Paul's Components From a retired machinist and inspector: THANKS for doing what you do! THANKS for taking pride in your work and showing some integrity. Nobody is fooling me!

I love everything you guys do! I really love upgrading my bikes with your stuff. Thank you.

If you going to police tape around a bike it’s gotta look good !

They also make you 27.89% more aero

she she elite breaks I can't afford ! They're great quality but the extra price doesn't make any sense to me it's just a status thing 🤑

@@breth8159 Eh...it wouldn't really make sense to go out of the way to invest in a quality frame only to cheap out on the mechanicals. I'd want that bike looking as nice as possible for no one's enjoyment other than my own. Just sayin"

@@hippiebits2071 that's true and they make a great product however unless you're talking about a specialty old vintage European where the measurements are not supported anymore ok. what's wrong with a beautiful set of high-end v brakes that will stop you as quick for a third the price or less ?

Loving the way back machine.

That's pretty wild. I still have a couple Softride stems in a drawer somewhere. Did you put dirt drops on it? I dirt dropped and converted my ancient Bontrager to 'dinglespeed'. Fixed gears off-road is much more fun than should be legal!

Motolites are great.

Right on. You really should check out 'dinglespeeds' if your Merlin has horizontal drops. Ask me and I'll explain this drivetrain. Everything you 'need', nothing you don't. Multiple SS gears will open up your horizons. I do several fixed gear centuries every year and I'm 62 years young. FG and brakes is like having 3 brakes! I rarely ever skid except for the trials moves to keep from breaking my toes on big rocks and logs. Skidding is bad for my precious Rene Herse tires too. It's even worse for my precious trails that only I ever fix, at least the ones that are more dirt than rocks. FG is such a mind trip and long rides NEVER get boring. FG teaches me all sorts of mental tricks and choosing better lines to overcome the shortcomings of my damned human body. I ride 2 'dinglespeeds'. 2 gears fixed and 2 gears free. I get a 5th bonus cross chain gear when the chain is stretched enough. Both are on a Miyata 'cross bike and my sweet old Santa Cruz made Bontrager. These drivetrains were a machinist's/mechanic's dream. Both mechanically and maintenance wise! I've got the Neo Retros on my Bonty. They look pretty cool but they're hardly necessary. I'm a retired machinist. I feel like I need to support my fellow citizens producing high quality US made stuff. It's good for the economy. We don't work cheap and we generally do it better. It always lasts longer and I'll never EVER throw my Paul's stuff in a freakin dumpster. I wrench in a shop 'for fun' and so much Asian made junk goes right in the freakin dumpster after a few short years. It's shameful. Cycling is supposed to be a green sport! Pauls stuff is just like the aerospace and defense hardware I've built. I've machined some of my own brakes too. These brakes were most definitely a splurge! My Kool Stop salmon pads have lasted 7 winters and they're still only 1/2 worn down. These are my primary winter bikes. Ride them in rain, mud, hail or snow whenever time allows. Nearly every day. The only reason brakes are even on these bikes is for emergencies, idiots on the road and long descents on rocky singletrack.... to save my freakin legs for the climbs. Long Descents without 'brakes'are more difficult and challenging than the climbs I actually look forward to. Otherwise, my legs provide all the speed control I need with as much traction as my 4wd! Both up and down! These rigs are awesome and incredibly efficient. Fixed off-road is more fun than should be legal! I've only found one other guy with a similar bike to ride trail with. Everyone else thinks we're nuts. But, they've never tried! No one will as much as swing a leg over our bikes!

@@rollinrat4850 amazing info. Agree on all points. I first converted my 1989 Merlin road bike to fixed gear and after about 4000 miles in the first year (pandemic activity) I got on my Merlin Mountain for the first time in a year and hated riding it. So I converted it too. I used White Industries ENO eccentric hubs and they have been great. They are both set up as flip flop hubs but I’ve never even been tempted to use the freewheel side. My mountain also has the Rene Herse tires which I love. But like you, I baby them. Conti 5000 28s on the road bike have performed flat-free for years now.

Your brakes will work even better if you get the long pull BB7s to match. The short pulls have less mechanical advantage. I use Cane Creek Drop V levers with mine. I think they're rebranded Tektros. Enough power to slow down my loaded bikepacking rig in big mountains. 180mm rotors do the trick.

yes housing makes a huge difference I agree. Any reference for the ones you used?

@@taonflorian2 It was the Jagwire Mountain Pro Kit.

