# Whats the adaptor called for mtb callipers on cx's?



## gb155 (1 Sep 2011)

I have the chance to get some avid BB7's quite cheap, but they are the mtb not road version, someone mentioned that there is some sort of adaptor that you can get for the mtb versions to make them work on CX frames ??

What's the name of such a device ? And the cost ?

Many thanks 

Gaz


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## Alun (1 Sep 2011)

"Travel Agent" is one of them.


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## gb155 (1 Sep 2011)

Alun said:


> "Travel Agent" is one of them.



Thanks, Humm, £20 , not as cheap as I was hoping LOL


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## Zoiders (1 Sep 2011)

I would stick with the canti brakes and save the money.

I don't think it will be under braked at all.


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## gb155 (1 Sep 2011)

Zoiders said:


> I would stick with the canti brakes and save the money.
> 
> I don't think it will be under braked at all.



Sadly I couldn't disagree more tho.


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## John the Monkey (1 Sep 2011)

What levers, and brake?

You can get a lot of power out of Oryxes (low profile) and a fair bit from CR720/520s, ime. Straddle level and good pads are the key.

Although I've never tried it, there's a lot of info on mini-vs and road levers here; 
http://forums.roadbikereview.com/cyclocross/my-mini-v-setup-146309.html

FWIW, I didn't know travel agents worked for disc brakes.


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## Zoiders (1 Sep 2011)

gb155 said:


> Sadly I couldn't disagree more tho.


On a towpath?

Which is shared use?


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## gb155 (1 Sep 2011)

Zoiders said:


> On a towpath?
> 
> Which is shared use?



Yes??


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## GrumpyGregry (1 Sep 2011)

John the Monkey said:


> FWIW, I didn't know travel agents worked for disc brakes.



yeah they're good. like when putting V's on a canti equipped drop bar cx-bike. Avoids the hideous mush you get otherwise.

Mind you under the circs I'd prob go bar end shifters and dedicated V brake drop bar levers.


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## Zoiders (1 Sep 2011)

gb155 said:


> Yes??


Just exercise a bit of caution, if you are having close calls with peds on a shared use path it's not the braking power at fault, or the peds.


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## MacB (1 Sep 2011)

Gaz, the gizmos are Travel Agents but they are not cheap and I wasn't overly impressed when I tried them, fiddly to setup and you will find reviews of them wearing the cables more. No matter how good the deal on the MTB BB7s is, Travel Agents on top will take you a long way towards road BB7 prices anyway. Plus I'm guessing the good price means second hand, which may mean new pads/rotors arise far sooner than otherwise and they aren't cheap.

Given that you can get the same caliper in long pull or short pull then I personally would avoid adaptors to make disparate parts work together.


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## John the Monkey (1 Sep 2011)

What bike's this going on Gaz? 

If it doesn't have a disc ready fork/frame, it won't work in any case. (The only CX I see in your line up is the Uncle John).

Greg: I keep thinking along those lines (barcons & v/canti levers) for the tourer, but STi has made me lazy  Maybe if I get a dedicated commuter for the Tiagra levers to live on...


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## gb155 (2 Sep 2011)

Zoiders said:


> Just exercise a bit of caution, if you are having close calls with peds on a shared use path it's not the braking power at fault, or the peds.



Who mentioned close calls ? Or that I not cautious ?

I want proper stopping power in order to ensure that if anything does happen out of the blue, then I'm covered, also when on road all it takes is for a car to pull out of a side Rd when it shouldn't and I don't have the stoping power needed


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## gb155 (2 Sep 2011)

Looking at PX's readers-rides ( sadly, unrelated to readers wives) someone had added hope hydro disks to a Uncle John with drop bars ( on the flats) and kept the road sti levers, has anyone here done that ? I really want to keep drops and sti's however hydraulic disk brakes are where it's at tbh


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## gb155 (2 Sep 2011)

MacB said:


> Gaz, the gizmos are Travel Agents but they are not cheap and I wasn't overly impressed when I tried them, fiddly to setup and you will find reviews of them wearing the cables more. No matter how good the deal on the MTB BB7s is, Travel Agents on top will take you a long way towards road BB7 prices anyway. Plus I'm guessing the good price means second hand, which may mean new pads/rotors arise far sooner than otherwise and they aren't cheap.
> 
> Given that you can get the same caliper in long pull or short pull then I personally would avoid adaptors to make disparate parts work together.




Duly noted, thanks buddy


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## gb155 (2 Sep 2011)

John the Monkey said:


> What bike's this going on Gaz?
> 
> If it doesn't have a disc ready fork/frame, it won't work in any case. (The only CX I see in your line up is the Uncle John).
> 
> Greg: I keep thinking along those lines (barcons & v/canti levers) for the tourer, but STi has made me lazy Maybe if I get a dedicated commuter for the Tiagra levers to live on...



