Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.
tlupfer
10-11-06, 09:32 AM
anyone have success with modern cantilevers and the trek 720 fork? the paul neo retros don't seem to work. the rim is not extraordinarily wide (mavic open pro), though the fork seems extraordinarily narrow. the original brakes worked with the rim/fork combo, but they have since been lost.
I have the same problem. My Neo Retros won't fit the narrow unicrown fork my bike came with. They go on, but they really ball things up if a tire change is necessary, because the cool stop pads don't fold out of the way. They aren't adjustable in the pad position in such a way that the angle of the arms can be tuned for proper function.
One option if you have the NRs already might be a Nashbar fork, it's wide, and I have heard good things about it. Unfortunately my ride uses a 1" tube.
The other option I am contemplating until I get things fixed up (I'm planing on making a fork) is these brakes by Nashbar. They are inexpensive, and have adjustable regular blocks. I've always had the regular blocks and they seem to work fine if one can get things properly set:
http://www.nashbar.com/profile_moreimages.cfm?category=69&subcategory=1014&sku=8037&brand=
Maybe Tektro or someone has a better execution of this concept...
I found several things about the neos, that seemed to require custom installation. I don't like the way they fit on regular canti bosses, I don't like the way they require to be designed for a particular fork width, canti spacing and rim width. But when I build my fork I expect to be able to dial all that in and the results should be more what I had in mind when I first bought them. I haven't tried mounting them on my MTB, but it would probably be fine. They weren't designed for my touring bike so I'm not criticizing the brakes, it's just one of those peculiar compatibility issues.