love this quote from Urban Cycles

[eddief]

http://ucycle.com/index.php

I love some attitude on occasion and it sounds like they have some.


"Properly set up cantis stop as well as and are as light as dual pivot calipers despite claims by weight weenies and roadie posers."

[shaq-d]

i don't get that.. i thought it's common knowledge ATB brakes are actually better than road brakes? from experience my cantilevers would stop me on a dime...

sd

[flydhest]

Once you get to the point where the tires are skidding, the "power" of the brakes doesn't matter any more. Stopping on a dime is much more a function of the tires' adhesion than of the brakes. On a mountain bike, you've got much more traction due to wider tires and knobbies, so you can take advantage of the brakes . . . that and the fact that you need more clearance. I have yet to encounter a quality road brake that I can't use to make the tires skid. As a result, I don't need more "power" for braking. Better modulation . . .maybe, but more "stopping power" . . . nahhhhh.

[Ahneida Ride]

Good Point Flyman.

[Johny]

Fly,

Well said.

P.S. I thought you do not use your brakes. You do? :)

[Louis]

Because of the piecemeal way I’ve built up my road bikes I’ve never used dual-pivot calipers, just the old side-pull single pivot (and a very old center pull). I agree with Fly that nearly any brake can lock up a tire. The issue therefore seems to be modulation.

So here’s my question: is the improvement in modulation worth it to upgrade to dual-pivot?

Louis

[Ken Robb]

I have bikes with dual pivot, single pivot, canti, and v brakes. They all work fine but the Nuovo Record single pivots do require more handpower to make them skid. I think it is because they have a very different leverage ratio than the dual pivots. The singles have the shoes much farther away from the rims and they close this greater distance with the same amount of handlever movement as required on my dual pivots which have the pads resting much closer to the rim. In other words, the dual pivot sytem has a much greater mechanical advantage(or leverage if you will) than the single pivot and therefore exerts more presure on the pads for a given handlever movement.
The modulation of the single pivots is much easier as they require a darn firm squeeze to lock the wheel. I guess that years ago when wheels were perhaps not as strong pound-for-pound the extra clearance between pad and rim was more important than with modern wheels??? I also like it when I'm running 700x28 or 32 tires because I can still put the wheels on/off without deflating the tire.

[csm]

the old single pivot campy brakes were to slow you down not to stop you.
which is how it should be.

[zap]

More braking force is always appreciated. Especially when going downhill at 55+ mph. Weight transfers to the front, so use the front brakes more and use body english to prevent flipping over the bars :D

My DA dual pivot brakes for example could do with more braking power. I swear my old campy single pivot brakes were better.

We have canti's on our tandem and they work quite well. And lighter than any dual pivot out there. Well........not the zero gravity brakes....

[JackL]

We have canti's on our tandem and they work quite well. And lighter than any dual pivot out there. Well........not the zero gravity brakes....

Are canti's really lighter? Fork blades need to be heavier to resist the outward flex, then there are the brake bosses, cable hangers, straddle wire.

(I don't like canti's so I'm biased)

[zap]

Our old Avid Tri-Align Canti's are right at 302 grams including cable hanger and Ritchey pads. So just a little lighter than today's dual pivots. XTR canti's are about the same as today's dual pivot brakes. Fork blades for tandems are beefier anyways but yes, for singles they would weigh more. As for bosses, well thats a wash between marginally shorter housing runs for canti's and the lack of that central brake bolt attachment assembly (whats that called?) on the frame.

Canti's do need to be set up properly in order to work well. To much work for the average mechanic so along came v-brakes. Now disc brakes have taken over mountain biking. So until the UCI wakes up, canti's only for cyclocross.