Cycling UK Forum

I'm in the process of buying a new bike with a full 10 speed Veloce groupset including 'skeleton' brakes.

Are there any issues with these calipers, i'm sure i read something a bit back but can't remember what it was. Anyone got experience of using these?

(I've been using old style Campag calipers for years, tried Shimano but they never seem to work as nicely for me!)

I've got the skeletons on my commuter no issues at all. Swapped the pads out to KoolStop dual compound on the first change as I do with all pads.

Neil

Campag stuff is about the most reliable there is. Veloce is quality stuff, up alongside Shimano Ultegra.

I use Skeleton brakes. Must confess to having a little difficulty in keeping the front brake perfectly centred, but that's all. But I'm a perfectionist.

There was supposedly an "issue" of having a dual pivot on the rear, so on the higher level groups, there's the option of either a mono pivot or a dual pivot rear. Supposedly the braking power and modulation are slightly different. The lower level groups don't have that option as they're dual pivot front and rear, which most riders prefer anyway I believe.

WOOLIFERKINS wrote:I've got the skeletons on my commuter no issues at all. Swapped the pads out to KoolStop dual compound on the first change as I do with all pads.

Neil

Yes but Campag pads are as good they get, even Fibrax are no better.

Thanksfor your replies guys, mind now at rest!

I have Athena skeletons.
Excellent bit of kit, but not so easy to keep clean.

The muck and grime are difficult to remove from inside the "skeleton".
Cotton buds at the ready.

Valbrona wrote:Campag stuff is about the most reliable there is. Veloce is quality stuff, up alongside Shimano Ultegra.

I use Skeleton brakes. Must confess to having a little difficulty in keeping the front brake perfectly centred, but that's all. But I'm a perfectionist.

DP brakes exert a small net torque on the mounting bolt; sometimes this moves and puts the brake off centre.

Jezrant wrote:There was supposedly an "issue" of having a dual pivot on the rear, so on the higher level groups, there's the option of either a mono pivot or a dual pivot rear. Supposedly the braking power and modulation are slightly different. The lower level groups don't have that option as they're dual pivot front and rear, which most riders prefer anyway I believe.

That is what I heard too; on the limit, (i.e. when braking very hard downhill, so the rear wheel is unloaded) the DP rear brake was thought a bit fierce by some racers, and the mono pivot was felt to modulate better, and was for a long time lighter, too. Have they since changed their minds about this? Most leisure riders might well prefer the immediate response of the DP caliper in normal braking, and wouldn't necessarily ever plan to brake at 99%. It might well be a case of stuff ostensibly meant for racing actually mostly being sold and used by people who don't race and/or ride hard.

A few people have experienced incurable squealing with campag DP skeleton calipers, but others have failed to provoke a squeal regardless of set-up. Very odd.

cheers

Providing the spec' is relevant to your bike, depth of drop and do they need to go around the mudguard etc then I for one would use them if the rest of the groupset is Veloce.

Paul

I have D brakes.
ie DP at the front and SP at the rear.

The SP brake has long arms, so although it's not as powerful as a DP brake, it's still more than adequate. I love the D brakes - my second set - because you can squeeze nice and hard on both levers without much danger of skidding the rear end. You can of course, but it needs much more squeezing.

No squeal, and NEVER have done with any of the brake setups I've had on this bike over the years ............ unless I have greasy fingermarks on the rims of course.

I had squealing with a bike I once had. It was a cheapo Tensor Marketing mail order bike and the rear brake squealed like a stuck pig no matter what I did. I had no option but to take advice from our local LBS - Battery Cycle Works on Exeter St Plymouth, in their old location. Circa 1980.

The chap looked at my bike, sniffed, and told me in words of one syllable what was wrong. The rear brake bridge was tacked-on plate steel and not a brazed tube. The plate was flexing allowing the brake calliper to move and pulse as it gripped.

It served me right for buying a cheap and nasty bike. I never made that mistake again.

I really don't understand why Campagnolo ever thought there was a problem with the dual pivot on the rear. Before the Skeleton brakes, all of the groupsets had dual pivot rear brakes after the old sidepulls were discontinued. So for maybe twenty years there was no problem with the Campagnolo dual pivots in the rear. Then suddenly it becomes an issue because some pro riders complained they were too grippy and Campagnolo decided the fix was a single pivot in the rear? If that wasn't bad enough, then some riders started complaining that the single pivot didn't brake as well as the old dual pivot, so Campagnolo backtracked and re-introduced the rear dual pivot as an option. Personally, if given the choice, I'd much rather have dual pivots front and back.

I have Veloce Brakes, was happy with them and thought good stopping power - until last week when cleaning the bike the spring decided to snap!! no warning just 'ping' and snapped - tried to buy a new spring and cant find anywhere to buy a replacement spring - now left with having to buy a 'set' of new brakes from Wiggle or other for £30 - poor spares service.
Just glad I wasnt going down a hill at the time - could have been dangerous - dont know whether this is a general fault

Jezrant wrote: .........Before the Skeleton brakes, all of the groupsets had dual pivot rear brakes .........

Nope.
I have a set of Chorus D brakes that aren't skeleton. TBH, much nicer.

Mick, not sure when your Chorus differential rear dates from or when exactly they introduced the single pivot ("differential") rear, but the callipers in the 1990s had a dual pivot rear.

Re the broken spring, I would have thought that's a pretty rare thing, and that if you returned the calliper to Campagnolo's UK distributor or the shop where you bought the bike originally they'd replace it.

My Chorus D brakes were bought in June 2007.