calstar 

The price is right($20 or less), just want some opinions on how well they work based on your personal experience.

thanks, Brian

Bianchigirll 

I never used those but Tektro make good stuff.

Yo Spiff

No personal experience with that model, but I have Tektro levers on one bike and they are great. Just bought some Tektro v-brakes for another bike for $25.

They make good but reasonably priced components. Hmmm... I wonder if they may eventually jump into the game of making full component groups?

Al Criner

I use them. 195 lb rider, bike is a Surly Cross Check. They work fine. Set them up with a long straddle wire. Aim for a 90 degree angle between the wire and brake arm when the pads are against the rim.

I use Velo-Orange no-squeal pads. Some folks think those are too soft or something but I have had good luck with them.

Update: I take back my comment about the V-O pads. They definitely do not squeal which was their main selling point but with more experience they really don't stop well and I think they scrub your rims away. Kool Stop pads are great, also Mike's Bikes has the Bike Smart brand and those pads are surprisingly good IMHO. I stand by my comments on the CR-720s, with good pads they are excellent brakes.

mconlonx

More likely buy out someone already in the business of groups right now, or someone buys them. Sunrace/Sturmey Archer comes to mind...

I had Tektro 720s on a commuter and they were a good canti brake at any price, an outright under-priced bargain at <$20/set. You get way more for your money with these.

This was an older commuter, sold, and the commuter that replaced it got set up with V-O mk2 cantis. 720s were better at a fraction of the price. Also better than generic Shimano cantis. The commuter got switched over to V-brakes.

If performance is what you're after, go with linear pull v-brakes, but I'd put the Tektro 720 among the better cantis performance-wise, with both looks and price in their favor.

Highly recommended.

dsbrantjr

Highly recommended. I have them on both of my canti-equipped bikes. I pair them with the Problem Solvers Wide Cable Hangers and Kool Stop Salmon pads. They come with OK hangers but I like the wide ones better. I feel that the wider hangers make the brake action less sensitive to the straddle cable height and easier to balance side-to-side.

calstar 

Interesting, I've never used the wide hangers, thought they were just eye-candy! thanks

xenologer

Used to use them, compared to various other canti brakes I've used they're on the weak end.
very nice features, well designed, good clean look, but weak in terms of stopping power.

the tektro cr710 has very similar design features (nice springs, self contained pivot bushings, etc), but different arm geometry for increased power. I consider them to be superiour to the cr720.

at the moment, 3 of my 5 bikes use Avid Shortys; I reccomend these, but not as they come out of the box.
they come with precut link wires; but to get best adjustment I replaced that hardware with traditional yoke and straddle wires.

canti brakes in general are very sensitive to adjustment, your mileage will vary
brakes with a wide profile -arms angle out horizontally (the cr720), tend to have limited adjustability, as the wire angle is restricted by the need to clear the tire. I've found that narrow rims and tires can help them to be at their best; wide rims and fat tires not so much
medium profile brakes -arms angle upwards aroudn 45degrees (cr710, avid shorty, tektro oryx) have more freedom to balance tire/wire clearance, and wire angle. less copromise is needed to get ideal adjustment

DIMcyclist

Not bad at all, for a canti. Better than the Oryx; maybe not quite as nice as the Avid Shorty 6. I had these on my old commuter (since you have enough adjustment range for a 650b wheelset) and I quite liked them.

One little caveat though- I've rarely used the provided link cables and usually cut my own straddle wires.

Deathmobile

They're a great brake if for some reason you need a really high cable yoke. I've got a porteur rack whose mounting strut would get in the way of other canti yokes, but the 720's optimal straddle height is high enough to not be effected. Like everyone else has mentioned it's not the strongest brake but I'll put in a good word for its modulation. They're also a dead simple install. No shudder, no squeal, solid brakes right out of the box. Just don't try to make any sudden stops from the hoods.

Bezalel

I origionally built up my Nashbar touring frame with CR-720s and had alot of trouble with the stradle cable. When I added JandD racks they got in the way of the brakes so I replaced them with Oryx brakes and have been quite happy with them. I doubt that the Oryx brakes are better than the CR-720s, it's just that the link cable worked better for me than the straddle cable.

Can anyone reccomend what length link cable to get for the CR-720s. I'd like to use them on another build but have had it with straddle cables.

zacster

never used those, but I swear by my Tektro R730 dual pivot road brakes, with the R200 levers. Tektro makes good stuff.

3alarmer 

................+1 to this. Back in ancient times, I would have been very happy to have access
to the quality double pivot sidepulls that they churn out very cheaply.

zacster

I didn't even realize I said the same thing... I guess it must be true then.

fwh32720

Which model Kool Stop (model number would be great). I looked in their site and seemed like a million choices. Thank you!

xenologer

Used them for a while, until I learned how to properly adjust a mid/low profile canti and realised that much better power was possible elsewhere

the 720 is well made and has nice features -the independent spring tension, QR, vbrake style pads, all very nice quality tektro design
however the wide profile arm design is inherently weaker than a properly adjusted low profile type

noted tho, proper adjustment of low profile brake is complicated, easily be weaker if done wrong
cr720 is simple to setup, but better performance is available elsewhere

also, cr720 causes heel strike clearance problems on small frames, another reason to look at low profile cantis instead...
recommended low profile type: tektro cr710, avid shorty 5/7, NOS shimano stx rc

Kopsis

I run 720s on the front on my CX race bike. Great modulation and relatively insensitive to straddle height, so very easy to set up. I'd run them in the rear but they get in the way on mounts/dismounts. However, step one of installing 720s is to remove the stock pads and throw them in the trash. Quite possibly the worst brake pads I've ever seen. A set of Kool Stops makes a world of difference.

Barrettscv 

I have the CR-720 on two bikes. These are great brakes. Performance is excellent and set-up is easy enough. I use Koop Stop Thin line pads. I've used other cantilever brakes, but I would only recommend the CR-720.

MileHighMark

I've ridden them on multiple bikes, and they're OK. Not bad, not great, but I'll take mini-v brakes over cantilevers any day.