Replacing brakes
 

I want to replace the brakes on my '90 Specialized Hardrock. It has the original cantilever brakes and they have become very dificult to keep adjusted. So far I've been looking at Cane Creek SCX-5 Cantilever Brakes and their Flat Bar levers. Anyone have these?

But I have a couple questions.
1) Will any cantilever brakes work or are there things I need to look out for for compatibility?

2) Am I limited to only cantilever brakes? Can I switch to V-brakes? Do they use the same mouting points? I'm planning on replacing the levers as well so there is no compatibility issue at that end.

3) Is the that much of a difference between cantilever and v-brakes?

if you replace the levers too, I don't see that there'd be that much of a problem, but I don't really know.

The new canti brakes are a lot nicer to install and adjust pads on. The use of the cup and ball washers instead of those terrible sliding post style pads has been a major upgrade. Having said this if you are sure you want to replace the levers anyway then it would make a lot more sense to go with V/linear brakes over the cantis.

Shop around a little and get yourself the Rolls Royce of V/linears. Avid Arch brakes in any of their model levels "pulled" by Avid Speedial levers. There's other options out there that are more "boutique" but the Avid Arch design just plain works when it comes to parallel push styles. And the Speedial levers allows you to tune the response so you can tune in whatever level of response sensitivity you want from hard pull to one finger light and easy. If you can't score or don't want to pay for the Arch caliper sets then use any brand and model of V brake but still go for whatever extra you need to get the Speedial levers. You won't regret it. They are truly that amazing.

I had a mid 90's Hardrock for a few years then stupidly sold it. The frame on the Hardrock was basic but it just plain worked well. It may not have been from the higher end of the catalog but they were a helluva bang for the buck. Enjoy it.

V-brakes are going to stop slightly better, but not to the point where you would notice on an everyday basis. It comes down to how much work you want to do, because v-brakes are going to change how you run your cable. The same lever will work for both, if the cantilever is one designed for a mountain bike and not a road bike. I say Avid Single Digits, because I've had good experiences with them.

1 - Canti to Canti there will be no compatibility issues

2 - no, you can swith to V-type (linear pull) brakes or hydraulic (Maguras) they all use the same mounting. Canti levers are not compatiable with V-type (there are 1 or 2 exceptions to this, but you have to look hard)

3 - V-type offer better stopping than canti out of the box, although a well set up canti is just as good. V-type are a lot easier to set up well for the average user.

Thanks for the input. My bike is being used as a commuting bike and joy rides here and there. One other (silly) question I just thought of, are there any clearance issues with fenders and V-brakes? I'm assuming as long as the fender is close to the whell it should be fine right?

V - brakes all the way.

No clearance issues with fenders.

I like Avid SD brakes, and Tektro Eclipse levers - which are adjustable between V-brakes and others. My red bike has Tektro Eclipse levers with Tektro R559 dual pivot side pulls, and my blue bike has them with Avid SD5 V-brakes.