Hi John, it's going on the uncle John ( oh the irony ) I have a set of wheels ready for it & will be replacing the fork for one that will take disks


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## John the Monkey (2 Sep 2011)

gb155 said:


> Looking at PX's readers-rides ( sadly, unrelated to readers wives) someone had added hope hydro disks to a Uncle John with drop bars ( on the flats) and kept the road sti levers, has anyone here done that ? I really want to keep drops and sti's however hydraulic disk brakes are where it's at tbh



TRP (Tektro's high end division) do a doodad that converts cable to hydraulic, the parabox; http://road.cc/content/news/32381-taipei-sneak-peek-trp-parabox-hydraulic-junction I'd imagine it's not a cheap option though.

You sound like your mind's made up, but I say again, tuning your current canti setup might give you the power you want and would be WAY cheaper than getting a disc ready fork, wheel, brakes...


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## gb155 (2 Sep 2011)

John the Monkey said:


> TRP (Tektro's high end division) do a doodad that converts cable to hydraulic, the parabox; http://road.cc/conte...raulic-junction I'd imagine it's not a cheap option though.
> 
> You sound like your mind's made up, but I say again, tuning your current canti setup might give you the power you want and would be WAY cheaper than getting a disc ready fork, wheel, brakes...




Hi John

I'm not sure what you mean by tuning my canti's ??


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## Alun (2 Sep 2011)

gb155 said:


> Looking at PX's readers-rides ( sadly, unrelated to readers wives) someone had added hope hydro disks to a Uncle John with drop bars ( on the flats) and kept the road sti levers, has anyone here done that ? I really want to keep drops and sti's however hydraulic disk brakes are where it's at tbh



I saw that as well, bit Heath Robinson, I think we're still a couple of years away from hydraulics on drop bars, shame !


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## gb155 (3 Sep 2011)

Alun said:


> I saw that as well, bit Heath Robinson, I think we're still a couple of years away from hydraulics on drop bars, shame !




Even tho I have bought some wheels, I'm not adversed to trying to get a good canti set up ( I assume John means a different type of pads and brakes ?) 

I'd also assume the 700c disk wheels would work on my mtb turning it to a 29'er ??


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## Alun (4 Sep 2011)

gb155 said:


> Even tho I have bought some wheels, I'm not adversed to trying to get a good canti set up ( I assume John means a different type of pads and brakes ?)
> 
> I'd also assume the 700c disk wheels would work on my mtb turning it to a 29'er ??



I have been unable to get a "good" canti setup despite trying 3 different cantis and 2 aftermarket pads. The setup I have now is "OK", no better than that.

I think that 29er wheels and disc braked 700c road wheel are much the same.


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## vernon (4 Sep 2011)

Alun said:


> I have been unable to get a "good" canti setup despite trying 3 different cantis and 2 aftermarket pads. The setup I have now is "OK", no better than that.
> 
> I think that 29er wheels and disc braked 700c road wheel are much the same.



Froggleg calipers shod with Koolstop salmon pads bring my 24 stone carcase and bike to a controlled halt pretty sharpish.


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## gb155 (5 Sep 2011)

vernon said:


> Froggleg calipers shod with Koolstop salmon pads bring my 24 stone carcase and bike to a controlled halt pretty sharpish.




Ooooooooh right - I've ordered some koolstop salmons - let's see how much better they are ( thanks for the tip btw)


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## John the Monkey (5 Sep 2011)

1) If the brake comes with a link wire, don't use it - use a proper straddle instead.

2) Change the pads for Kool Stops

3) Experiment with the position of the straddle - in general, lower gives you more stopping power, at the expense of less space between pad and rim. Bear in mind that low profile brakes (e.g. Oryx) LOSE mechanical advantage as the pad approaches the rim.

4) I like a fork crown mounted hanger better than a steerer mounted hanger, personally.

For Oryx, on the LHT, I liked the straddle so the clamp bolt to the main wire was level with the lower part of the headset. For CR720s, I have the straddle much lower, with the clamp bolt level with the fork crown nut.

Pads will cost no more than £8 (I like Fibrax Xtreme, £6 at my LBS). Decent straddles (I like Tektro's that they ship with the CR720) a similar amount, I think.


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## gb155 (5 Sep 2011)

John the Monkey said:


> 1) If the brake comes with a link wire, don't use it - use a proper straddle instead.
> 
> 2) Change the pads for Kool Stops
> 
> ...




Thanks John

I've ordered a set of koolstop salmon's , worth a go eh ?


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## John the Monkey (5 Sep 2011)

gb155 said:


> I've ordered a set of koolstop salmon's , worth a go eh ?



For sure.

I got a lot of power out of my Oryx brakes, but found the lack of clearance a bit annoying, so went back to CR720s. Don't forget that I run 42c tyres & mudguards, so I probably don't have my straddle wire as low as it could go with, say, 32c or similar tyres.


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