Velo Orange brakes
 

Does anybody have any experience or opinions concerning the Grand Cru Long Reach Brakeset, Noir Edition? I'm considering upgrading my Cross Check.

Grand Cru Long Reach Brakeset, Noir Edition - Brakes - Brakes & Parts - Components

I haven't used them, but this review seemed to like them.

First Impressions: Grand Cru Long Reach Brakes | GRAVELBIKE.com

Thanks!

For $170 they better stop on a dime

The ones I have now, don't. That's the problem.

Personally, I wouldn't consider going from a cantilever to a long reach side pull to be an upgrade. You are trading a pretty good brake with good clearance for fenders (if you use them) for a slightly more flexible brake that is going to make life tight around the crown of the fork and around the rear tire.

I'd also be a little concerned about the fit around the cantilever brake bosses. Those are really long arms.

And for that price, you could get a set of Paul's brakes...touring or neo-retro...which is a major upgrade over just about any cantilever out there.

I'll look at them. I had a close call yesterday that shouldn't have been as close as it was.

I've got Paul's Touring on 3 bikes. They are dead easy to set up and way better than any other cantilevers I've tired.

I wasn't very happy with the performance of the stock brakes on the cross check when I got mine. But after a couple months I finally got around to replacing the pads with kool stops and adjusting the brakes. That made a huge difference, and now the brakes work as well as anything. So I'd definitely try those two things first.

WOW!!! These are exactly what I need to use for my Gravity G29er Single Speed bike! I have my nexus 8 speed wheelset on my Puma Nevis, and they can't do disk brakes. I'm going to see about getting these and transferring the wheelset over now. Then I can put the Puma Nevis to rest!!! EXCELLENT!!! And perfect timing,...

Step 1:
KoolStop Pads

Can you even put those on a Cross Check?

I don't know, I haven't actually reached the point of checking yet. I'm going to try the Koolstop pads before I purchase new brakes. Thanks everybody for your help!

Step 2: read the canti FAQ over in the cross forum to ensure the brakes are set up properly. Canti's are pretty much all about the little details.

I'm guessing you have tektro 720s on the cross check since Surly uses those for a number of its bikes. If that is what you have, they are very good cantilevers. Agree with the suggestions above that you think about different brake shoes and check the adjustment before ditching them for something more expensive. In any case, don't buy those sidepulls for your bike.

Step 3: Switch to V-brakes with long-pull levers, because cantis are just more trouble than they're worth most of the time.

Yeah,not a canti fan either,but was trying to keep his costs down. Also,I wouldn't swap the levers,I'd just add PS Travel Agents. They worked great when I converted my old Fuji cross.

I've got a pair of Travel Agents on the shelf in my garage. They used to be on my Cross Check (since sold). They work OK, but they can be fiddly too. Plus, if you're using dedicated brake levers (as opposed to shift+brake), which Cross Checks usually do, you can get a set of long pull levers cheaper than you can get a pair of Travel Agents. When I was piecing together my LHT, I got a pair of Tektro RL520 levers and a cheap pair of rebranded Tektro V-brakes from Performance. IMO, this combination works noticeably better than the Ultegra levers + Travel Agents + Avid Single Digit 7's that I had on my Cross Check.

But you're right that with sufficient effort cantilever brakes can be made to work well.

The VO Grand Cru brakes are amazing, but they won't work on your Cross Check. If you currently have CR720s, invest in Kool Stop Salmon pads and get them tuned. If that doesn't work, get some good V-brakes.

Not sure why people are suggesting V brakes, as properly set up cantis have better stopping power. That said, Velo Orange brakes are nothing more than relabeled TRP brand brakes. I bought a set of their cantis and there's a hex socket on the front used to hold the pads from moving while adjusting/tightening the nut on the back side. I think they made that part out of metal colored plastic or something, since it completely rounded out on the first install of these brakes.

VO's cantis are total CRAP compared to cheaper and MUCH easier to adjust brakes such as Avid Shorty brakes. Plus the Avid Shorty doesn't require a huge wrench to adjust, just a hex key.

I whole-heartedly do NOT recommend the VO canti brakes. Thier caliper brakes look alright, but probably won't work on your CC, and you wouldn't want that anyway.

V-brakes would also be a downgrade from properly adjusted canti brakes.

Get some Koolstop Salmon pads, adjust the cantis properly and you should be easily able to lock both wheels at will on dry pavement, which is the limit of braking ability anyway. If your brakes can lock the wheels on dry pavement, better brakes won't provide more stopping power. Better brakes may provide more modulation, but properly adjusted canti brakes provide plenty of modulation, too.