Wild idea (CX bike conversion to calipers)
 

I have a CX bike (BD Motobecane Fantom CX) and I have been contemplating replacing the Tektro Oryx cantis with Nashbar Long Reach Road brakes. My fork and stay both have holes in them that may or may not be of the right diameter. It *looks* like the road brakes would have enough reach for clearing 32c tires with 35mm fenders, but I am unsure if I can mount a fender to the brake bolt in the front.

Why? Mostly reasons of braking action and maintainability.

I am curious as to whether or not this would be a good idea. Feel free to tell me if I am crazy or stupid. :)

I doubt road long reach would make it. To do this, and I think it'd be stupid to do so, you'd need something the size of a BMX caliper. There's a good reason that calipers have been relegated to lower end BMX bikes, what issues are you having with canits? Maintainability? Calipers are a PITA.

I just went out and checked my Fantom CX in the garage, yeah, no way in hell you'd make it with a road caliper.

EDIT: TL/DR you're both crazy and stupid.

i would do some measuring. tektro makes some road calipers with a very long (55-73mm) reach. my wifes mike came with 700x32 tires, full fenders, and tektro dual pivots. to top it off the brake pads could still be moved down quite a ways.

the fender is mounted to the brake bolt with a washer on both sides of the fender bracket. works perfectly.

http://www.bikesonline.com/product_i...19250_zoom.jpg

One of the things I love about my CX is the braking power. In fact, I'm not sure I'll ever go back to a full blown road bike I like it so much. Why would you cripple yourself with calipers? Especially in the name of maintainability?

Why not just get a different cantilever brake?, cheaper parts was part of the build
cost bottom line..

Up grade the caliper yourself.. move up the price range..
how about a TRP EuroX cantilever, or Avid Ultimate?.

CX bikes use cantis because caliper brakes tend to clog up with mud. Cantis can also be extremely effective, comparable to the very best calipers. But the stock brakes on the Motobecane Fantom CX are crap. If that was my bike at the very least I would replace the awful stock pads with something like Kool-Stop salmons. If you combine those pads with better brake geometry, like the inexpensive Tektro DR720, or the pricier Avid Shorty, then you will have nothing to complain about.

Now, if you're not worried about mud and really are set on using calipers, then you have some work to do. First, your fork is probably not set up for modern recessed calipers. This means you have to use a caliper designed for the older, external nut style. Most modern nutted brakes are pure crap and almost completely useless. You can find good quality vintage nutted brakes, but you kind of have to know exactly what you need.

Beyond that, long reach may not be long enough. It looks to me like that fork might be on the border. If you need extra long then you are truly hosed. I have used a variety of extra-long reach brakes and have never found any that weren't awful. Extra long reach arms are so flexible that you get chatter, squeal, bottomed-out levers... pretty much the whole encyclopedia of braking problems.

Short version: you're heading down a road with a long learning curve and an almost certainly unpleasant outcome. Smart money is on either upgrading your cantis and pads, or replacing your fork.

i agree with all of this but with one reservation. the tektro calipers above seemed fine on my test ride. keep in mind it is a single speed commuter. i havent tested them at high speeds.

Ridiculously long reach caliper brakes would be stupid on a bike with canti studs and much less effective. First change the pads to something good like Kool Stop, most stock pads are awful. If you're still not happy get different canti/V-brakes.

Calipers do great with short reach, but do progressively worse as the reach increases. It has nothing to do with leverage, which can be adjusted in the design,and everything to do with rigidity. As the arms get longer the shoes are farther from the pivot bolt, which increases the bending moment on the arms. That can also be corrected for with larger section arms, but I've yet to se one brake that does so anywhere close to adequately.

While not ideal, cantis and V-brakes have the advantage of moving the shoes closer to the pivots greatly increasing brake arm rigidity. Properly adjusted, well made canti's offer the best ratio of performance to weight coming very close to, or maybe surpassing that of quality short reach calipers.

The only real drawback of canti's is that their performance depends on fork blade rigidity, and that can be an issue on lightweight forks, both steel and carbon.

I agree with this. I told y'all it was a wild idea. Probably more curiosity than anything else.

I did swap out the original saddles with Tektro Z-link cables... the one in the back is a little too long and if the pad is worn, it hits the brake bridge before the pads make enough contact with the rim. But that is my own dumb fault, and the pads were almost out of life.