Braking on the hoods

[BentMikey]

+2 big hands help

I have wimpy arms and hands, LOL!

 

[John the Monkey]

Why do cyclocross bikes still have cantilever brakes? They were obsolete on mountain bikes 18 years ago.

1) The UCI has only just approved discs for competition - expect a lot more disc braked crossers soon.
2) No other sort of rim brake that works with road levers has the clearances required for 'cross.

 

[gaz]

From my personal experience of going from mountain bikes to road bikes. I found at first my hands where not strong enough to give a good pull on the leaver from the hoods. And i found it difficult to stop at first. But after a few weeks it was fine.

As others have said you should be able to stop pretty quickly with the hoods.

 

[Davidc]

Tektro pads are crap - Koolstop Salmon, or Fibrax Extreme are what you need.

Yes.

The dual compound Koolstop ones seem to be recommended for cantilever brakes and I've found them excellent. I do still have one of the sets of original Tektro ones on the back where they are adequate.

I left my originals on for a couple of months. When I changed to Koolstops on the front I'd got used to the originals and had the back wheel off the ground several times!

Also agree with ColinJ about cleaning the rims. I do mine now as part of the fortnightly routine maintenance.

I can't verify it but was told years ago by an LBS that not only do clean rims work better, but they also last longer, especially if you also use emery board to clean up the pads and get rid of embedded grit.

 

[MacB]

Pad advice is all well and good but the OP said that his brakes performed well from the crosstops but not well from the main levers. While clean rims and new pads are advisable for the future I'd suggest they won't resolve that discrepancy.

 

[david1701]

Pad advice is all well and good but the OP said that his brakes performed well from the crosstops but not well from the main levers. While clean rims and new pads are advisable for the future I'd suggest they won't resolve that discrepancy.

I think the cross tops being better is because I have more strength in that kind of pull.

I've been riding today and imo my brakes are getting better, I'm gonna clean the rims and order some new koolstops for the front when I order my sisters tyres (when these invoices get paid)

 

[John the Monkey]

Pad advice is all well and good but the OP said that his brakes performed well from the crosstops but not well from the main levers. While clean rims and new pads are advisable for the future I'd suggest they won't resolve that discrepancy.

Could be technique - leverage from the hoods can be different to in the drops, depending on where on the lever you apply the force.

 

[ACS]

Pad advice is all well and good but the OP said that his brakes performed well from the crosstops but not well from the main levers. While clean rims and new pads are advisable for the future I'd suggest they won't resolve that discrepancy.

I own 2 Tricross Sport (long story) one has suicide levers fitted (56cm) the other (58cm) has had them removed and I find myself agreeing with the OP braking using the main leavers on the 56cm is atrocious. However main lever performance is vastly improved with top levers removed.

I use the 56cm for commuting and find myself using the top levers almost all the time. Whereas the 58cm is used as a 'weekend-audax' type machine so I rarely mix it with town traffic.

Echo what others have said brake pad choice is critical. I use Aztec pads for commuting and Koolstops on the 58cm. I did purchase some Clarks pads and they where useless.

Another factor is brake set up I find I have to tweak the 56cm every two weeks or so, reduce the gap slightly just to keep the brakes sharp.

 

[MacB]

Now don't start calling them suicide levers, they were a very different thing to the modern crosstops. I actually agree with everything being said about pads, rims, hand positions for braking etc, but I also believe it's perfectly possible to have main lever issues due to poor cabling between the two levers.

Still it's a very easy thing to check, if you touch the main lever there should be an immediate reaction at brake caliper, if there isn't, if the lever travels before actuation begins then you have losses. I've suggested a compressionless outer between the two levers as a fix, but another option may be to move the crosstop lever slightly. A mm or two in either direction may be all that it needs, if you have main lever losses that is.

However if this simple test shows some losses, as it's a new bike, I'd pop back to the shop and get them to sort it. If you act aggrieved enough you may even get some better pads thrown in

 

[ColinJ]

Pad advice is all well and good but the OP said that his brakes performed well from the crosstops but not well from the main levers. While clean rims and new pads are advisable for the future I'd suggest they won't resolve that discrepancy.

I can lock my wheels braking from the drops using one finger on each lever. From the hoods, it takes me three fingers. That leaves one spare on each hand!

It is definitely harder to brake from the hoods, but it shouldn't be difficult!

 

[MacB]

I can lock my wheels braking from the drops using one finger on each lever. From the hoods, it takes me three fingers. That leaves one spare on each hand!

It is definitely harder to brake from the hoods, but it shouldn't be difficult!

That would be my thoughts, using the main lever all you're doing is pulling the cable, hopefully with as little friction as possible. But the crosstop works by pushing on the cable outer, so a harder thing to do, certainly mine needs more effort than my main lever.

 

[ColinJ]

That would be my thoughts, using the main lever all you're doing is pulling the cable, hopefully with as little friction as possible. But the crosstop works by pushing on the cable outer, so a harder thing to do, certainly mine needs more effort than my main lever.

Ah, I wondered how they worked - now I know!

 

[greenmark]

The geometry in cantis mean that you only need to make some very small changes in the set up to hugely affect the mechanical advantage. Changing brake pads help but often much of the improvement people get with the kool stops is from the changes in geometry that happen from inserting the new brake shoes, not from the pads themselves. Based on http://www.circleacy...ti-geometry.pdf you can maximise braking power in Tektro cantis by doing the following:

Step 1: set up the shoe arm so that it is perpendicular with the rim when the brake pad touches the rim.

Step 2: attach the canti arms to the shoe arms so that they are as wide as possible when the brakes are closed.
Basically this means attaching the canti arms as far out along the brake shoes as possible while at the same time still making sure that you keep the shoe arms perpendicular to the rim.

Step 3: lower the yoke on the main cable so that the straddle wire is as short as possible and the yoke is as low as you can get it while giving you clearance for your tyre or mudguard.

The set up above will be somewhat similar with Super-wide arm cantis but you need to move the yoke further up the brake cable. This isn't likely to apply to even the Tektro wide arm cantis... it's only to super-wide arm cantis.

 

[smokeysmoo]

My Focus Mares AX 1.0 has Avid Shorty 4's and no cross top levers. Orignally the brake performance was pretty poor, swopped the pads and it's now perfectly acceptable, still not as good as any of the road calipers on my other bikes, but good enough none the less.

I had thought of fitting cross top levers, but as I'm used to braking on the hoods I can't be @rsed

 

[smokeysmoo]

Why do cyclocross bikes still have cantilever brakes? They were obsolete on mountain bikes 18 years ago.

Mud clearance. Apparently they are perfect for what they are meant for, ie: tearing across muddy fields in cyclo cross. Then you put one the road, and wahey, you can't freakin' stop!