I would second those who notice that the lack of power in your cantilevers wasn’t the fault of the Avid design but the wrong link wire (too long) and thus yoke height (too high). Glad you found a solution in the mini-v’s, but just don’t want folks to write off cantilevers as lost cause.

-Getting rid of my poor performing cantilever brakes & installing Tektro “long arm” V-brakes was the best thing that I ever did to my 1994 Schwinn mountain bike converted to road/gravel adventure bike. The front cantilever did ok, but squealed terribly when braking hard. The rear cantilever brake did absolutely NOTHING to stop me. These brakes have INCREDIBLE stopping power & practically feel like disc brakes compared to the cantilevers!

Just about to convert my cx bike to full size v’s and proper v brake drop levers. Switching to bar end shifter and have all the parts but new cables in my spares box. Can’t wait to be able to slow down again after terrifying descending on gravel with cantis. I know the vs are not as good as discs on my mtbs but good enough for gravel rides.

A good v-brake adjustment will throw you over the handlebars if you're not ready.

I bought literally the cheapest available Mini V's I could find (Tektro RX1, at the time it cost me a tenner for the two sets) back then, and the difference was night and day. I had properly set up XT cantis with good pads before, but even these cheap mini V's are sooo much better, it's off the charts.

Top tip! They look much better than the vulgar standard v-brake. Never had any issues with cantilevers or even callipers, but nice to know there is a tasteful option. Keep up the great work! 🚴👍😀

Much better! A bike that fits and runs well is worth at least as much as a new one with professional fitting. Thanks!

I got the Tektro Mini Vs to replace Deore Vs with a longer reach. I had the same experience as you: With the Deores a hard pull would slow the bike gradually, and there was no way I'd survive an emergency stop. The Tektros gave me great stopping power and good modulation. In the case of my swap, the only effective difference was the length of the brake arms. The shorter arms of the Tektro translated into more brake pad displacement for the same amount of lever pull.

Those black mini Vs look really nice on that bike! I’ve never owned (or even ridden! 😮) a bike with cantilever brakes but if/when I do I’ll give mini Vs a look.

Thank you, very interesting. On my very light aluminum vintage road bike I prefer those shimano cantilevers, they work still very well in combination with the Mavic rims. Cheers and go on

v-brakes solved the ever problem of the cantilever style brakes, geometry. much easier to adjust to reach the maximal braking power. keeps it's power much longer as the pads wear.

Put a set of these on a project MTB earlier this year. You're right, increased modulation and much stronger stopping power compared to the cantis.

Excellent video - inspired me to get some mini v's. Much better than the canti's they replaced, but do have to let air out of the tyre to get enough clearance to remove the rear wheel (37mm tyre). Worth it though.

Good info. One for the “Bike Upgrades” folder. My Argos Klunker needs and upgrade, but I think the plastic levers need changing first…

The performance problem with the Avid Shorty 4 and probably the Shimano cantis on the KHS Montana Comp and Team is not a problem with the cantilevers, but the long connector cables installed. When a frame is prepared for cantis, I would always go with it. An easy way to get good brake performance with cantilevers is to use straddle cables and hooks, instead of the lengthwise pre-set connector cables with pipes: First install the hook on the brake cable, as low over the tire as possible, but still leaving room enough for all use cases. The lower, the more power your brake will have. In general, it should be installed a bit higher in the rear, to compensate for the longer brake cable. Second, install the brake pads symmetrically on both sides. Third, install the straddle cable to connect the cantis to the brake cable hook. Fourth, fine adjust the brake pads to the rim. In the beginning, cantilevers stood out to the side, to give good mechanical advantage with long straddle cables, to make room for fat tires and fenders. To reduce standover height, frames with sloping toptubes became popular. With the sloping toptubes and shorter seattubes, the canti bosses in the rear moved down as well - and closer to the legs of the rider. Brakes had to be built narrower. Cantis then pointed more upwards, than sideways. The straddle cables had to be closer over the tires to accommodate that. V-brakes are a solution to building narrow brakes, as are U-brakes. Both become more problematic with wider tires, than cantilevers.

I just bought a set of Mini Vs to replace my shorty brakes. Hope I get the same results. Thanks for the great video!

Just upgraded my Kona cross bike to mini v-brakes and it's amazing, I regret not doing this sooner.

Had a pair for past 3 Years .. With the purpose built Tektro long pull road levers... There is a release on the lever to gap the blocks if you get a buckle out on a ride or just to slacken cable for a wheel change.. Ok if you have bar end shifters or down tube old school .. Massive improvement on standard cantis.

Thank you, this will be useful for my ebike conversion.

I've come to believe the angle between the straddle cable and brake arm effects the power of the brake. It's all about leverage.

On my CX bike (which I use for gravel riding) I went from the Avid shorty canti's to the trp Cx8.4 v brakes. So much better!

V-brakes with power booster = Heaven

Extra tip: If you use compressionless cable housing like Jagwire Pro or Elite series, you can get extra pad clearance and/or better braking force with any mechanical brake - especially relevant for mini-v's like here. Also very relevant for mechanical disc brakes which can lack a little “feel” of when the brakes are close to locking up.

