Tektro CR720 reviews please

[pinkshogun]

how do you like these? do they stick out too far in back?
rim to pad clearance?

[thirdgenbird]

I grew up in the linear pull brake era, but here is my experience...

I thought they worked fine for the money. I didn't have any clearance issues and rim to pad clearance was much better than a linear pull brake. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

I most recently set up a pair of Campagnolo cantilever brakes and thought the straddle cable barrel adjuster was a nice addition. I'm not sure I could justify the price of Paul's after using these.

[dawgie]

I love the Tektro 720 canti brakes and have them on two bikes. They have tons of clearance for tires/fenders and brake well if you replace the stock pads with Koolstops. They do jut out quite a bit on the sides, which has not been a problem for me but might be under certain circumstances that I can't imagine offhand. For the money, the Tektro 720s are hard to beat.

I also have the Shimano CX-50 and BR-R550 brakes on other bikes. The CX-50s work are comparable in performance to the Tektros but don't jut out as much and cost about twice as much. My LBS reals likes the CX-50s and says they are more adjustable than most cantis. The Tektro 720s work better than the BR-R550s and have more clearance.

Bottom line, if money is not a big issue, I would recommend the Shimano CX-50s. If you are concerned with costs, get the Tektros and don't look back. They function great.

[Mr Cabletwitch]

I put koolstops on mine and loved them. Worked great and didn't cost a lot.

[nooneline]

CR720s are the best budget cantilever brake.

[p nut]

Have them on two of my bikes. Nice brakes, especially for the cost. Stock pads weren't the greatest. I suggest ordering some Kool Stops along with the brakes.

[staggerwing]

For price, an absolute bargain. Ran them on my daily driver, all season, Gunnar Crosshairs commuter for the better part of 4 years. Great stopping power and lever feel. I found them easy to setup, and easy to unhook for tire changes.

Yes for running KoolStop or Yokozuna pads. I did have some brake shudder issues with the Waterford steel fork and a top mount cable hanger. NOT the brakes fault. Going with a Specialized fork bridge cable hanger was a 100% cure.

Add a light dollop of silicone grease or anti-seize to the canti posts before mounting. Mine would occasionally get sticky from riding in sloppy winter riding.

[atrexler]

I love these brakes. Waaay easier to adjust the position of the brake pad than alot of other canti setups I've tried. Easy to unhook for wheel changes. Good power with cheapo brake pads too.

I've raced cross on them for two years without any trouble. They do stick out a bit but I've never had any issues whacking them with a leg or anything. I've occasionally pondered switching to a fancier set of brakes on my race rig, but if its not broke, why fix it?

[benb]

Have them on my All City...

I had to put the Kool Stop pads on to get any decent power out of them. Once I did that I had a relatively easy time adjusting them to stop well and be quiet.

The pads are currently about 50% worn on them right now though and they howl like a banshee (front and rear). I need to find time to readjust the angle, but I may just throw new pads on.

They do have tons of clearance, no problem with 700x35 tires + SKS fenders.

So for me, the weakness compared to standard road brakes is more need to fiddle with the pad angle.. but then maybe I just haven't gotten the perfect angle.

These also stop dramatically better with one of my sets of rims (Mavic) than the other (can't remember the brand). But that doesn't have much to do with the calipers themselves. Super easy to adjust them for different width rims though. :)

[mmfs]

CR720's are the best canti brakes I've tried, especially for the price. Wondered why I fooled around with anything else. Once I put them on one bike, I replaced the brakes on my second bike with them as well.

They do stick out quite a bit - I had to adjust my rear panniers further back to accommodate this. Aside from that, the fact that they stick out hasn't created any other issues.

I started with the stock pads and replaced them with Kool Stop salmon as they wear out.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[spartanKid]

FYI: I'm about to re-iterate what everyone else in this thread has said.

Great brakes, especially for the money. They're even reasonably light for canti brakes that aren't EuroUltimateRevoXPaul. I used to run mini-vs, and I like the 720s a lot more because there is actually modulation in the lever pull and significantly reduced (eliminated?) fork shudder.

I used to have them front and rear on my CX race bike, but I switched out the rear for an Oryx because of heel clearance on dis/re-mounts. The Oryx howls like a wolf, even with salmon koolstops and crazy toe-in. 720 on the other hand is silent and shudder free with salmon koolstops and zero toe-in.

