justin10054

OK, I'm now looking at getting either Dia Compe 960 or 980 brakes. Does anyone have experience with either of these two models? Is one better than the other?


960:



980:

calimtb

Yup. Some Deore XT's or Deore II's would be awesome.

calimtb

What type of bike are you looking to build up? Dia Compe's, IIRC, were known for being mediocre to poor stoppers. Shimano's higher end offerings were considered to be the better canti brakes. Scott Mattheuser and Kool Stop pads were preferred as aftermarket pads.

The Golden Boy 

I would disagree there- I've got one bike with 960s- I did change them out- but only as a stylistic change- for the XC Pro (manufactured by DiaCompe) brakes.

That being said, I've got 3 bikes with the first version Deore XT cantis (BR-MC70), two with Scott/Mathauser and one with Kool Stop pads. They're great brakes, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone.

poprad

Justin,
i have a set of the 980s on my winter commuter. It's a 40+ lb bike, and even with my 190lbs added and my pannier bag (total approx 250lb) it stops just fine with a set of normal (not kool-stop) replacement pads installed. This was in mid winter too, with wet and salt everywhere, and very cold temps. They also clean up and polish very easily due to no anodizing.

[IMG]P1030791 by Mark, on Flickr[/IMG]

My only negative comment is that the adjustment of the pads can be very finicky with the curved washer sets, and difficult at best to lock in.

mechanicmatt

Cantilever brakes can be kinda finicky but the best advice is good pads and straddled carriers not y-dongles. I truly believe those y dongles are what killed Canti's (although v-brakes are pretty awesome), they make the squeeze feel all mushy.

I like the old late 80's, early 90's wide mounted Shimano stuff over most others, I like the modern Tektro 720's quite a bit as well. TEKTRO BRAKE SYSTEMS

simmonsgc

Matt, can you clarify for me what you mean by each of these? I googled y-dongle and just got pictures of computer cables....

Is this what you mean by "straddled carriers?"

Thanks for the info!

The Golden Boy 

Same here...

I assume you mean the one ended cable that you would route the brake cable through and to the clamp on the brake arm. I thought those were supposed to be good as they forced you to have the proper straddle cable angle.

I happen to like the triangular cable yokes- like the Avid Tri-Dangle. And it's fun to say "tri-dangle."

calimtb

The sun tour/dia compe canti's had reputations as inferior stoppers. I tried them out a few times myself. No thanks. They were nice and light and minimalistic. Grant Petersen liked to spec 'em. I think they are a few grams lighter than shimano canti's.

mechanicmatt

Yup those and the many variants I call straddle carriers. Maybe my terminology is wrong?

mechanicmatt

another example

mechanicmatt

The not what to use types:

Standalone 

Fiddly. But still good. Try lots of different angles to see what works. My Trek 620 is set up with a pretty funky looking high angle and it works well.

If you're into C&V life, it's worth building a bike up with cantilevers so you can be in the know. Five of my 18 bikes run cantis, only one has V brakes.

mechanicmatt

Not saying the brakes themselves are bad, just those stupid y straddles/dongles/whatever. They were made to make it easier to setup brakes, but in reality just tend to mush up the feel.

The Golden Boy 

I don't think your terminology is wrong.

I haven't used those fixed straddle cable doohickeys.

Another thing I've never used- the Suntour Power Hanger






I got two of them in a box of goodies. I'm tempted to try one out- just for curiosity.

arex

+1 on the Tektro CR720s. Stout and inexpensive, and work great.

arex

Not doubting you, but what's wrong with them?

crank_addict

Ha, I do recall them! But thanks for giving me the idea for another application. (Btw: Should you decide not using, keep me in mind.)

Anyways, here's another long forgotten. The SHIMANO ADAMAS AX II brakes from the early 1980's. It has it all going on ~ center mount, cam action, semi cantilever.

crank_addict

The top one is brilliant but so generic. Minimalistic weight and very easy to adjust.

justin10054

OK, I just ordered a set of Dia Compe 980 brakes on ebay. Hopefully I won't have too much trouble setting them up.

I appreciate the suggestions to try Shimano brakes, but I'm putting together a bike with '70s Suntour components and don't feel that Deore would look quite right.

mechanicmatt

I guess I never said why. It's that one side is just wire and the other is actually tubing. The brake wire is fed through that tubing. It was meant so that the wire length to the center fake stratle thing was even. However when you brake, the brake wire sort of micro crushes the tubing side and doesn't get a good even pull.

All lot of this is official techno jargon obviously.

engineerd

I respect convention as much as the next guy, but it seems to me that given the definition of "cantilever", both the traditional crossover-cable cantilever brakes and V-brakes are cantilever brakes. Talking about them in a way that invites the inference that they are distinct categories is confusing to outsiders who are trying to come up to speed, like me. In teaching folks about anything it helps a lot to have a coherent taxonomy. Correct me if I am wrong, but it seems to me that on the rim the two broad classes of brakes are caliper and cantilever, and all the variants in the last 50 years fall in one class or the other.

lasauge 

V-brakes are indeed a development from cantilevers, but they're treated as a separate category because they require different brake levers, hardware, cable routing, and brake pads - the only thing they share with cantilevers are the mounting studs where the arms attach to a frame/fork.

Salubrious

^^ both ideas, Cantis and V-brakes, date from before WW2.