since I don't really race my CX bike (when I did, the cantis were fine FWIW) the new brakes make a big difference for the better.
I've used Tektro Oryx with Fibrax pads on Retard alloy rims and they were superb both with 105 drop levers and flat-bar levers. I had some of those fancy integrated straddle bridges from Avid though - they might help as they fix the straddle length/angle. They were as good as disks for stopping 35mm rubber until the fork/brakes fill with mud.
Interesting Simon, many thanks. I will investigate the Fibrax pads.
What are the Avid straddle bridges?
What's meant by the straddle cables is that by using a seperate straddle yoke and straddle cable rather than the preset units, you cen drop the yoke as low as possible. This gives more power by exploiting the mechanical advantage as mentioned above. More power but less rim clearance.
Mine are like this:
http://www.bikepartsplace.com/discount/brake-straddle-cable-b/
My pads are Fibrax ASH701 but I can't find a link to those any more.
I had those brakes on a CX bike I ran for a year a few years ago, they were terrible.
Have you tried to adjust the straddle cable? I found by running the cable lower (closer to the tyre) there was a better feeling at the brake levers, can't say the power altered much but the set up felt better.
Sheldon Brown explains about canti brake geometry.
Swiss stop green pads are what you need.They wear quick but grab hold of a rim like no other canti pad.
I also run Tektro Oryx canti's on my cx bike and they work fine, even with the standard straddle cable and cheap Ashima cartridge pads. Good modulation and reasonable power.
With careful set up can even work judder free, which seems to be a perennial problem for many on here
I'm using the Tektro wide cantis - fine with an old style straddle cable set up long. I can lock up the back wheel no problem and get some serious stopping with the front too. Just put swisstop geen pads on ready for the 26th.
more mud n grit on the rim = improved braking - with added grinding paste!!!
Right, I'll try some super duper brakes combined with a low low straddle cable before ordering a new CX bike with disks on it. Thanks for valuable input guys.
The thing you have to remember is that for CX racing you don't really need brilliant brakes
I've got Oryx and Frogglegs for the same bike, stopping about the same.
The Tektros have useful V type cartridges so are easy to set up.
The Frogglegs are lighter? and are set up with molgrips and a cold chisel.
CX courses are on the whole non technical and wide open so you can corner wide and fast. While racing, cantis will never seem an issue.
The 3 Peaks is a whole other story, and not anything like regular cx racing.
Dunno if it's in my mind but the salmon pads seem better than the normal black ones.
I used to have Shimano 550 low-profile cantis, which were not very confidence-inspiring so I got two sets of Tektro CR720 which, when set up carfefully, are MUCH better, almost as good as road caliper brakes.
Clubber - which travel adaptor and v brake combo do you use? I was thinking of changing the canti's on my Tricross as soon as I get it but the "Problem Solvers Travel Agents" are £17 each so I didn't want to spend £34 plus the v brakes then find out they werent much better.
They're MUCH better! I'm using Travel Agents with xt vees.
You can kind of see them here (click for full size)
I run Tektro RX5 Mini Vs with cartridge pads. Stopping power is great if they are set up properly, but like someone else said, the do need to be set close to the rim, which can lead to some noise, but they do clear fairly quickly.
wot Pistola said. awesome brakes, in wet or dry
I used to have Shimano 550 low-profile cantis, which were not very confidence-inspiring so I got two sets of Tektro CR720 which, when set up carfefully, are MUCH better, almost as good as road caliper brakes.
That's not saying much, is it?
Clubber, those XT brakes, which are what I was thinking of buying, look a bit chunky on the bike. I wonder if Avid brakes might be a little svelte. Any more pictures?
TRP's are very, very good but not a patch on good vee's or discs......you'll get used to them!
robdob - my Tektro 720's will easily lock front or back in the dry without pulling to the bars, and that's with 12.5 st of me and 32 tyres on.
I used to have Shimano 550 low-profile cantis, which were not very confidence-inspiring so I got two sets of Tektro CR720 which, when set up carfefully, are MUCH better, almost as good as road caliper brakes.That's not saying much, is it?
OK, just to clarify, the Tektros are almost as good as dual pivot caliper brakes, which have been good in my experience.
Dual compound koolstop pads are good on my CR720s but they are still crap in the grand scheme of bicycle braking. I really notice how the brakes are worse when its very dry due to the rims getting coated with dust and debris.
My next CX bike will have discs 
http://www.circleacycles.com/cantilevers/canti-geometry.pdf
this will tell you what you need to do.
Holy crap, that's just about the definitive answer then! Nice link
I'm a bit stick in the mud about cx brakes, without having a great deal of experience/evidence
My pompino has V brakes with proper V levers and it's fine on singletrack. Haven't ridden it with cantis, but I still ride my wife's MTB occasionally with cantis. You just need to adjust your expectations a bit. That said I did borrow a bike with disks for the 3 Peaks and still got a bit pumped at the bottom of the big descents.
Thesurfbus - I'll take the travel agents if they are still available.
robdob - if you can paypal to the address in my profile, I can get them posted 1st class tomorrow.
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