Compressionless housing makes some types of brakes function better. It will make cable disc calipers function far better! One possible issue with it is less flexibility around tight curves when routed under bar tape. You've got to carefully route your housing as to not cause friction. The metal flexible noodles that come in Jagwire Pro kits work great in that situation. They also help lots on small frames road bikes with stupid cable routing. Some v brakes are so powerful it's nice to have a bit of sponginess in the feel offered by regular brake housing. Especially with narrower tires with less traction. A skidding tire is not one which is in 'control'. I mostly use the Yokozuna housing but it appears to be rebranded Jagwire. I put it on most of my bikes and it works for derailleurs too.

cable housing makes all the difference. i found mini moto with paul canti levers with compassionless housing was too much power. instant front wheel lock up. put shimano m-system (designed for rim brake mountain bikes) housing felt like goldilocks of housing i have used. Road brake housing feels mushy with canti studded brakes as the housing is designed to flex with super stiff brake calibers.

I don't have a bike that will take centerpulls. The current Pescadero doesn't look like it will take the Paul Racer Mediums that are currently in production. You would have to find an older pair of Paul Racers.

There are a lot of navigation apps out there - we use RideWithGPS. Toggle on the heat map option and you'll see where people near you are riding. That's no guarantee of good scenery, but it's a start. I hope this helps. Also, you can't go wrong in a National Forest or on any of our public lands.

@@frankteneralli3149 Thanks!

On days that you have time have some long rides. Bring an extra layer, food, water…. Spend some time exploring your area. Some of the routes will turn out to be deer trails, roads to access power lines which aren’t interesting and don’t seem to be worth riding and some will be gold. Make notes (mentally, paper, google notes on your phone…) and keep exploring. After several years you’ll know your local rides. It requires time on your bike. If you’re on a gravel bike fatter tires with a little more aggressive tread pattern and easier climbing gears are recommended for this approach.

Yeah no index shifting.

I’ve used a few different types of V-adapters and have been disappointed in all of them. The power is there but the lever feel and modulation are nowhere to be found. Old school cantilever brakes work fine - if they’re set up properly (one of the biggest factors regarding poor canti braking performance is straddle wire height). Some bikes don’t get along with cantilever brakes such as suspension mountain bikes which typically lack cable stops or allow decent cable routing. Long pull brakes want long pull levers. Short pull brakes want short pull brakes. Adapters are often a cheesy way of doing a job which result in subpar performance and more hassle to work on. Given how cheaply short and long pull brake levers are (that aren’t super duper bling) just get some new levers or get some used ones.

Ditto. In short, travel agents suck. A waste of time and money. They're an unnecessary pain in the ass. They cause excessive cable friction. Buy brakes and levers that were designed to work together. Its never a good idea to compromise brakes!

It may return at some point ;)

@@PaulComponentEngineering 👀

Also conversion cable pull devices such as Travel Agents can work w Vbrakes, part of the mechanics of the subject here to be fair. You can't keep China out of this realm ultimately. Doubt anybody can claim nothing Sino on their bike. Beautiful stuff out there.

Ive got some XTR v brakes, bought when new. They're still stopping very well decades later. Ive also got even older XTR cantilevers. For the money they're the best cantis ever made. They're really easy to adjust as well.

Travel agents work but also sort of suck.

Travel agents are a definite compromise. They add lots of cable friction. A PITA. They're a waste of time. Brifters are a waste of money because they won't last more than 5 years of dirty riding.

I swapped out crappy cantis on a bianchi volpe with v brake and travel agent. Works great

I am big too, 115kg..trp cx 8.4 stoping me on downhills, in the rain ..even stronger and more reactive as my hydra on canyon mtb

i thought my rim brakes were fine, until i got really into winter adventure riding in the columbia river gorge area. not only do they suck in the wet and mud but the pads wear out every couple rides and my new rims are already showing lots of wear. like it or not disc brakes are better for stopping and will make you a faster more confident rider.

Hydraulic systems are simply not very complicated in a larger world of complex machinery. Lots of flunky mechanics service hydros regularly. I've done it since I was a teenager learning with my dad on his cars. Many modern bicycles however have become overly complicated, overpriced, less reliable and often of quite poor quality. If you can ignore marketing BS, think outside the box and learn for oneself, simple, reliable and good valued solutions are available. TRP and Shimano's full hydro brakes (especially mtb brakes) offer excellent quality, reliability , power and easy service IF you learn service correctly and practice bleeding. Shimano in particular offer very good valued brakes. TRP hydros are some of the best quality on the market and priced accordingly. If riders put lots of miles on bikes, they should be bleeding more frequently than once a year. Practice makes perfect. Manufacturers recommend bleeding at least once a year. Shimano's can be easily bled in 1/2 hour tops. Disc brakes aren't 'absolutely necessary' for road bikes. I've ridden road bikes off-road before MTBs ever existed. But that's not what you'll hear from marketing BSers who give you very little choice. Rim brakes often work fine for me on gravel and in 'cross races. I learned how to operate my brakes long before disc brakes existed. I own a number of bikes with most types of brakes on the market. Some of them are actually quite old.