The Oryx has WAY LESS rim clearance, but set up with a reasonably low straddle cable (1-2" over the tire) they get way more stopping power than the 720. That being said, when I was running 720s front and rear, they stopped my 190lbs perfectly fine on the road and cx course.

For the price and the ease of set-up they really can't be beat. <$20 per wheel. Make sure you toss the stock pads immediately, and get the thinline or eagle-2 Salmon Koolstops.

Footnote: They perform slightly better with levers with MORE mechanical advantage, i.e. they pull less cable. So there is slight performance increase with SRAM/Campy/7800-era levers than with new hidden-routing Shimano levers.

[campy man]

Looking at replacing the stock pads with Kool Stop.

Are the Thinline threaded the correct replacement brake pad ... black or salmon?

[mmfs]

After they've worn out, I've replaced the stock pads with salmon Kool Stop Dura 2 pads ( in the pad holders that came with the brakes).

http://www.koolstop.com/english/dura2.html

Although, I understand from Rivendell's site that you may need different pads if you have an older version of the brakes.

http://www.rivbike.com/product-p/brc15153.htm

[zennmotion]

I've got them on 3 bikes- 2 CX race bikes and my Ritchey breakaway cross/travel bike. I agree with all of the above, but to add 3 points:
First, "they stick out more than others"- yes and the advantage is better pad clearance for muddy conditions, but at the cost of slightly less braking power as compared with lower profile canti models like the Oryx. I've never had an interference problem with race dismounts, though this may be an individual style thing. However, I have found the braking power more than adequate (with kool stop pads) and I like the better clearance. Even with the travel bike that doesn't really see CX race or offroad action, wet gravel roads often coat the rims with sandy grime. And the brake power is just fine even with my small hands- and the travel bike has seen alpine mountain roads. You choice of levers may make some difference here as well, campy feels "easier" for me to squeeze than shimano due to different lever shapes.

Second, the CR720 hardware is well thought out, the threaded pads are very easy to mount and adjust as compared to traditional non-threaded posts. The ease of adjustment, with a single 5mm hex key is a great advantage especially for a CX race bike using several sets of wheels, and the ease of making last minute adjustments before a race is a good thing. Some other brakes take several tools, have more small parts and are much more fussy- eg Avid Ultimates which are much more expensive, but watching a team mate despair after losing small parts in the grass just before race time while trying to adjust- you get the picture.

Third- a caveat. Wide stance cantis like the CR720 may be difficult to set up properly on small frames because they generally need a higher straddle cable than narrow stance cantis. On a small frame the height of the straddle (in the rear) could be limited by the low position of the frame's cable stop, so a model like the Oryx would be a better choice in that case. Likewise the straddle cable height may be limited in the front if you're using a fork crown-mounted cable stop.

[eddief]

I can't get my fronts to stop making noise. This is on a big bike so first I moved the cable guide from just under the bars to a guide that bolts onto the fork crown. That helped a little. Then I replaced the pads with Kools and that helped a little. But for the life o me, I can't find a pad placement that ends all of the noise.

Have them on my All City...

I had to put the Kool Stop pads on to get any decent power out of them. Once I did that I had a relatively easy time adjusting them to stop well and be quiet.

The pads are currently about 50% worn on them right now though and they howl like a banshee (front and rear). I need to find time to readjust the angle, but I may just throw new pads on.

They do have tons of clearance, no problem with 700x35 tires + SKS fenders.

So for me, the weakness compared to standard road brakes is more need to fiddle with the pad angle.. but then maybe I just haven't gotten the perfect angle.

These also stop dramatically better with one of my sets of rims (Mavic) than the other (can't remember the brand). But that doesn't have much to do with the calipers themselves. Super easy to adjust them for different width rims though. :)

[nooneline]

I've got them on 3 bikes- 2 CX race bikes and my Ritchey breakaway cross/travel bike. I agree with all of the above, but to add 3 points:
First, "they stick out more than others"- yes and the advantage is better pad clearance for muddy conditions, but at the cost of slightly less braking power as compared with lower profile canti models like the Oryx. I've never had an interference problem with race dismounts, though this may be an individual style thing. However, I have found the braking power more than adequate (with kool stop pads) and I like the better clearance. Even with the travel bike that doesn't really see CX race or offroad action, wet gravel roads often coat the rims with sandy grime. And the brake power is just fine even with my small hands- and the travel bike has seen alpine mountain roads. You choice of levers may make some difference here as well, campy feels "easier" for me to squeeze than shimano due to different lever shapes.

