Originally Posted by
Doug64
I just set up a pair of cantis on my wife's bike yesterday. She has short reach levers (less pull distance), and they still don't come close to her bars when applied much harder than is necessary to lock up the wheel. It is all in the setup.
I have used cantilever brakes in all kinds of conditions while touring , and ride with them almost daily in Oregon's wet winters. I have never had a stopping problem with well set up brakes. Also KoolStop salmon colored pads do a great job in wet weather.
Are cantilever brakes better than Disc brakes; I don't know, but they stop well enough.
+1, maybe it's an Oregon thing, but I don't find Canti's to be any less capable than discs. Any of my close calls, almost wrecks, sketchy situations were generally rider error, nothing I could or would blame on brakes.
I've seen a lot of people crash grabbing a handful of brake and washing out their front wheel, or skidding their back and swapping out, don't recall what brakes they had....but point is, to much brake is not necessarily a good thing.
I'm obviously in the minority, but I actually prefer canti's, I just like the way they feel and like the aesthetics of them, weird. Raced cross on em, MTBed on em, toured on em, commuted on em. They are fine for it all. I still use em on my commuting and touring bike.