A finger injury has got me wanting to optimise my set up on a 20in mod trials bike.

I have DX v brakes at the moment with generic levers and grind on the rims. I think they’re clarks cartridge brake pads.

Is it worth getting some XT or XTR Vs?

And before you say…I don’t want to use Magura rim brake as hate anything hydraulic!

Thanks all! :o)

Many years ago I remember the ‘parallel push’ style XTs being good option for trials.

Obviously with a brake booster to stop the immense power pushing your seatstays apart!

A bit of tar rubbed on the rear rim will give you a brake that bites! There’s a distant memory! I used to always carry a bit of tar around in my pocket. Used to get it from the bottom of telegraph poles on hot days.

I used to have LX, with the “servo wave” levers. Man, it was powerful!

These M970s can stop a train [pads/rim permitting]. They can certainly endo a fully loaded touring bike with one finger.

And they’re entirely unchanged (except cosmetically) from the M950s!

Is the ‘parallel push’ design a definite step up from LX style Vs in terms of power?

Thanks!!

I put xt’s on my daughters bike last year to replace lx’s and I was a bit surprised how much better they were but I also changed all of the cables at the same time and also put on xt levers that I had from a previous bike and which I had set to be at their most powerful using those funny spacer thingies.

On the Magura thing, yes they are powerful and the maintenance is way less than discs. I’ve had them on my tandem for years now and have done absolutely nothing to them other than change pads whereas I’ve changed oil on my Shimano disks several times. Jfyi

Is the ‘parallel push’ design a definite step up from LX style Vs in terms of power?

Not compared to an optimally adjusted non-parallel setup, but the optimal bit is key and as soon as you get any deviation either from wear or rim width/boss position forcing you out of perfect then the differences show, the parallel push ones stay better for longer and pad wear is a lot more consistent

XT or XTR parallel push arms and replace when they start to get play.
Paired up with Avid SD Ultimate levers (or cheaper SD versions) to get adjustable leverage was the best setup I ever used.

Combine that with a light grind and some super sticky trials specific pads and you’re good to go.

I still have one last pair of barely touched super tacky brake pads (like these but from some chap in Poland )actually and have retired my trials bike now so if you want them drop me an email with your address and I’ll send them to you!

.

Pity you don’t like the Maguras as I’ve some for sale!
Never had any issues with them myself, there is a reason why they are so popular on the trials bikes.

I actually moved from an LX to a parallel push XT on the front of my old Brisa, there was a noticable difference in power, even without a brake booster. I didn’t use the cartridge pads though, I used some bright blue “sticky” ones, I think they were made by Planet X.

I ran my bike like that for years with a Magura HS33 on the back and for me it was an ideal set up.

Are those cartridge type pads okay for trials? I have a vague recollection of them falling off when I had some on my mucking about bike.

This reminds me that I need to fix my trials bike…and then ride it and fall off a lot.

Thanks Rob I already have two sets of Maggies but took them off as couldn’t be bothered with the faff!

Yes I realise that they *are* good but I can get my head around Vs and trust them more. Anyway Ryan Leech uses or *used* Vs and he’s nearly as good as me 😉

Does using tar not make a real grubby mess?…may give it a go.

Thanks Amedias am emailing you!

PS Greg get out there and give it a go again you can never have too many scars on your shins IMHO 😉
Parallel push definitely makes sense in my mind as regular Vs must always be braking on one edge of the pads so not giving full pad contact.

Thanks all… as usual top advice!!

I ran V-brakes on my trials bike for years, my suggestion is to avoid anything with linkages, such as parrallel push etc, they just add vibration etc into the setup which isn’t ideal, they also stick out further which means if they are combined with a wide rim they can quickly fall out of favour with your heels/cranks! The new LX/XT brakes are pretty good, or Avid SD7, make sure you get a good cable and outer, a I used a linear slick cable, although I can’t remember the manufacturer of it.

Lever wise, I used to prefer the avid SD levers over the servowave shimano as I did not like the feel of the cable moving down the lever as you pulled, I have seen that shimano make an XT touring lever which has a longer lever blade, if this was set up for single finger braking I can imagine it would be great!

Pad wise, anything trials specific should suffice, have a look on Tartybikes as they have a good selection of pads etc.

The biggest thing is to make sure everything is set up square etc to the rim, this make a massive difference to how the brake feels!

What Bigman said. Assuming it’s who I think it is, if a brake setup can stop him, it can stop you!

I used parallel push XTs for a while and they’re powerful enough but they get sloppy over time. I don’t think they offer any more power over a good Avid SD setup. Get Avid Ultimates for pimp value, but I doubt power is any better than your DXs. Unlike Bigman I really rate Shimano servo-wave V-brake levers. Personal preference, I guess.

Get some proper trials pads.

But yeah, setup is key. Have you tried grinding the rim? It’s an easy way to better brakes.

EDIT: Yes. I re-read the OP.

Yep, as Adam said, sack off the parallel push, decent cables and a good set of trials pads from Tarty, but most important is set-up. Good luck!

Superficial – I am probably who you think I am.

I loved my v-brake setup, even converted some Magura frames to run them, I had avid ultimtes for a while, they where great brakes, however I felt that the standard SD7 brakes offered a little more bite due to the small amount of movement that they had over the ultimates yet hold wasn’t really affected.

This video is pretty old now, probably around 2006-2007ish and I was running a V-brake through all if it, I weighed around 19st and never had a problem with brakes!
One of my Trials Videos

Great video… you’ve some serious skill!

Can’t comment on V’s as I use a Magura/disc setup. But if you want more “grab” when you are away from a grinder a lot of the guys here use violin Rosin. No mess like tar and very effective. Not advised if the rim is liable to get wet I am told.I have never felt the need to try it but offspring has and reported huge increase in grab as well as noise sadly.

Nice videos Bigmantrials.

I took a break from the trials bike last year when I focused back on racing again, but new house move, and a lot of natural stuff to ride has given me a bit of an itch to get out again.

I have XT parallel push ones on my SS Fire Mountain, they are very powerful for v brakes, if I set them up to bite straight away the levers still go to the bar in frame/fork flex! I really should get some brake braces

Robdob – pm sent about the maguras

Edit – for what its worth, I did some trials riding for about 2 years and the switch from old xt to new xt made a huge difference (several generations gap, both setup by me)