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Old 09-08-06, 10:25 PM
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Michel Gagnon
Year-round cyclist
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Montréal (Québec)
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Originally Posted by hoss10
And the questions continue!! In review I'm really tall and heavy and I'm going to build a custom touring bike. We have already solved (I think) the bar problem, the Salsa bars look really good.

Now for some other questions.

Hubs I know Phil Wood hubs are the best, but I'm not sure I can afford them, any alternatives, I now use Shimano XT's and they tend to last about 3 years.

Rims Sun now makes the Ryno Lite in a 29 inch model and I have good luck with them in the past, they are MTB rims could they be too wide, for touring?

And finally (for now) brakes, the builder kind of likes mechanical disks, but I'm not sure I need the complexity or cost. Which is better suited for a touring bike, disks, V's, or cantilever?

Thanks for all the ideas. Ted This is almost as much fun as the ride!

Hubs. My single uses an XT hub. It has 20 000 km so far and still going strong. For the front hub, I'm very partial for the Schmidt dynohub. With it, you won't ever be out of light.

Rims. My neighbourhood bike shops don't like the Sun rims at all. I had bad experiences with a Bontraeger Farlane asymetric (36 spokes, failed in less than 4000 km) and with two Velocity Dyad (40 spokes on a tandem, rear was repaired at 2500 km; front and rear failed at 4000 km). The three Mavic A719 rims I have stay true even when doing loaded touring in potholes, and one of these has 20 000 km. For foulproof rims, get 36 spokes.

Brakes. Disc brakes are great for cyclocross and for commuting on wet streets like in rainy Seattle. But for touring, it's a solution in search of a problem. With disc brakes, you need:
– a beefier fork which weights a bit more and won't dampen road vibrations as well;
– special racks which have limited availability, cost more and/or weight more (Old Man Mountain and some Tubus models);
– wear and tear on the pannier fabric (because the brake casing may rub).

So the choice is really between V brakes and cantilever brakes. Both are equally good, equally effective and equally easy to maintain, with the following limitations:

V-brakes. The only road levers directly compatible with them are the Dia Compe 287 V, which are sold 60-80 $ U.S. And they have a bit limited travel, which is not a problem if you like to bottom out the levers (I do). With ordinary brake levers like the 10 $ Shimano Exxage or with STI or Ergo levers, you need to add Travel Agents, which add 20 $ to the cost of each brake, and which have a reputation to eat brake cables.
If you install bar-end or downtube shifters, then the 287-V levers and v-brakes make a very good setup. Very lean also.

One caveat: unless you are positive you'll never want to tour with tires larger than 700x30 and will never want to use fenders, avoid the Tekto mini-V brakes, because they don't offer enough clearance for touring.

Cantilever brakes. Between Avid, Shimano and Tektro, not sure which is best, and which squeals like mad. Wide profile brakes require a bit less force to apply, but make sure your feet or panniers don't interfere with them. Whatever model you buy, make sure you get one that uses threaded brake pads like these (and like v-brakes). Pads with threaded posts are much easier to adjust.
Cantis are directly compatible with all brake levers including STI and Ergo, but you'll need cable hangers, and adjusting the rear brake on a smallish 17" or 18" frame can be tricky.
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