@@rosomak8244 I'm a professional mechanic. Lifetime mechanic, machinist and mechanical inspector. I beg to disagree. The real problems with ALL brakes (and LOTS of other bike junk) are consumer ignorance and or a lack of QC. Pretty much all bikes are quite simple mechanisms compared to the larger world of machinery. The brakes I mentioned are very simple to bleed and generally ultra reliable in particular. Bleeding doesn't require extra time compared to replacing cables and housing. Especially on lots of infernally routed systems! Generally, consumers don't bleed often enough, so it's a very foreign skill to them. Practice makes perfect. Various manufacturers recommend we bleed brakes at least once a year. People often bring me hydro brakes to bleed when serious issues require replacements of certain hydraulic parts. This is ignorance of required maintenance. Simply more job security! If you understand the bleeding process, hydro brakes are extremely reliable, excepting SRAM in particular. Sram is well known by mechanics to offer little or any QC at all. They require extra to bleed. We've been recalling SRAM brake levers for over 7 years now. They've never fixed their obvious and numerous QC and engineering problems. THIS is ALL very obvious to a mechanic with my experience. I've built and maintained aerospace hardware. Things that human life depends on! Nobody's fooling me! But I will agree that discs are generally unnecessary on road bikes, at least those operated by users experienced and well practiced in applying freakin brakes. (Use that front brake to stop hard! Maybe (just maybe) discs are required by heavy loads and overweight riders on paved roads. However , I toured across the USA on the 'Bikecentenial using Campagnolo NR sidepulls. These were not powerful brakes. They were known as 'speed modulators' among us racers. But I didn't have much issue descending huge mountains in the Sierra Nevada or the Rockies. Indeed, all racers KNOW brakes slow them down! They're going to use them as little as possible. Excepting certain overpriced mechanical discs, mechanical brakes in general offer far less braking power than needed for serious off-road riding. The ONLY affordable mechanical disc I'd recommend are the long pull Avid BB7s and they're still not as strong as a decent entry level hydro that's actually less expensive. Reliable, yet fair priced entry level hydros exist, believe it or not. I use the BB7s on my bikepacking bike because they're simple, ultra reliable and easy to maintain on an extended tour more than a week. I don't like to ride fast down mountains on a very long ride. I use the descents to rest, but I have tuned and installed my BB7s to offer their very best power and leverage. Pretty much everything is compromised on most mechanical disc brakes in the production world however. By the way, I finished a 60 mile road and dirt ride late last night with cantilevers on my decades old cyclocross bike. I descended about 5000' on dirt singletracks, mostly in a pitch black redwood forest.

Prob some of the best braking and ok modulation.

50 front and rear.

@@PathLessPedaledTV How tight are the clearances? I have an older Hillborne with the side pull brakes and the 48mm (49mm measured) Gravelkings were real tight. Wondering if the geometry changed a bit along with the brake type.

@@billtidey I have 50mm Cazaderos on a 2012 side pull Sam Hillborne and the tyre clearance is tight but it works. Running narrow rims, ~19mm internal and the tyres measure 47mm actual. Russ's Sam has longer chainstays and slightly more tyre clearance than the older versions.

Doesn’t mean it will work with every road lever. Highly dependent on pull of the lever (they vary) and placement of the pads on the post which is determined by wheel size and canti stud placement which also varies.

Mini Vees might work ok, but only while the dirt's dry and your wheels stay true. Compromised brakes sorta suck. But it's a consumer's money, life and decision. Shimano has made integrated components for years. They're designed to work together best.

RidewithGPS.com

I have the same question. Many levers don’t specify long or short pull. They say linear pull, or compatible with cantilever brakes, or something that doesn’t give me confidence that it will work well. Paul does specifically say their love levers or canti levers are compatible with which brake, but a full set of Paul brakes and levers costs like $500+ so I will go cheap for now and maybe upgrade later, one piece at a time.

it is 40mm from the lever pivot to the end of the cable attachment on the long pull lever. About 20mm from the lever pivot to the cable attachment point for the short pull.

@@resisomaaji5887 thanks!

He runs bar bags so anything that interferes isn’t in his peripheral.

