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Just wondered if anyone is still using v brakes, am just building up a ht and am going to try them for low maintenance, not much off road.
How do you find them?
i have some on some of my bikes there light and cheap =)
Yep, but tbh they are sh1t.
Got a set on my commuter. They work thats about all you can say for them. Another set of rims just about worn thru
I'm just about to...building an old Kona up for a laugh.
Fully rigid also unless I can get some cheap suss forks.
On the cross bike yeh, but that doesn't really count does it 😆
On the low maintenance side, always found them to be much more work than hydraulic discs,
Still using original XTR cantis on the hardtail. Never had a problem with them. Never let me down.
For a "not much offroad" bike, they'll be fine. Of course discs are better, but a well set up and maintained set of Vs are still pretty powerful - in the dry anyway. My main off road bike has hydro discs, my other bikes have Vs or even old skool cantis and all get ridden offroad still. Cantis! Now they really don't work! 😆
I run xtr v's and after a quite filthy winter would recommend going for the gore weather proof cables. I have replaced the cables several times since October, and the outers at least twice. But it was a foul winter...
XTR v's on the summer race bike. Only used on fine days. Saves weight & it don't have disc mounts.
Still running Vs on my Klein.
v's on my commuter/towpath kiddy trailer tug only.
you don't need anything more on the road.
they weigh a bit less
they are cheap (until you start eating rims, but my first set of rims lasted years even when i rode them in all sorts of offroad filth)
they are a bit less nickable i suppose.
easy to fix and set up/adjust wherever you are and whatever day of the week it is.
But the performance and extra weight of discs is well worth it for me for properly going offroad.
Got v's on the the second HT I use for work and pottering about with the daughter. They work fine. My riding buddy swears by V's.
On the low maintenance side, always found them to be much more work than hydraulic discs,
Agreed. They need to be kept in tip-top condition, they need more adjustment and your wheels need to be bang-on true so they don't drag. I wouldn't have them on an off-road bike ever again.
Having said that my missus has a Trek commuter and I've got a Roadrat with vees and they work superbly on both of those bikes, the Trek in particular has loads of power. To me that's their natural home - Commuters & tourers.
🙂
I occasionally use the V, but I prefer the bird these days. The V seems a little quaint in these times whereas the bird is far more insulting.
No, but building a mountain bike for cross use so I'll be putting some on that might even use canti's.
I remember having to "tweak" my V brakes several times a ride before i got discs, bent rims, that gloopy mud even water degrades their performance.
I'm not going back to that, even if the power was the same they're a chore.
If you are going to use them XTR are the only ones worth looking at.
I still use Vs. With clean cables and well set up they are almost as powerful as disks. Used off-road a lot and you'll wear out a lot of rims.
Avid work much better than Shimano in my experience and they are lighter. I use Single Digit Ti but they are expensive - the SD 7 are better value.
magura HS33s?
PMSL at you lot......'V brakes are shit'
What utter tosh....
I travelled to some pretty remote places during a 2 year break from the UK....met some pretty amazing none fashionista long haul cyclists, funny how not a single one of em had disc brakes! How on earth did they cope with the Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, the Andes, blah blah blah
Jeez Ive heard it all now.
PMSL at you lot......'V brakes are shit'
Are you reading a different thread to me? There's one person that's said that, and that possibly tongue-in-cheek.
The rest of us seem to think they're fine in certain situations at the very least.
Engage brain before opening gob!
🙂
Errm yeah....must remember to do that occasionally....though there were a few slagging em 😳
Right Im off to find a desrted field and comitt v brakekarekare
Yup I still do .. makes you go faster and out of control as they don't work 😉
Yep have them on my ss - once set up right they are spot on - powerful and controlable - performance drops off in the wet but 1-2 turns of the wheel and they are good again
Would'nt go back to them for every day use, perhaps it's where I ride. But fully mud siezed up wheels were common as were exploding/worn rims.
Using them for cross with 1.5 & 1.35 tyres no problems there.
i still use them on all my bikes cos i'm a tight wad and my frame / forks don't have disc mounts
Just taken V's off my Gary Fisher. No problems using them during a rubbish winter but I used pads at an alarming rate and rims weren't lasting a year. Also putting wheels on/off all the time I was forever having to adjust the screws to center the brakes.
Oh how things change i remember when v's where the best thig since sliced bread , the power!!!! Still run them on the rear of my commuter/ hartail and they're excellent.