The Mini V brakes on vintage mountain bikes that had cantilever brakes are great improvement. But never found road bikers enjoying them. Simply as you stated. Grab that lever in a panic and you either will go over the bars or skid. You mention they are cheap but they seem well made for Tektro...

Nice info. Does brake pad coverage make difference also and compound material 😎

Muy buen video un abrazo desde Perú

What size tires you got on there? How much wider of a tire you think you could fit with the mini v?

The longer the brake arm the more leverage the pad has against the wheel. The same way a breaker or cheater bar is used to loosen a nut. The longer the breaker bar the more torque is applied.

..lovely!

New brakes look good. I’m a huge fan of V brakes over cantilever style any time. I would not worry too much about the weight of the new mini V’s use them enjoy them. Oh does it always rain in your part of England? The roads and trails are continuously puddle covered. Cheers

Hi.. My mtb have the wheels with tires of 26x2.0. And I plan to upgrade pair of vbrakes come with the bike with mini v brakes as you presented on this vdo. Do you think they will fit with the size of tire I have?

Did you cut the zip ties? I couldn't stop looking at them. Also, now I really want V-brakes on my touring bike. They look good too!

To improve the braking of the tires I advise you to use a green scotch brite sponge and pass it all over the wheel braking track. Then you clean it with alcohol and you'll see that it improves your braking. And I find that your brake handles are somewhat long for my taste

I have had several sets if Tektro mini-V's. They do stop better. My problem with them are the really cheap/ wimpy springs that they come with, the are not much better than if they had used paper clips. It is difficult to return very well, or stay centered.

Candis are a classic looking brake but the worst when it comes to power. Not surprising really when you have a stretchy cable pulling another stretchy cable....

No link to amazon for these, come on man, you gotta monetize??? Great Vid!

I have done this. I needed to add ratio adjusters also called travel controllers. They worked fine. They replaced the noodles. Without them, my brake grips traveled to far.

cat silently approves :)

I went full vbrake with travel egent. From shimano GS200 canti.... i went from having no brakes to being able to actually stop. Plus travel agents are super cool.

Do you know if these were the 926al models?

I used those mini vbrakes tektro. The model I use is the RX-5. Very good brakes for the cost q bring. In my case, the brake pads they brought were of the cartridge type, that is, they could be used only the rubber.

I put mini vee brakes on my 1984 Dawes Super Galaxy but need the the cable pull adjuster to give enough pull on the shimano levers but is now so much better than the old cantis.

I bet canti brakes works better with mtb because of the wider grip of mtb tires. I could be wrong Long live rim brakes!!!

If you want even better braking try this. Buy a scuff pad, the kind that auto body shops use. Auto parts store should have them. You'll need a hand cleaner like Fast Orange with pumice. Scuff the brake track on your wheels. The hand cleaner removes brake residue easily and the scuff pad roughens up the wheel for better traction. Make sure to clean the brake pads with isopropyl alcohol. Good luck

Travel agents on normal v's give a superior result.

Isn't it great when you got a good break set on so you can live out your childhood because I don't know about you when I was a child I used to love skidding on my bike things used to be that bad when I was a child I used to have this bike in the back garden it has no back it has one front wheel with no energy or tyre buy a travel the world on that bike 👍 At the moment I have 4 bikes but the main one I use is Cycle 🐺 full suspension is a supervisor that hangover today I have to cats myself chord mojo and Marley I had to go to Halfords the other day because I needed a new tool set it only cost me £ 30 Oh I am running continental tyres

thanks for the video! i have a similar set up i am trying to achieve, and wanted to ask you if you knew what the difference between the brakes you got are and the RX1 mini Vs. I will replacing them from the current tektro linear pull that do not work with the drop bar set up i converted the hybrid bike into.

What kind of bell do you have? Love Dolan bikes.

Any idea what’s the largest 700c tyre you can fit with these mini v-brakes? Thank you!

What frameset it this Dolan? I have a 2012-ish Pre Cursa, would be cool to convert it to something like this

Hi, I'm planning to changing the canti to the mini-v brake, and how about your rim width to fit the mini-v brake?

It looks like you put some grease into the posts where the bolt with threadlocker inserts. Maybe a good idea not to lubricate the threads and stick to the threadlocker?

Hi, what is the maximum tire size compatible with the mini v?

Hey, i just purchased 2 pairs of these to install on my crossbike but i just read more about the specs for these particular v brakes and it says they're only for the rear, Is this true?

So I did this,I think the interchangeable leavers are made for both cantilever and linear

Pads wrong way round arrows .just had to swap sides. Ah then swapped right way round on road test 😁.you need barrel adjusters to slack off brakes to remove wheels. Good video .

What size tires are you using? I heard mini V's have a limited tire clearance.

Side pull brakes have a better mechanical advantage.

Torvy don't give a shit .But I think they look good n if they lock up the wheels You can't get much better than that .

Id think they were set up properly, straddle is too high

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