Commuting: V's vs Canti's

So what are the pros/cons/differences?

Cheers!

Insufficiently important to worry about. Seriously. 🙂

V's are easier to set up and tweak.
Cantilevers work fine though.

Never had much success with Cantis or Mini-V's, converted my cross to V's and the are significantly better, I am running it singlespeed with V drop levers.
On my geared cross, I have a Disc on the front and an Avid Shorty 6 (latest design) on the rear, and the Canti just isn't up to the job. I am thinking of putting a V on there, but will have to use a Travelagent as I have STIs fitted.

Doug

ive got cantis on my crosser and have not issues at all . easier to set up and adjust than v's to me too. just make sure you get some with cartridge pads to make life easier

It all depends on which sort of brake you find easier to set up. I find V's easier to work with and that I can get them to work with a bit more bite than Canti's. If you do go for V's make sure you get decent quality ones as the cheaper ones don't offer the same ease of adjustment.

Vs are easier to set up, but don't work properly with STI levers without some sort of adapter. Given adapters seem a bit of a kludge and don't perform that well, I'd use cantis with STIs. Then again if it's a road bike we're talking about, calipers work best and are easiest to set up.

Thanks for the all the feedback. I'm not in need of tons of power.

aracer – I am using with STI levers [though they are only brake levers – it's a fixed gear]. I'm going to go with your philosophy – canti's cause that's the lever they're meant for.

Cheers STW.

If you're only using the drop hoods as brake levers (ie not shifters) then Dia Compe do a specific v-brake drop bar lever – use those and you'd be able to bang decent vees on without any compromise.

I am using the Tektro V-brake Drop Bar Levers on the cross, and they work great, also cheaper than the DiaCompe.

Doug

All these people saying cantis are fine, do you actually ride in the wet? Although v's aren't much better in the rain to be honest.

Except that the Dia Compe 287V brake lever is a horrid thing, really narrow hoods and grossly uncomfortable.

If it's a commute bike then you should be fitting full mudguards too (even it you're not going to) so cantilevers provide a lot more room for the 'guard. The V-brake cable tends to interfere with the 'guard otherwise.

Yes, I do ride in the wet. I must have SICK to the Max roadcraft and MaD braking skillz. 🙂

Same 'core skilz as the Notorious BigD so no vex 🙂

If you take your time setting canti's up properly then they can be pretty powerful – even in the wet. V brakes require such tight clearance between pad and rim and are very affected by pad wear that they can be quite difficult to keep in tune with drop bar levers without cable adjusters.

tektro froglegg cantis cr520 i think is the model easy to set up and very effective

two words: BRAKE JUDDER.

If a canti cable is anchored at the top of the headtube, when the fork flexes backwards under breaking the cable stretches pulling the brake on harder, causing more flex etc.. this results in (sometimes quite severe) brake judder. Can be fixed with a fork mounted hanger apparently, but i just moved to V's.

Apart from that the cantis worked fine, and even felt a bit more powerful (Avid shorties). This was on an old MTB where the original STI levers wouldn't work with V's.

my cantis work fine in the wet. Too many people are used to disks there days cantis have been fine on the three peaks for years and im sure will remain so for years to come. Never had judder either i must just have been lucky or set them up right 🙂

conversely all you guys moaning about cantis in the wet or even the dry ….

ever used a PROPPERLY set up pair ……

unfortunately badly set up disks still work so thats why gorilla mits get away with making them work sufficiently enough to perform adequate for most people to think they are amazing !

Takes a bit of skill and your stumped …

The thing is, it was the fact you didn't need to be a genius to set up Vs well which made them so popular (before discs made them largely obsolete).

not disputing that.

but just pisses me off that people are dismissing cantis as obsolete when they clearly havnt used a set of good quality cantis set up correctly …

probably the same folk that think they need disks on a road bike cause there cheap shit tektro dual pivots with the plastic pads dont slow there 16 stone bulk down in the wet …..

even SORA dual pivots would be a significant upgrade in braking power !

I think we're largely in agreement on this, trail_rat.

I don't agree at all. My obsolete cantis were rubbish. New bolcks and p1sing about made them work kind of OK for about a week before they were rubbish again. When my cycle path crossed a minor road and a sports car took me by surprise I strained the tendons in both wrists trying to stop which took several months to heal. I have now fitted V brakes and whilst they squeal a bit they are much more efficient.

If I took your advice should I take the disk brakes off my bike and upgrade them to cantis? and remove the 27 gears and replace with single speed? then remove the rear shock and replace with a block of wood? and swap the fork for a rigid one? whilst I'm about it I might as well get rid of those wire wheels and fit wooden spokes. Pneumatic tyres, they just cause punctures. Solid rubber that's the future. I shall bypass the penny farthing stage and go straight for the velocipede take the cranks off so that I can push it along with my feet on the ground.