I don't have the appropriately spaced braze ons for center pulls. Also their tire clearances aren't great.

@@PathLessPedaledTV shame. I have used them with. 42mm Rene Herse knobbly tire and they had clearance for that. Regular tire is 34mm jack brown (an ex riv tire) I noticed they don’t have the larger option on their site at the moment.

Short road pads from Riv. I believe they are kool stops.

My salmons on XTRs squeal too. I assume you know about 'toe in'? I tried Koolstop's dual compounds and they're good too. I sort of like a bit of squeal as long as the brakes are powerful. Squeal scares off wildlife and warns other trail users Im coming. I just ride with headphones usually anyways.

And the brake Booster comes out of retirement ! They never left most my rimbrake bikes, always feels better to have them especially long arm Vbrakes

Agree. We've seen the rear brake bosses flex away from each other quite a bit with the power of something like the Mini Moto on super light seatstays.

Brake boosters work great. A simple upgrade with spacers and longer bolts. For Shimano or Avid Vees you might need special 'necked down' spacers. I machined my own.

Which brakes?

@@Korina42 monolite.

Yes. The touring canti is the noticeably stronger brake and has better modulation IMO. The mini moto excels in ease of setup and lack of straddle cable and stops better than the Neo Retros but not as good as the touring cantis when setup well.

@@PathLessPedaledTV thank you! I also love the way the Motolite works but not sure if i want to deal with converting pull ratio… Have you tried Rene Herse and Velo Orange canti? It would be great if there would be the video comparing the top tiers and cantis from different brands together for us non disc people!

Would always go with mini-v brakes instead

@@GT-sc5sk pretty sure tire clearance is only 40mm with minimotos unfortunately

@@90041hood do you need really more as 38mm?

@@GT-sc5sk of course! :)

@@90041hood on mtb or cx/gravel bike? Running for years 33mm, since last year 38, once they are done, will go to 33

That is what is on the Riv.

@@PathLessPedaledTV Bit of bad news on this one: Gevenalle has stopped producing long pull shifter/lever combos as Tektro has discontinued production of their long pull drop bar lever. Until they can source an alternative, those long pull ones you got there are now "RARE HARD TO FIND OOP"

The width isn't an issue. It depends on where the canti studs are mounted in relation to the wheel.

My experience with regular (non Pauls) cantilever brakes tire clearance wasn’t an issue. I used to run 2.5” tires with low profile cantis and had lots of room to spare. The original surly fat bikes used cantilever brakes for a reason.

@@stefhirsch6922 I never knew there were fat bikes with cantilever breaks 😄- very interesting. Thanks for this.

@@danielpwagner Hayes had a good disc brake on the market in 1996 but discs hadn’t taken over mountain bikes yet. In 1996 most downhill racing was done on rim brakes and many pros were still downhilling on rim brakes until about 1998. Surly also wanted to keep their bikes at a price point that back then meant either junk quality disc brakes or sticking with rim brakes. Rim brakes have a lot of history in mountain biking - it’s just that they’ve been forgotten about because discs took over 20 years ago.

No.

@@PathLessPedaledTV I guess you have tried it and saw that the brake is not working properly anymore, right? Normal v-brakes annoy me sometimes by limiting the clearance for the wheel or the fenders but I have not tried anything to work around it.

Use smaller tires!! Get an mtb style fenders. Fit problems are always going to require work arounds and compromise.

There are these things that convert short pull brakes to have more cable pull. I think it might be useful for giving older frictionshifters more cable pull in order to shift cassettes with more than 9 cogs properly, I guess. It might also help with the cable routing on the rear derailleur. So that the cable dosen't need to have a bow. I like the idea of the shifters changing their positions for more ergonomical shifting etc.

@@rollinrat4850 that is true but smaller tires are often not an option to me, thanks. It is also a problem of narrow rims that let the tires gain height.

Pacenti Brevet

Paul Racers require very specific mounts. Hardly any new bikes have them. Mine certainly doesn't.

They have models of Racers that mount to normal caliper brake mounts now, too. Seen them both online and in person.

@@NeilHodges still wouldn't work for me since they have such narrow tire clearance.

Interesting. I have a set of Klampers and they are light years beyond the Spyres I have had on other bikes.

I don't know, I had my mecahnic make sure they were set up correctly and while yes it was better than the spire, not better enough for me to stick with them.

@@amitkumar-wj8gn I mean I just got growtac equals from work... That are by far the best mechanical brakes I've ever used. But yeah my spyrs served me well and will probably find their way on a bike in the future

Here's your review: I've had TRP Spyres and they suck with road levers. Mediocre at best. Get them if thats all you can afford but they are the most over rated medoicre brake.

