Cantilever Cable Help/Advice

I am rebuilding a Trek CX bike initially for use over the remainder of winter and then general usage as it looks like it should be a comfy bike.
However it is running the old style canti brakes (Tektro CR720) I am looking at suitable cables as the current ones are corroded and pretty untidy. I have seen there is a yoke type that I remember from my retro MTB days many years ago or the type this has fitted currently (Tektro Triangle style) Is there much difference in performance and set up. I will be using Tiagra 4500 drop bar road shifter levers with them. I guess as its old technology now there looks a limited range of options but the yoke and the triangle type. I rememember back in the day they said to run a bracket underneath to catch the cable if it ever broke but the tyres I am running arent knobblies

A yoke and separate cable are more adjustable to get the correct angle. The Y straddle wire type need to be the correct length.

Ok, thanks I will go for the tektro style triangle version I think then with the cable & yoke. As I want to adjsut them the best I can for on road use initially.

Jagwire do some lovely straddle yokes – part no. BSA040.
I have some stainless straddle cables, if you direct message me I’ll put some in the post. Free!

Personally I’d just bin them off and go with mini V’s, easier to set up, work better and work with road STI’s. Should be able to get a pair for around £20.

The Y-type cables are a pain. Very finicky. Had them on my old Kona Jake the Snake. The mini-Vs is a good shout, but you might need a rollamajig-type doohickey to ensure that you’re pulling the right amount of cable.

Thanks for the replies, I am tempted to give the mini v brakes a try as I use v brakes on my mountain bike and am pretty used to them. I know the canti have the classic look which is nice and better with regards mud clearance hmmmm.The last time I set some cantis up for someone it was a bit of a pain I thought but it was an old style single speed bike. I am sure both types will run well with the right set up and cabling.

Hmm… I’ve moved from Cantis to Mini_Vs recently.

My experience with the cantis was that they were perfectly good for my purposes (gravel riding, but rarely steep or lumpy, I use my MTB for that). I used the same bike for cyclocross so appreciated the mud clearance of the cantis, but they were a pain to keep adjusted as the tiny, sharp grub screws that Avid seem to like just mangled the cables.

Having moved to Tektro RX6 mini-Vs, I was astonished at the power available but the long 90mm arms mean limited pad clearance at the rim and the additional leverage sort of results in quite a mushy lever feel (and made setup akward) as you could effectively flex the brake posts apart.

Have just fitted some older 84mm mini-Vs. They still clear a 700x40mm gravel tyre and seemed to set up easier and feel better at the lever. The trade off is less power (still plenty for my purposes) but more pad clearance at rim OR less lever movement for same clearance. Not sure about mud clearance for CX duties but if I was worried about muddy races I’d maybe just go back to Cantis, just buy some cheaper ones with nice big M5 bolts instead of silly wee grub screws like the Avid Shorty Ultimates 🙄

Thanks for the your detailed thoughts on the mini v brakes. Interestingly the version I was looking at are 80mm length which as I understand are slightly smaller than the ones you had (Tektro RX6) but no doubt very similar in perfomance. I see you have gone to some older 84mm mini v brakes. I have used v brakes for many years on my mtb bike with satisfactory perfomance, in heavy wet conditions they can be reduced of course and in mud as is expected with the rim brake system but its low maintenance generally speaking with just occasional pad replacement dependent on usage. The main concern with canti was how much power I was going to get from the lever, and how far I was going to have to pull the lever down to engage the pads, obviously this depends on set up but I have never used them with a drop bar shifter/lever.Do you use the longer pads 72mm as I find sometimes the better compound cartidge pads also help with braking, I see the standard fitted on the mini v brakes is a 63mm but I assume this can be changed over as they are a bolt on fit.

I would also go for the 80mm arms if I could but I suspect they would be too short to clear a 40mm gravel tyre. 35mm probably.

I don’t think it’s mechanically possible for a cantilever to be as powerful as a Mini-V brake, at least not with some other compromise, but I personally would still consider them as I know they are ‘adequately’ powerful and there are other benefits, e.g. clearance etc.

I don’t know about pad choice, using old cantilevers with modern wider rims meant I had to get some Swissstop ‘evo’ pads which are basically standard pads but 0.75mm less deep! (e.g. ‘pre-worn’… 🙄). I’m not sure what difference longer pads would make?