Luddites

Luddites

First time I've been called that in relation to bikes – I'll take it as a compliment!

bulb end 🙂

my V's on my tricross dont permit the fitment of guards………..so specialized have promised to send me some canti's free of charge 😀

abductee – yawn

MTB and cross and road are 3 completely different things….

I have v Brakes on my tricross cause its what it came with and frankly they are too powerful for the contact patch of the tire and i find my self skidding in the wet trying to stop (on a 700×28 semi slick) – perhaps i should fit 29×2.1s to take advantage of the brakes by your logic – then fit some disk brakes …..

Different brakes for different purposes imo

like i said if you can set em up they are fine – i will assume since you strained both wrists trying to stop you couldnt there are a few tricks to it. When set up they are just about as good as v brakes when working with smaller tires

I have v Brakes on my tricross cause its what it came with and frankly they are too powerful for the contact patch of the tire and i find my self skidding in the wet trying to stop

Sounds to me you need to learn how to brake properly. Seriously, I was running 700x23s (because that's what I had) on the Peregrine with discs front and rear and I never skidded a tyre.

I don't entirely disagree with your points about different brakes for different purposes. But I do think that hub brakes (of some kind, disc, drum, whatever) are ideal for day in day out commuting because they contribute to a very low maintenance bike where you don't have to worry about rim wear and replacement. Similarly, for non CX racers who don't have to worry abvout the UCI rules, 'cross bikes with discs make a lot of sense – I have a friend who wears out a rim on his 'cross bike every two months in winter!

If a canti cable is anchored at the top of the headtube, when the fork flexes backwards under breaking the cable stretches pulling the brake on harder, causing more flex etc.. this results in (sometimes quite severe) brake judder. Can be fixed with a fork mounted hanger apparently, but i just moved to V's.

Ah – I have this and was wondering what caused it. My cantis work fine for braking my 16 stone bulk btw.

trail_rat pic earlier of my bike taking advantage of a bigger tyre contact patch 😉

trail_rat I do have a set of properly set (I've been using cantis for about 20 years) up good quality cantis and to say they stop fine in the wet is nonsense. For a start they need to shift the water off the rim before you have any chance of stopping, no magic set up will get round that fact. I ride 40 miles a day with a bike fitted with cantis so I'm more used to them than any other brake.

A commute in heavy rain, someone brakes hard in the car in front, cantis do not stop you quickly without your life flashing before your eyes. Why would any canti user believe otherwise.

I'm not moaning about them as I know their limitations and ride accordingly..

Just to add my tuppence worth I've spent my lunch hour stripping the old canti's of my Thorn Sherpa and sticking on V's (working from home today). They look a hell of a lot nicer and weigh a lot less (this weight saving is wiped out only by the small fact that the rest of the bike weighs about the same as a small car!). No problems with mud guard clearence and I'll hopefully have more powerful judder free brakes.

Just got to persuade the old brake levers to release their grip on the bars…

Cantis are great for commuting as they are more progressive, have greater mudguard clearance and can be popped open quite easily at puncture time.

Vs deffo more powerful but no one likes premature rim wear.

For commuting it's got to be a fixie and your foot as the front brake. 😉

I have commuted on proper road bikes, mtb's with slicks, and tbh what I have now is the closest to my ideal commuter. It is:

Hybrid alu frame with EBB
Flat bars + bar ends
8 speed Hub gear
Small disc brakes
700c wheels with fattish slick tyres
Full length mudguards
About 15Kg

Its mainly for my 6-10 mile each way commute – had too many "close calls" with the road bike. Also do a lot of training on it, generally 50-100 mile loops. The weight is fine when you get up to speed.

I laugh at fannies with cantis and v-brakes – they are shit in the wet, which this country is 70% of the time.

whats all this stuff about setup relating to Canti's?

My Avid shorties had a fixed cable bridge between the two, and the pads adjusted in the same way to V's, so all you can do there is toe them in or out.

What other setup needs to be done?

What other setup needs to be done?

If you happen to be a mechanical dimwit like me setting up Cantis usually involves long hours in the garage shouting at bits of wire that never seem to be at the right angle or length.

I've got Avid BB5 Discs on my commuter bike, 160mm rotors, 700cc wheels and 28mm slick thingies with little grooves cut in them.

Stops ace dunnit 😆

Got shimano STX-RC brakes on another bike and they don't stop very well 😥

i remember as a kid having cantis on my claude butler bike – they werent good quality – infact they were plastic

But all the other kids envyed my skidding and endo ability due to the fact my dad was a demon at setting them up.

He passed this skill onto me and i seem to have no issues stopping.

I too had avid shorties on tiagra STI`s and rode down some mega mega steep mountain roads in wet and dry loaded up with 30+ kg of touring kit. zero issues on maxxis locust CX tires.

Tell us the way then please Trail_rat. how do you do it?