forgotten how bad cantilever brakes were

Funnily enough I’ve been commuting on a Raleigh Max Ogre 18 this week. It’s got vees though!

it gets worse, it has gripshifters as well!

I just recently retired my 90s mtb from commuting. That’s quite dangerous, because now that I no longer ride an old bike day to day I might forget that they’re rubbish, and want another.

Exage hubs though, bad-ass, you could ride to alpha centauri without worrying about wear.

forgotten how bad cantilever brakes were

I haven’t – that’s why I’ll never use them again!

I spent many a happy hour last night playing Stunt Car Racer from the eighties last night. 🙂

(And now that I think about it, I dreamed last night that the long gunged-in seatpost on my old C16 came out with a blissful ease. 🙂 )

But, but, I can lock either wheel with cantis*, why would I need discs?**

*certain terms, weather conditions, pad wear, cable wear, cable stretch and brake set up may apply.
** any resemblance to arguments concerning road bikes is purely coincidental.

Disc brakes and tubeless tyres are the only two concessions to any changes that have come about in the last 15 years for me.

Don’t use gears and don’t use suspension so have no interest in what is going on there so other than stopping ability and punctures I may as well be still riding my Cannondale M800 from 1990.

I run a £50 1993 Kona Hahana as a town commuter. Rigid MTBs never got any better than earlier 90s Konas (well mainstream ones anyway) and the fairly low end frame makes no difference round town.

2.35″ slicks and an upright(ish) position works well round York.

Thumbies are brilliant on a commuter, and cantis are fine on road.

The only thing I can’t quite get used to is only having seven steps on the rear cassette – the top and bottom are fine, but the jumps are big.

Don’t think I’d take it off road these days though.

Ah, those heady halcyon days when it was socially acceptable to have one skinwall tyre and one all black one!

Bula hats for slalom markers, isn’t it? Wasn’t it? Hmmmmm

yup, nostalgic already 🙂
still miss my Stumpjumper (mine was black, from about 1988 I think).

However have a modified 1995 Kilaeua so still feeling the love for classic bikes.

Trouble with nostalgia is that it’s not what it used to be.

Any else feeling nostalgic?

No. There were old days, but no good old days. Not where bikes are concerned anyway.

One retro itch I haven’t scratched yet is an 1994 (?) Stumpjumper in forest green.

I used to lust after the one in the Totnes bike shop window something silly; beautiful thing it was.

If anyone’s got one in good nick, email and a weak will in profile. 🙂

Hot Pursuits, by any chance, Bear?

(I spent a lot of my salad days in South Devon!)

2 old fashioned small wheeled bikes 😀

Canti’s are actually pretty decent if you know how to set them up properly. 😉

Unless it’s wet or icy.

Nostalgia? I’ll give you nostalgia (for me anyway)

[url=https://flic.kr/p/otFxYR]001 (2)[/url] by jimmyg352, on Flickr

Thing is though, do you actually notice the difference THAT MUCH?
I can’t really remember thinking, ‘I wish these brakes were better/forks had more travel/bars were wider/wheels were bigger etc. I’ve still got that same bike/frame, (& the Buffalo) It’s got 130mm forks & hydraulic disc brakes now. I also ride an Orange 5 on ‘Sunday best’ days but do i enjoy myself/grin any more than I did in 1994? I don’t think I do actually, in fact I was probably a lot keener then.

& a LOT lighter!

Ah, those heady halcyon days when it was socially acceptable to have one skinwall tyre and one all black one!

Thats been fixed this afternoon. 😀

Canti’s are actually pretty decent if you know how to set them up properly.

Unless it’s wet or icy.

or steep

Hot Pursuits, by any chance, Bear?

YES! I couldn’t remember the name of the place, but that definitely sounds familiar – on the left hand side as you walked up high street, just before the cafe (Anne of Cleves?) that I would inevitably be dragged into to quaff pumpkin seed based cakes 🙂

EDIT:

Canti’s are actually pretty decent if you know how to set them up properly.

They’re bloody not. V-brakes were a revelation though and although I don’t ride that much now, I still think that they are plenty good enough for the average cyclist.

Yep, that sounds like the place! I was usually messing about in boats on the Estuary more than riding, though!

They’re bloody not. V-brakes were a revelation though

Damn straight! I remember when they came out, we used to have to warn customers before a test ride, they were so used to shitty cantis that people were grabbing a handful of the front anchor and binning it!

chestrockwell – Member

Canti’s are actually pretty decent if you know how to set them up properly.

Aye, if you spend time and money on them they can be almost as good as cheapo Vs with stock pads. Bonzer.