These are the ones that i have fitted to my Planet X Uncle John cx/gravel bike :

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/brakes/tektro-926al-mini-v-brake-black/

I’m running 38mm Schwalbe G one’s and the clearance is fine., The only downside is that that the fork blades prevent the brake arms from moving apart far enough to insert a fully inflated tyre, so the wheel has to be fitted first and then the tyre inflated. Of course this isn’t an issue if you are running UCI limited tyres i.e. 33mm.

Plenty enough power to lock up the back wheel, i’m using some 72mm cartridge pads that i just have to slide out the worn pads and slide in the new ones.

I found that lever feel with STI’s was greatly improved by removing any barrel adjusters in the system, it means that any adjustment has to be done at the cable clamp on the brake arm, but i always carry a multi tool and it doesn’t need doing very often.

I’m running 38mm Schwalbe G one’s and the clearance is fine.,

Interesting! They are 80mm arms so the cable must be approx 4mm closer to the tyre than my 84mm TRPs. That would place the cable right on top of my 700×38 Vittorias 😬

Yes, I have some sets of 72mm pads ready with decent compound as the ones that for instance the tektro come with are not a good compound sometimes. I also just adjust v brakes at the cable rather than use barrels. I am initially only probably running 28s but will probably get something more 32-33 when I see a decent deal around. I only have narrowish rims so with current wheels 32 would be too much I think.

I went for super cheap BMX mini-vs on mine, and even with the standard compound they worked better than any cantis I’ve ever used. Never had any issues with clearance, though IIRC I did end up having to get lever reach adjust inserty things to make them work how I wanted.

It was just doing general bike stuff, never did any actual racing so I can see why clearance could be more of an issue for that, but it made zero difference for me.

I swapped my road bike frame to a cross bike recently and started with canti’s but they really are crap.
Admitteldy I am running 33c cross tyres so clearance never going to be an issue but with 80mm mini Vs there is loads of clearance but more importantly the brakes actually work.

Interesting! They are 80mm arms so the cable must be approx 4mm closer to the tyre than my 84mm TRPs. That would place the cable right on top of my 700×38 Vittorias

@13thfloormonk If you like i can go measure the distance between the cable and the tyre if you like? I’m not saying there is mountains of room, but nothing has ever rubbed and i have no intention of changing the set up.

I was in the garage just now and checked, at least 5mm between the tyre and the rubber boot that covers the cable between the two brake arms.

Mini V’s +1

I’ve got 90mm RX6 on my Charge Plug SSCX, biggest tyres I run are 42mm, currently on 32mm + guards with masses of clearance.

I’ve not noticed any setup issues and I’m quite picky about my brake setup, I like the bite point as close to the bar as possible which also gives a few mm of clearance pad to rim. I can lock the brake on and pull the lever to the bar in the car park, but even in spite of that, I’ve never pulled the levers to the bar in the real world.

The amount of squish is more down to cable choice than the brake. Especially with mini-V’s or road disks because you’re pulling less cable with more force. And make sure they’re cut cleanly with propper cable cutters no end/side cutters, the liner isn’t deformed, the end caps are a snug fit, etc. That and make sure the tip of the arm is vertically above the pivot when the pads hit the rim, use the spacers/washers to get that right makes a big difference.

I have set my front brake up with a tektro 926AL mini v brake. I have put some better compund low profile pads on. Having a bit of issue getting the cable tension just right, I have just about got it but could possibly do with an adjuster as it is a bit fiddly to get just right, the wheel has a very slight buckle but this means I have to run the pads an extra mm or so away from the rim. Has anyone tried the noodle with inbuilt adjuster?

Why not full sized v- brakes on cx bikes?

Because the lever pull is not right for drop bar levers and you need some sort of bodge thing to get it right. Also don’t need the clearance as I am running 33c CX tyres with 80 mini Vs and there is a lot of clearance.

I was in the garage just now and checked, at least 5mm between the tyre and the rubber boot that covers the cable between the two brake arms.

Sorry Bazz, just saw this! I’ve got 10mm between my 8.4s and the top of a 33mm Vittoria, so that would be 5mm between the 8.4s and a 38mm Vittoria, or 1mm between the top of some 80mm 926ALs and a 38mm tyre! 😬

There must be a bigger variance between the heights of canti studs than I realised, or the heights of different 38mm tyres (my rims are about as wide internally as you can go with rim brakes so I doubt they’re making the tyre sit tall).

Not to worry, the 8.4s are feeling pretty good so far.