Second, the CR720 hardware is well thought out, the threaded pads are very easy to mount and adjust as compared to traditional non-threaded posts. The ease of adjustment, with a single 5mm hex key is a great advantage especially for a CX race bike using several sets of wheels, and the ease of making last minute adjustments before a race is a good thing. Some other brakes take several tools, have more small parts and are much more fussy- eg Avid Ultimates which are much more expensive, but watching a team mate despair after losing small parts in the grass just before race time while trying to adjust- you get the picture.

Third- a caveat. Wide stance cantis like the CR720 may be difficult to set up properly on small frames because they generally need a higher straddle cable than narrow stance cantis. On a small frame the height of the straddle (in the rear) could be limited by the low position of the frame's cable stop, so a model like the Oryx would be a better choice in that case. Likewise the straddle cable height may be limited in the front if you're using a fork crown-mounted cable stop.

These are good thoughts, except, for your third, I've found the opposite to be true - wide profile brakes have fit on very small bikes for me, when narrow-profile brakes don't.

Your second point is really good. At a CX race this fall, some guy came up to me and asked if I had a wrench - he was adjusting some EuroX brakes and needed a 10mm box wrench for the back of 'em. EuroX and the like are famous for their inability to handle one adjustment. You make one adjustment, and you need to make three or four more. And then three or four more again. Over and over and over. This guy borrowed my wrench and he was bonafide at it for damn near two hours.

Recently I got my hands on some FSA SL-K brakes, which I had always assumed were right in the same area as the Tektro CR720s.

They both take threaded brake shoes, which is really really nice. While I have some nice brakes with threadless posts, ugh, they are a huge pain in the ass to adjust and to get even. If I were designing a cantilever brake, it would take a threadless post - no question about it.

But, the SL-Ks have a few nice upgrades over the Tektros. The finish is nicer - but who cares. What's important is, they have an integrated barrel adjuster where the straddle cable attaches to one of the arms. Very, very nice feature. And, they come with nice hardware - the anchor bolt and the straddle cable hanger both have nice, big, firm, single-bolt attachments. It makes the whole brake easier to set up than most. They have nice, firm, strong response. The brake arms

Basically they're like an upgrade to the CR720s, comparable to something from TRP or Paul, but for a much much much better price.

I'm not used to FSA making things that work really well. These brakes are a nice surprise.

If you l ike CR720s but are looking for something just a little bit nicer, you should look at the FSAs.

[zennmotion]

These are good thoughts, except, for your third, I've found the opposite to be true - wide profile brakes have fit on very small bikes for me, when narrow-profile brakes don't.

Your second point is really good. At a CX race this fall, some guy came up to me and asked if I had a wrench - he was adjusting some EuroX brakes and needed a 10mm box wrench for the back of 'em. EuroX and the like are famous for their inability to handle one adjustment. You make one adjustment, and you need to make three or four more. And then three or four more again. Over and over and over. This guy borrowed my wrench and he was bonafide at it for damn near two hours.

Recently I got my hands on some FSA SL-K brakes, which I had always assumed were right in the same area as the Tektro CR720s.

They both take threaded brake shoes, which is really really nice. While I have some nice brakes with threadless posts, ugh, they are a huge pain in the ass to adjust and to get even. If I were designing a cantilever brake, it would take a threadless post - no question about it.

But, the SL-Ks have a few nice upgrades over the Tektros. The finish is nicer - but who cares. What's important is, they have an integrated barrel adjuster where the straddle cable attaches to one of the arms. Very, very nice feature. And, they come with nice hardware - the anchor bolt and the straddle cable hanger both have nice, big, firm, single-bolt attachments. It makes the whole brake easier to set up than most. They have nice, firm, strong response. The brake arms

Basically they're like an upgrade to the CR720s, comparable to something from TRP or Paul, but for a much much much better price.

I'm not used to FSA making things that work really well. These brakes are a nice surprise.

If you l ike CR720s but are looking for something just a little bit nicer, you should look at the FSAs.

I agree that the FSAs are worth looking at, they look nice. I think you can also buy aftermarket barrel adjusters that work with the Tektros, but if you can get all that with the FSAs then that would be the way to go. Also, you can find wider aftermarket straddle hangers (I think Salsa makes some) that would make any brake easier to set up properly on a small frame.