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I've got an old Kona Jake, which is now my use all the time bike.
The braking is just awful, and in the wet today, caused some near feet on the ground to help me stop moments.
So I need to upgrade them.
Putting on Discs is out of the question I think, as finding someone who can do the upgrade well, here in China would be very difficult.
Mini V brakes?
proper v brakes will a roller to increase the cable pull?
Mini-vs! Cantis can be made effective but it needs effort and probably a fair bit of cash, whereas even cheapo Vs can rival the best cantis ime with minimal work
You need to swap levers which is a bummer... Or actually maybe not, maybe BMX mini-vs could do the job, works for crossers. Not sure about that.
Excuse my ignorance, will a V-Brake fit to where Canti should go?
Had the same issue with Cantis, fitted mini vs, the difference was night and day.
As it happens I have a pair of mini Vs for sale that I bought off Northwind that weren't compatible with my forks, so I needed to swap out for shimanos (one end only however) 😉
And yes, the 2 are compatible as run off same studs.
Yes, same mounting.
You'll just need to get the rollers that alter the cable pull for them to work with a road brake lever
not mini vs you don't.
i have a set of tektro mini v brakes spare which i could do for £18 posted. they would work with your normal sti shifters. let me know if you are interested and i'll send photos.
Would they work with Tiagra shifters? The bike is somewhat old 😯
(Edit) I'm still using an 8 Speed Cog at the back.
they would and have been running with my tiagra shifters for the last year. shall i send photos and details tonight when home from work?
Maltloaf, sounds excellent, but I'm in China. Reckon posting might kill it.
Alas, I'm not in china so I'm sure it's not economical, but if you can find a pair of these they are great stoppers.
Thank you all the same. Appreciate it.
only thing I would add is that depending on your fork they may not be compatible, as they snag on the fork leg. I had this issue on my dolan so had to get the shimano versions
[url= http://www.evanscycles.com/products/shimano/tiagra-grade-r463-2013-road-flat-bar-v-brakes-ec041351 ]these ones[/url]
Ah, I was wondering what was going on there, I'd never heard of that- sorry about that!
Just get any 85-90mm arm mini-vs. There's some 95mm ones around but they start to feel spongy with drop bar levers imo and pad clearance becomes an issue.
I have a kona jake and moved to Vee brakes with a accentuater roller, as mentioned ^, on the rear, now its much better and nearly as good as on a mountain bike vee brake. I then swapped the project 2 fork to one with a disk mount and have been runing a cable disk brake up front for 4/5 years and thats a huge improvement.
Kaffenback disc fork from Planetx and Avid BB5 road disc caliper and a cheap disc front wheel. So you'd have a disc up front where you get most stopping power and keep the canti on the rear.
Probably manage that for less than £100 (sorry no YEN calculator).
I did similar on a Jake as the cantis were so bad in traffic!
Magura rim brakes? Better then any canti's or V's I've used.
first thing, change the pads!!! Koolstop, Swiss-stop, decent pads make the biggest difference.
Mini-v on my Jake, the brakes now work! I would look at fitting an inline tension adjuster too, makes adjusting for pad wear and removing wheels easier
Maltloaf, if you're looking to offload the mini v's I'd be interested for my Kona Jake, can you send pics?
Cheers
G
I burnt my christmas money on a set of avid shorty ultimates. little works of art, silly expensive but has transformed the braking on my old kona.
Did this to my cross race bike
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much cheaper than mini v's. Awesome braking power