Made the mistake of offloading my Marin Bear Valley a couple of years back. At the time I wasn’t using it, but it was a brilliant commuter.

I still have a 98 fsr spesh that I need to get going again. It would make a good pub bike.

Not so much canti or V but the fact they are rim brakes on a bike where the rim is likely to get far dirtier, far quicker than a road bike.

That sound of dirt/grit when braking is not something I miss (aside from the braking actually deteriorating too)
Same problem on cross bikes as ridden in same conditions.

I guess I have never had a full sus and only used front sus for a few weeks 10 years ago so I am just not understanding why people think or feel the old bikes are so bad.

If you don’t feel the need for suspension then a brand new rigid bike is not really any better than a 20 year old one….

By coincidence my daughter in law came home with a Raliegh M2000 this week ( they live with us, don’t ask!).
It still had cantis and thumbies which revived many unhappy memories of failed stopping. If the Great God of mtbs tomorrow rules you can have only one modern part on your bike, I would definitely go for disc brakes. I like suspension and many gears but I could manage without if I can stop when I want not as dictated by the vagaries of some wire and rubber based antique.

Not nostalgic about the kit we had back then even if i did love my Carrera Gravity at the time i wouldn’t want to swing my leg over one now. And I quite like trail centres and that more people are out there on mountain bikes, good init!

Compared to a bottom bracket mounted u brake cantis were a revelation !

igm – I’ve a kona hahanna slowly winging its way to me (97 I think) which I plan to run with slicks as a pub bike, just trying to work out if I should dump/strip the original gear to modernise or see how good I can get it working original like.

just trying to work out if I should dump/strip the original gear to modernise or see how good I can get it working original like.

same here. decided to go with original because its cheaper to use whats already on it. if it was knackered I’d be tempted by merlins cheap deore xt transmission deals.

I just got my ebay NOS XTR square taper UN91 bb turn up from the US today to go on my cx bike.

Saccades, slackboy,

The only things I changed were the seat post (because it had acquired one a size or so too small at some point), bars (because I has some rises that fitted handy and the fitted me better than the 500mm bars thawed on it) and the tyres (2.35 Big Apples are stunning tyres for prattling about round town). Oh and a pannier rack got added.

Cantis stayed, Deore thumbies stayed, and 3×7 gearing stayed.

Works well and I’m happy to chain it up in town because it was cheap and doesn’t look special.

I love old stuff. I know some of its crap, but u just love it.

I have an old ’93/4 Beast of the East that I’m converting into a single speed project with lots of old stuff that I cold never afford when I started riding in ’97. It’ll have most on Retro Bike froffing at the mouth because it won’t be period correct, but hey ho.

Canti’s were poo. V brakes changed the game totally as did the original Z1’s compared to the Judy’s and RST Mozo Pro’s we were running.

I’ve just built up this piece of crap 😀 :

Using cantis leads to ESP. After a while you develop a 6th sense, “going to need to stop suddenly two minutes from now, better start pulling brake levers”.

Hot Pursuits, by any chance, Bear?
(I spent a lot of my salad days in South Devon!

Now a hairdressers and hot pursuit is on a trading estate in Newton abbot.

That sounds like Stif too.
No longer in Headingley sharing with a hairdressers; now on a trading estate in Summerbridge.
I remember them in the Loft.

Dear bearnecessities,

Ride the one you have already.

Signed, the guy who can’t pick you up later as he has finally sold the car.

do i enjoy myself/grin any more than I did in 1994? I don’t think I do actually

This. Sums it up for me when folks talk about anything bike related. I don’t see how it’s possible to have a bigger grin on my face than the one I have after nailing that perfect piece of singletrack. There isn’t a “n+1” for grin factor (no matter how hard some folks try and justify getting there).

The best days riding I’ve had weren’t because I was x seconds quicker that day, or riding with suspension forks or rigid, or even with my seat at max height/min height. The best days I’ve had are the ones where I don’t remember what tyre pressure I ran, or anything about the bike. They are the ones where I was with mates and finished with a pint, or epics where I was out alone, got totally lost but made it back broken and grateful. Or the time I rode down Snowdon. Or the week we hit every trail at every centre in Wales. Or taking my first mtb (Specialized Hardrock) and getting on a ferry to cycle in Ireland for a week.

None of the stories involve talk of the bike or components or geometry. And none of them would have been improved by changing or upgrading any of them.

Right, best go finish bleeding my new XT brakes and checking my new tubeless tyre set-up are still inflated so I can get out and ride this-afternoon.

Been working wasting time in the garage and made a few changes to mine