Originally Posted by AD-SLE
Just for fun....and to be educated by those who have already traveled where I am about to travel....
Grolby wrote "...but there is no doubt that smooth-post cantis are perhaps the second-most frustrating brake to adjust, ever. " What is a smoot post vs the "alternative"? I took some mid '80s Shimano canti's off my project frame, has three little holes for spring inside...are there other types? I was going to replace them with a nice set of Avid Shortys.....not sure why....maybe a waste of money...just look better.
Then I started to consider V brakes....since most of the riding will be commuting....they will stop you in a a hurry will get water off faster than Canti's....
But they have GOT TO weigh much more. Brakes are my least concern, drive train and some awesome wheels are where I am going to focus my $$$. I just need something that works when needed so I am almost inclined to polish up the Shimano's and leave the brakes stock.
Or, the more I think about it, take the nice 'looking' canti's off my Burley Duet and upgrade to V-pulls there....where I do need more braking power...and put those canti's on my commuter.
Experts? Are there different post types I need to learn about before I tear things appart? Won't V-pulls add weight over Canti's? Other things I should know? Cable stops are key.
"Smooth post" refers to the mounting hardware for brake pads. Traditionally, cantilever pads simply had, well, smooth posts coming out of the back of the pads, sometimes with horizontal grooves in them. All of the mounting hardware is on the brake itself. This kind of brake mount is very aggravating to adjust. Most modern cantilever brakes of quality now use the same pads and mounting hardware as V-brakes, with allen bolts and helical washers. It allows for both easier and finer control over set-up. It's still trickier to set the cantilevers up properly, but it's a hell of a lot easier than it used to be.
(By the way, the MOST difficult to adjust brake I've ever used was an old MAFAC centerpull, which also used smooth post hardware - but has even less room to maneuver and fewer degrees of freedom than a cantilever brake.)
I'm not sure how V-brakes could possibly weigh much more than traditional cantis. The difference is entirely negligible. V's can quite possibly be made to weigh less, due to the simplicity of the design. Certainly, modern v-brakes are lighter than the cantis of yesteryear.
CdCf - The problem with the 287-V levers is high cable friction, mostly. I've got mine pretty well dialed-in, now, but for the first 400 miles or so they were problematic. They're very particular about cable routing, in my experience. I also just don't think that they're particularly nice levers. The hoods are kind of narrow and hard, and there's the issue you mentioned with the mounting screw. I've half a mind to eventually replace my whole braking system with a nice pair of modern cantilevers and Cane Creek SCR-5 levers, or the Tektro equivalent. It's also rather disappointing not to be able to use cross levers with them, though that's not really the fault of the levers.