My first cross build ror the cross season

Frame off ebay (came with forks and brakes)
Compact crankset off and old build and bought One23 36 and 46 chain rings

Shifters, mechs and bars off my road bike as I can’t afford to buy another set just yet and run both. Thought i’d whack the tubs on as I think it looks pretty cool (even though i haven’t got the fitness or skills to justify them.. oh well)

Avid shorty 6’s are a bit rubbish. Front squeals like a deranged pig and I can’t seem to get them undone to get the wheel out if i’ve got them set up for a bit more power. Would love those avid ultimates but £80 a brake!

http://crossbikereview.com/gear/reviews/avid-shorty-6

oh dear.. He tells me to bin them 😯

Cx brakes are supposed to be for show only.
Your drivetrain will good for nothing after a season of cross.
Your shiney carbon tubs won’t stay shiney for long.

anyone know how to set up these shorty things properly?

they are a bugger when replacing wheels

As Rorschach said, brakes on a cross bike are for show only, they’re not supposed to actually do anything so don’t worry about it, just race it.

I’ve got shorty 4’s – have to set them up so they reach full bite *just* before the brake lever hits the bars to be able to get the wheel out.

Managed to set one of the blocks on fire on a long desecent on the South Downs, too, which didn’t inspire confidence…

Been looking at these as a more fire resistant/effective solution.

http://www.trpbrakes.com/category.php?productid=1120&catid=185

seem to be about £80 per f/r set.

Been looking at these as a more fire resistant/effective solution.

http://www.trpbrakes.com/category.php?productid=1120&catid=185

Wonder how they compare to the avid shorty ultimates?

They seem around the same price and most of the pro set ups i’ve seen (well the non disc ones) use the avids

Gunna get some swisstop yellow pads as you can use these with carbon and alu rims

Cross canti’s on carbon rims??! No chance of much happening!

As mentioned though, on most cross courses, you really don’t need to use the brakes beyond a gentle feather.

Mini v’s work ALOT better than cantis, but do add a potential clog point. I never really had any issues though. I now have discs on the crosser as it gets used for WAY more than just cross racing, and I like my brakes to work on the road 🙂

Nice build for a first crosser 🙂

I have Tektro CR720 cantis on my ‘cross and commuting bike, which are £20 an end and offer a whole lot of adjustment. No problems getting them undone but I do run them with a fair bit of slack in the cable. In terms of braking they’re typical cantis, a bit meh compared to proper brakes.

A few people have told me that mini-Vs are where it’s at. For twenty quid these look worth a go: http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/BCTK926MV/tektro_mini_v_926al___a_pair_front_and_rear

Personally, in the context of a 40-minute ‘cross race I’d use a puncture as an excuse to retire gracefully. 😉

My CX build should be finished in a couple of hours. any ideas where I can get some m5 p-clips?

Cross canti’s on carbon rims??! No chance of much happening!

how come?

I should have added ‘in the wet’.

nothing against canti brakes and carbon rims for a race specific set up, but as a general use set up – scary as hell!

So what’s good brake wise if i was to replace these?

saw no another thread yoda raving about the kore cantis

or are they all much of a muchness?

anyone?

It’s not the brakes that are the problem, it’s the pads. Some carbon specific pads would probably make a noticeable improvement. E.g. SwissStop RxPlus Yellow King

Aye. I have my eye on those as they can be used on any type of rim. Also looking at the reynolds blue

cheers

yeah, if you don’t have carbon specific pads in there i’d get some in sharpish

Avid Shortys are well known for being squeally not matter what you do to them, those Kore cantis are really rather good actually, and the Tektro CR720 are a budget favourite too

I use the Swiss yellow stops with TRPs on carbon rims and find they work really well in the dry and well in the wet – I’ve tried Frogleggs, 4ZAs & Tektro cantis on both alu & carbon rims and none of them come close to the performance of the TRPs.

I’ve got some carbon specific pads i used for road racing which are fibre based but they don’t work on alu (+ wear down really badly in wet)

Swisstop is where it’s at.

After talking to clubber i think I might go down the vbrake route with one of those travel agents and some avid single digit.

I’ve got cheap shimanos which have been great except when on proper (mtb) trails, even in the wet*

*For cx brakes I mean, not compared to discs

Nice bike,but then again,most Cross bikes look great.

What does everyone’s racing cross bikes weigh?

I got this on the scales last night with some clincher toro cx tyres and it came out ar 21lb.. sounds rather heavy to me. :(I got my ti singlespeed down to that

About 17lb for my 62cm bikes. Some nice bits on them but nothing too outlandish.

anyone know how to set up these shorty things properly?

they are a bugger when replacing wheels

I used a set of those barrel adjusters that go in the cable outers. That way, you can loosen them off to get the wheels in/out, then tighten them up for braking power.

Still using the Kores, noticed a few on the peaks on Sunday too.
Once you’ve got the angles of leverage right between cables and canti contact angle, the only thing inhibiting your braking is the pad compound/rim contact friction (or sticking togetherness as we’ll call it).
Not forgetting that you also need your tyres to grip to aid stopping. It’s no use having your brakes lock your wheels at the drop of a hat if you’re tyres are sliding through the mud at the same time!