Originally Posted by
BarracksSi
Hmm, possibly. What I wonder is if the cable pull of those levers isn't right for the newer calipers.
Hlxdrummer, what about the brakes on each of your bikes that you mentioned -- are they the same kind, or is one cantilevers and the other dual-pivot calipers, something like that?
My commuter has cantis, and I've "de-tuned" the front with a lot of toe-in so that it won't judder under hard braking. My road bike has modern dual-pivot calipers and I can set the pads to stop as hard as I want. My MTB, with hydraulic discs and fat knobby tires, will lift its rear wheel if I yank on the front brake (no doubt helped by the suspension, too). I had a 'cross bike for a while with mechanical discs and 32mm tires which stopped really well; the discs were on par with my rim-braked bikes in dry weather, but they worked all the time in wet weather.
They both have the same design. Not sure what it is called, but single pivot with the brake cable going parallel to the wheel, but to the side of the pivot point. The World Sport brakes suck right now cause the Diacompes flex and I don't have the cable as tight as it should be (or it will rub with the out of true wheel) and the lever hits the bars.
I also have a new appreciation for either nicer wheels or disc brakes in the rain. To get to school I walk my World Sport through my back yard and up onto the street in front of my house. There is then a fairly steep but short hill that goes to an intersection I turn at. Normally I jump on, shift up a few gears and stop at the bottom of the hill no problem. Well it had just rained and the wheels must have gotten slightly wet and when I hit the brakes they hardly did anything! Not the most fun experience although they dried up fairly quickly lol!
I place a lot of importance on being able to stop quickly. When I am doing fun runs/going fast I take the Trek and I have had it up on the front wheel multiple times