Best bang for the buck are Avid BB7 long pulls. Avid's short pulls suffer the same power and leverage issues practically all short pull discs do. There's just not enough power for steep mountain rides. I refuse to use them. Short pull disc calipers are a poor compromise for something as important as strong, reliable brakes. It's hard to fathom so many big bike companies specced these with brifters. MANY are so bad, you can pedal while applying the brakes hard. There's simply no excuse for weak unsafe brakes on a new production bike! I own 4 BB7s and they've all lasted for well over 20 years. You can rebuild them on a picnic table, they're simple and affordable. BB7s are an old and well proven design. I get excellent results using Cane Creek Drop V levers, old XTR or Paul's levers. With compressionless housing and 180 rotors, they're plenty powerful for loaded touring and bikepacking. Maybe not the greatest for gravity heavy rides, that's where hydros are the ticket. Hydros truly are reliable. TRP and Shimano hydros are some of the very best. They're simple to bleed. Soon TRP Hylex are going on my monster cross. TRP makes highest quality, near perfect designed hydros.

Function over form. Gotta keep priorities straight. Who looks at brakes (or bike) when they're doing their thing? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder too.

@@rollinrat4850 anybody who spends the money on paul rim brakes is not putting function over form. they work ok in dry condition. pretty useless once you get into the muddy/rainy rides.

@@anthonidanowski9404 I was given some Paul's neo retros. They work just fine for me. They're wonderfully made by USA machinists just like myself. So do my IRD Cafams that I actually paid for. They're copies of the Neo Retros. They're both based on the vintage Mafac design. I use these on my fixed gear 'cross bike. The bike Ive ridden every winter, ALL winter for the last ten or so years. This is the bike I grab for the nastiest, muddiest and worst condition riding. I've gotten it so muddy the wheels wouldn't turn. The same Koolstop salmon pads have been on these brakes for about seven winters. I should probably mention I brake lots by back pedaling a fixed gear. I rarely skid at all. Bad for my old knees! Skidding is riding out of control. I also use the original XTR cantis from the '90s. They're on my old 'cross racing bike. In my opinion these are probably the best value cantis ever made, probably because I bought them in a close out sale! They've lasted decades! I also use dual pivot road brakes, center pulls, v brakes, as well as disc brakes. Both mtn hydros and Avid BB7s long pulls for loaded long distance touring. They all serve a purpose in various sorts of riding. Mainly, I like old, tested and proven , simple, reliable hardware. I know how to ride fast 'enough' while using brakes minimally. I know how to corner fast and choose fast lines from my racing days. To a racer, brakes only slow you down. Touch them at the wrong time and you're at the back of the pack! Knowing how to use your front brake is the key to hardest braking. This is something all sorts of riders miss. It's proven by popular trail's severe braking bumps leading into corners. If riders are truly skilled at braking, they don't need to skid much. A brake's ultimate power is limited by traction available at the tire's contact patch on the ground. Getting canti brakes (or any brake) to perform at its best potential is not only about user skill in braking. Its also about mechanical set up, (wrenching skill) proper set up, efficiency, triangulation, geometry and leverage. If you want to learn more check out the canti section on Sheldon Brown's website. Good canti set up can be a little tricky. Its a great explanation how to maximize canti performance. There was a straddle cable that used to be provided by Shimano that simplified set up, but really limited the power available from their cantis. I also threw that away and used the traditional style yoke and straddle which allows a much greater degree of adjustability. I'm a pro shop mechanic. Ive worked on pro racer's bikes. I've been using canti brakes as well as most other brake types for several decades. Ive never paid anyone to wrench on my bikes. Disc brakes as well as most everything else is often mere job security for me. I work on brakes practically every day at work. Anyways, it will always be the RIDER, the operator and or the mechanic. Not the freakin bike that make the greatest difference.

Did say it was for splashing out.

Very, very few manufacturers build their parts to such high quality standards as Paul's does. That's what you're paying for. Their materials are certified and traceable. Skilled machinists, assemblers and actual inspectors build this stuff. These procedures are similar to aerospace or medical manufacturing. Compare this to the cheap manufacturing standards and low skilled labor often used in Asia. You can train a young child or a monkey to apply inspection stickers where they don't belong! Paul's parts could probably last the rest of your life. They're worth extra because they may not become landfill so soon. This sort of manufacturing and the related cost is justified by people who are serious, high mileage riders who keep their 'junk' more than a few short years.

Ok