V brakes vs cantilever brakes

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In this video I’m going to compare v brakes vs cantilever brakes to determine which one of the two is the better option.

1. Braking power

Correctly adjusted brakes will do their job and it’s no different with these two brakes. Both have the ability to lock up the wheels.

So as far as stating that one of these brakes has less braking power than the other will not be true.

2. Modulation / Brake Feel

Even though both brakes can lock up the wheel, how they do so feels utterly different. Naturally the brake levers you use to operate the brakes are very different.

The much older Shimano levers are huge in comparison to the Avid levers. And because they are much bigger they offer far more modulation or brake feel than the smaller levers of the Avid brakes.

That effect is only compounded with the fact that the v brakes themselves also are much less on / off than the cantilever brakes.

The combination of low modulation, tiny brake levers, smaller wheels (26″ vs 28″), an overall more aggressive position with the saddle positioned much higher than the handlebars has caused me to lock-up the brakes in an emergency situation and flipping me over the handlebars of the Cannondale. Very easily I’m afraid to admit.

I very much doubt this will ever happen with the Koga. Bigger wheels, heavier bike, upright position and much more modulation.

All-in-all it’s fine that a race-type bicycle has a far more direct brake feel than the touring bike. It sort of fits the characteristic of the bike type.

But I have to say that after I hit the pavement, I rely less on the brakes for safety and more on calculating where the surrounding traffic is moving and generally riding in a manner that lowers the risk of getting in a situation that’s out of my control.

3. Setup and maintenance

Of all the brakes I’ve ever needed to setup and/or maintain the Avid v brakes are the best and the Shimano cantilever brakes the worst. And they are the worst by far. Curse-style bad.

The reason why the cantilever brakes are a nightmare is

They consist of many parts
The brake shoes go all over the place because all of the parts that hold them in place can move independently
They don’t have spring tension centering screws, which makes the brake alignment process downright difficult
The cable pulley system is one more thing that needs to be adjusted and is not as straightforward as you’d like it to be.
Brake arms don’t open without rotating brake shoes because frame and fork get’s in the way. This means you can’t easily remove wheels with bigger tires.
The v brakes on the other hand are an absolute breeze to setup. They don’t fall apart, have a single cable, and both hands are enough to adjust them (with the cantilever brakes you’d wish you had 5 hands).

4. Aesthetics
The Koga’s cantilever brakes are more exotic than the much more common v brakes. Even today v brakes are often used as the preferred braking tool for non-road bike bicycles than don’t have disc brakes.

I like the very retro-looking aesthetic of the cantilever brakes. And I think I like them better than the more plain-looking v-brakes. It doesn’t meant that there aren’t some very cool-looking v brake options out there.

I've also written about blog post with more information. If you want to read this article go to https://www.restoration.bike/bikes-an...

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Music is from the YouTube Audio Library
Songs
"Forgiven Fate" from Dan Lebowitz
"Take Your Time" from Dan Lebowitz
"Hickory Hollow" from Dan Lebowitz