Originally Posted by
Miele Man
A safety issue with V-brakes? Uh huh, okay. How about the safety issue with cantilever brakes with a straddle cable and yoke wherein if the front brake cable breaks the straddle cable goes down onto the front tire and locks up the wheel causing a wipeoout? This has happened a number of times which is why either an L-shaped piece or a front reflector bracket is used under the straddle cable or why Shimano and others now use a different system for cantilever brake cables that eliminiates that straddle cable.
People who have NOT done much setting up or adjusting of cantilever brakes often find it hard to adjust them properly. A lot of those people don't even know what a properly adjusted cantilever setup looks/feels like. For those inexperienced people, V-brakes are often much simpler to setup or adjust.
Cheers
Lot's of good ideas/info comes out when people share their varying experiences without claiming whole systems are good/bad.
I've been aware of the safety issue with straddle cables and sudden failure of the brake cable for years now and always either have a fender or cable support arm (or whatever they call that little thing) there for that purpose.
Here's a pic of a bike with both (I was deciding on whether to add the fender):
Someone also said you can't run V brake arms using canti brake levers. Here's a pic of a bike doing that (I replaced the front with V but kept the back canti):
In general:
I get that there is a learning curve for canti's, as there is for any brake system. That doesn't mean the system is bad. Give someone mechanical or hydro disc brakes without instructions and ask them to make adjustments or replace pads and it would be the same. Lot's of little tricks and tips to be learned. When I bought my first bike with disc and needed new pads I bought them at my favorite LBS and had the mechanic show me how to replace them. He did one and I did the other.
I still say the biggest problem people may have is trying to adjust both the pad position and cable tension at the same time. They squeeze the brake and try to adjust how the pad sits against the rim at the same time. You need three hands for that! Instead: Loosen the brake cable and disconnect the straddle cable. Hold the cantilever to the rim and adjust pad position. Do the same to the other side. Reattach straddle cable and then adjust brake cable tension. Once you separate those two tasks it becomes a lot easier.