Cycling UK Forum

The cantilever brakes on my Thorn Club Tour are in need of replacement, I would like to purchase the best Cantilever brakes available. Tektro Oryx appear to be very popular, are these the best? I dropped into my bike shop and asked the mechanic he told me Oryx are very good and that Cr520 are good too but said they can sometimes catch on panniers because they are so wide. He recommended a Shimano cantilever I think he said BR-R550.

So Ladies and gents in your experience which is the best, one of the three mentioned above or something completely different.

How about mini- 'V' s? If pannier clearance is an issue these work well.

BTW the brake blocks you use are at least as important as the arms themselves; a lot of quite good cantis come with brake blocks that I would immediately junk.

Also, canti or mini-V the design that works best IMOE is one where the brake block has an offset mounting so that the long end can face backwards (both front and rear, which often means a very slim shoe profile at the front). In addition the brake block post or bolt should ideally be in line with the braze-on, not stuck out the front of it or too far behind it. A lot of brakes have the post or bolt ahead or behind the braze-on and this usually means one brake works really well and the other one isn't quite so good. The Oryx is by no means the worst offender here (in fact it looks pretty good to me) but the rear may not work as well as the front, or may give uneven block wear, for this reason.

Even cheap mini-Vs usually have the brake block mounting in the right place. I can't say I prefer the look of them though, and they don't fit every bike either.

cheers

I have tried Tektro Oryx and Avid Shorty 4 (the older design - the new one looks much better) and disliked both - they both squealed (on two bikes) no matter how I hung the cable or how much toe-in I applied or what pads I used. I recently fitted Tektro CR720s and they are wonderful. No more squealing; they just work. If you have issues with pannier clearance I would certainly use a CR720 on the front and a low-profile canti on the back.

I've tried mini Vs as well, but - aside from the fact that you'll have no easy adjustment for pad wear unless you fit an inline barrel from an old pair of STIs - I could never get them set up so that I could unhook the cable without having to have the bite point at the lever way too close to the bars for my liking (only an issue on drop bars, and if you have small hands you may find it less of an issue than I did).

stewartpratt wrote:I've tried mini Vs as well, but -....- I could never get them set up so that I could unhook the cable without having to have the bite point at the lever way too close to the bars for my liking....

fair point; I 'fixed' this on one bike by filing the end of the noodle a bit so that it had a couple of flats on which went about halfway down. Took about a minute to do and worked like a charm. Just have to be careful not to overdo it....

cheers

I've used Tektro CR520/720 just fine, but I don't use panniers.
For mini V you can use a noodle with an adjuster http://www.sjscycles.co.uk/tektro-tektr ... prod18060/
I'd second the comment that brake block material is also an important choice.

As brake blocks have been mentioned as equally important can you guys recommend quality break blocks for whatever canti's I decide on? Will have a think about mini v's dont know nothing about them i.e. which ones are any good.

this may sound like a cop out but you will find that you will prefer one over another in much the same way as you might -for reasons no-one fully understands- choose to wear different coloured socks in the morning.

What you do and how you do it makes a difference too. Years ago one of the old boys in my club let me in on his secret for improved brakes; 'clean the rims with WD40...' . I honestly thought he was pulling my leg or that advancing years had finally rendered him one 1/4" ball bearing short of a bottom bracket full.... but with his blocks and his rims it worked rather well.

Even though they don't have as much wear in them as some others, if you know you'll only be happy with cartridge pads, (because they are easy to change, lots of different pad compounds, low profile etc ) it makes sense to get brakes with them on from the start; a good set of blocks and shoes can cost as much as cheap brakes.

cheers

Why do they need replacing? My old Mafac cantilevers have lasted 60 years without needing to be replaced and the rather better made Deore original (Deer's Head) cantilevers have lasted 30 years. Of course, I have changed blocks many times, cables a few times and even the frames at least once; but only the pivots on the brakes can wear, and these don't seem to the extent that they cause problems.

I got rid of the Shimano cantis on my Ridgeback Panorama - pretty useless, especially in the rain. I replaced them with Tektro CR720's to great improvement. No problem with rear panniers but I can see that could be a problem, depending on the carrier and panniers. My carrier is a standard Blackburn and the panniers old Carradice Overlanders. Note that CTC HQ equipment guru Chris Juden recommends them - his advice is always sound.

720's (thats the one with slip in pads) are as good as, or better than, most. Koolstop salmon (pink) pads won't let you down.
I still havn't had a play with these http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=70116 which might offer a better mechanical advantage....these have slip in pads....the cheaper ones only take Shimanos own pads
Loads on setting up cantis...http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=57410...http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=33329

I've never had problems with canti's if trouble is taken to set them up,but if you want the best stoppers V's beat them hands down.
V's won't work with STI's unless acable accelerator is used but if you're using ordinary dropbar levers there is a Tektro dropbar brake lever for V's,I've used them for a few years and they're kit.They cost about £20 or less and work with any V brake so a pair of Deore's would cost about £30(?) throw the shimano pads away and buy some BBB tristop cartridge pads for good stopping wet or dry.
Tekro levers:-
http://www.winstanleysbikes.co.uk/produ ... ake_Levers

Deore V's:- http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=39004

BBB tristops:- http://www.dotbike.com/p/7023?utm_sourc ... mpaign=FGL

my understanding is that mini-V's work Ok with STi's; ordinary V's won't.

But I haven't run the mini-V setup myself, just ridden a bike for a while with it, so I don't know what it is like to live with TBH.

cheers

Brucey wrote:my understanding is that mini-V's work Ok with STi's; ordinary V's won't.

But I haven't run the mini-V setup myself, just ridden a bike for a while with it, so I don't know what it is like to live with TBH.

cheers

Theres problems with clearing mudguards on touring frames with big clearances I believe.

CR 520s or CR720s are the way to go IMHO. They do stick out a lot but I can't see how they could foul on panniers. Can be a pain for Sheffield stands mind you. Personally I think that Oryx are rubbish and need adjusting often and can screach and judder. If you wanted them I bet you you would be able to get a set for free!

I've used Mini-V's successfully. Like most things there's pros and cons. On the bike I had them (a Trek 520) I found they worked well - enough braking power and adjustment.

You can only use them if the frame/fork geometry allows. The arms are about 15mm shorter than standard V's so if you have big clearances for fat tyres. In my experience they also only work successfully if the rims (i.e. where the pad holder is fixed to the arm) are 25-30mm above the bosses. If they're too low then even with mini-V's you won't get enough pad movement from the cable pull from road brake levers and you'll end up needing to keep the pads adjusted too close to the rims for coping with wear and out of true wheels.

The easiest way to allow adjustment is to use noodles with adjusters, I think SJS stock them. The other difficulty may be easy wheel removal because there's no quick release on the brakes. If you're using dysfunctional Japanese STI's ( ) then there won't be enough adjustment to slacken off and uncouple the noodle. Ergos and Cane Creek/Tektro with the brake release at the lever are ideal.

In the end I opted for full V's and V brake road levers. The wheel removal issue was a nuisance and I fancied returning to DT levers on one bike - nostalgia and the ease of use with big gloves!