trubenal

So I am a big guy and I want to make sure I have good brakes on the tourer I am building. I am considering these 2 options,

Cantis with Diacomp 287 road levers and will add in line cyclocross levers. I have a pair of Avid 6s but they squeal like there is no tomorrow (Yes they are toed in) and the adjuster on the rear is stripped, so at best I need to buy one new brake and the cross levers.

V brakes with 287V levers. I couldnt run the cross levers as well, but I have the promise of more stopping power and easier setup (for me anyhow, I know Vs better than cantis). I would need to buy the 287V levers, but I could sell the other levers I have and make up the difference, and I would need to buy the V brakes, but there are more options out there than with cantis. Travel agent is not something I want to get in to.

I am thinking the cost is a wash, so is having the cross levers worth a little loss in stopping power? I would love some input.

FarHorizon

V's are generally considered to have better performance and easier set up than cantis (but you already know this...). Let me throw one more idea into the mix - front disc with rear anything. The advantage (over cantis or Vs) is wet weather performance. The minuses are slight weight penalty, slight front wheel dish, and more adjustments to prevent rubbing.

If wet weather performance isn't a big deal, I'd choose the Vs over the cantis (and in fact, I'm doing this with the tourer I'm now building). You lose the cyclocross lever option and rack routing becomes more difficult. On the plus side, you get the advantages mentioned in my first paragraph.

Your money, your choice. Once you get done, POST PICTURES! Thanks!

trubenal

How much of a problem is this? This might make me lean in the canti direction as well.

NoReg

I was going to have the CC levers also. I grew up on "10 speeds" before MTBs were even considered, so I am used to the idea of road bars, and where the brakes are. In the end, I went for just the regular levers, and I certainly didn't miss the CC levers.

Even on the bars you are looking at a potential traffic jam. If you are using bar end shifters, and internally routed levers, and on top of that you hace CC levers, I would see that as getting pretty crowded as to had positions left over, pl;u what about he computer, the light etc.. on the bars, or a bag. Yes I'm sure it's done all the time.

Another crowded place is the front brake position. You have fenders, racks, bags, brakes, they all want to be in the same place. I think V brakes probably wouldn't fit on my bike, but I saw people with a lot more gear than me who had them.

My coments are relative to my standard touring bike the classic look. I am also thinking up a SUPER touring bike, that would use all new way out there technology On that option, I am thinking of a more MTB bar with an aero position and non-MTB hand positions. If I did that, I would have dual frontbrakes, maybe a v and a disk.

trubenal

For the setup, bar ends, computer, no light no bag. So I should be able to avoid most of the problems you mentioned.

Thor29

I'm running V-brakes with 287V levers, Salsa cyclocross levers, and Ultegra bar end shifters. I'm not sure why you think you couldn't use the 'cross levers, but they work fine. Before switching to V-brakes there were times when I felt like I couldn't slow down the bike fast enough when bombing downhill with no load whatsoever. With V-brakes even a full touring load is no problem.

trubenal

I was under the impression that the cross levers would not pull enough cable, maybe this is wrong?

Thor29

Yes, you are wrong. They work fine with V-brakes and I highly recommend the Salsa levers.

trubenal

Well that makes my decision even harder. Can someone talk about the difficulties with racks? Is there a certain type of rack I should look for if I am going to run Vs? Thanks for the input thus far.

Thor29

I had a little bit of trouble with the front rack (Jannd Extreme) interfering the brake cable/noodle. I fixed the problem by making little extension plates that rotated the rack forward about an inch or so. Later when I switched to a Surly Long Haul Trucker frame with mid fork eyelets, I replaced the Jannd rack with a Tubus Duo rack (way cool S shape) which had no interference problems at all.

RoperIN

Have you looked at Spooky cantis? They're made for cross bikes with in line levers and by design have outstanding stopping power. Their web site is a bit novice, but there are some good dealers in the U.S.

NoReg

I looked at Spooky brakes on the Mariposa site. They mentioned that they had moved to the Pauls, thought I don't really know why. The double plate system seems easy to make up at home. The pictures of the Paul look similar.