Anyone tried the tektro mini v-brakes ?

Not very impressed with the Avid Shorties on my tricross and noticed that the 08 versions come with the tektros's

thanks

Hey man. I just finished my Tricross build.

I bought the Tektro Mini V for the Tricross but didn't go with them for a couple of reasons.

There is very little clearance between the pad mount part of the brake arm and the massive crown on the Tricross fork. So if you remove the front wheel often it seems like it would rub and potentially damage/wear the part of the crown. Just a precautionary guess, not sure if this is even an issue.
Tire clearance was very tight. I am running 35c Ritchey SpeedMax tires and it barely cleared. I also want to run 40c for some rougher fireroads that I ride.
With that said, I decided to build up my Tricross with v-brakes paired up to Cane Creek's new Drop V levers. This also means that I couldn't use my 105 brifters that I had laying around. So i switched to barend shifters and must say that I like it.

I had read bad things about Travel Agents (setup, kink in the cable, cable wear) so I decided to bypass it altogether, but at the same time others swear by the setup.

I spec'd out the nooodle'less Cane Creek Direct 5 brakes. You can tear those apart and change the arms left to right and also switch the pad place fore/aft of the arms. This was was good because you can put the pads fore of the arms to avoid hitting the massive crown of the Specialized fork.

I'll post some pics tomorrow of my setup if that's helpful to ya.

Anyone tried the tektro mini v-brakes ?

Not very impressed with the Avid Shorties on my tricross and noticed that the 08 versions come with the tektros's

thanks

I ride my cross bike mostly on the road and light trails (don't race). I switched to campy mini-v's a while ago and have been really happy with the performance. They modulate well and aren't nearly as picky as the old set-up (avid cantis).

I have the Tektro RX-5 Mini V on my Felt F1X. They are better then the canti's I used before. I do a lot of raod riding with my cross bike (specificaly mountain passes) and the mini v gives better down hill braking force. I had to install an "in-line" barrel adjuster to the brake lines. to get my wheels off. When you set up the pads 2 mils away from the rim you will not be able to release the cable noodle. The barrel adjusters give you that extra cable release.

My wife has them on her cross bike and they have been nothing but trouble. The LBS has fiddled with them for years. We made the decision that in the next month, they'll go on Ebay and we'll move onto to something else. The springs are a piece of work. POS IMO

I ride my cross bike mostly on the road and light trails (don't race). I switched to campy mini-v's a while ago and have been really happy with the performance. They modulate well and aren't nearly as picky as the old set-up (avid cantis).

Forgot about the Campys. Worth checking out, the are the Veloce models.
I think Jensons has them online.

Forgot about the Campys. Worth checking out, the are the Veloce models.
I think Jensons has them online.



do those work with 'regular' levers, ergos?

I got the Campys on ebay and they're the Veloce model. Really nice and functional. You do need the barrel adjuster to get them off, but otherwise it's what I wanted. I run a Shimano 9 spd set-up otherwise. So not proper.

do those work with 'regular' levers, ergos?

Yep. They'll work with ergos or STI (which is how I run them). No need for a travel agent. They're not "approved" for 'cross according to Campy, but I suspect they'd work fine, if not as ideally as cantis. :rolleyes: They're great for street and light trail use.

btw, if you want to try out the tektros for cheap, let me know. i will sell you my unused set.

PM me if you're interested

How big of a tire can you get into and out of the Campy's? If you use campy levers then they have the button to open the break more. Maybe a barrel adjuster won't be needed then.

The tire clearance issue with these small mini v brakes is the brake cable that spans across the two caliper lever arms. So even tho the Camply levers can be released wider via the button/knob, it doesn't address the problem with the cable.

I run 32s with no problem and could go bigger. MTP is right, the barrel adjuster is needed (at least with the Campy and Shimano STI set-up) to get enough play in the cable to release the brake cable.

btw, if you want to try out the tektros for cheap, let me know. i will sell you my unused set.

PM me if you're interested

thats really good of you - but I'm in the UK !

I got the Campys on ebay...I run a Shimano 9 spd set-up otherwise. So not proper.
Ah... what is proper nowadays?

It's the era of mixed components. Bike makers nowadays spec such multi brand parts. Seems like alot of bikes no longer come with their group cranks and brakes, replacing them with FSA or Bontrager house brand cranks and Tektro brakes.

With that said tho, my last Bianchi came with all Campy Veloce. I must admit there something special about that. I sold it tho, so maybe not special enough ;)

Ah... what is proper nowadays?

It's the era of mixed components. Bike makers nowadays spec such multi brand parts. Seems like alot of bikes no longer come with their group cranks and brakes, replacing them with FSA or Bontrager house brand cranks and Tektro brakes.

With that said tho, my last Bianchi came with all Campy Veloce. I must admit there something special about that. I sold it tho, so maybe not special enough ;)



actually it's the NEW era of mixed components... back in the days just before ergo/sti, it was not uncommon the have different brakes and levers, drivetrain, regina-sachs-whatever FW.... then with sti/ergo we were forced to keep the drivetrain same, full groups/gruppos. there were no or few other brake and crank mfgers, many that were once popular seemingly disappeared (modolo, suntour, dia-compe, sugino, ofmega, gipiemme, etc). now the market is expanding again

Hey man. I just finished my Tricross build.

I bought the Tektro Mini V for the Tricross but didn't go with them for a couple of reasons.

There is very little clearance between the pad mount part of the brake arm and the massive crown on the Tricross fork. So if you remove the front wheel often it seems like it would rub and potentially damage/wear the part of the crown. Just a precautionary guess, not sure if this is even an issue.
Tire clearance was very tight. I am running 35c Ritchey SpeedMax tires and it barely cleared. I also want to run 40c for some rougher fireroads that I ride.
With that said, I decided to build up my Tricross with v-brakes paired up to Cane Creek's new Drop V levers. This also means that I couldn't use my 105 brifters that I had laying around. So i switched to barend shifters and must say that I like it.

I had read bad things about Travel Agents (setup, kink in the cable, cable wear) so I decided to bypass it altogether, but at the same time others swear by the setup.

I spec'd out the nooodle'less Cane Creek Direct 5 brakes. You can tear those apart and change the arms left to right and also switch the pad place fore/aft of the arms. This was was good because you can put the pads fore of the arms to avoid hitting the massive crown of the Specialized fork.

I'll post some pics tomorrow of my setup if that's helpful to ya.

pics would be great thanks !

I ended up using the Tektro Rx-5 Mini V-bakes with the Travel agents for all of last season (Not one muddy Race though, so no experience with mud clogging the travel agents).

I found the brakes really useful on fast courses with long straightaways leading to a sharp 180 or anytime where being able to produce large changes in speed were a part of being able to ride sections of the course fast.

I noticed that while my other cantilevers(froglegs and BR-550) were useless when it was wet, the mini v-brakes showed no real signs of being affected by the moisture on the rims.

Without the travel agents, I felt that the brakes were too mushy and also rested too close to the rims. With the travel agents, there is plenty of clearance, 2-3mm, and plenty of power. Setup is very easy.

That being said, I just bought some Paul Neo-Retros for my race bike and am very happy with them. The Mini V-brakes with the Travel agents have more power though.

i run tektro rx5 since three years ,
20 races / year .
absolutely no problems !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
before i had campa , but the springs on rx 5 are much stronger .

we have big experience with them ,because sold over 200 pair of them
big advatage : every brakepad fits every rim . no changng of pads ,when changing to carbonrims
and absolutly no fork shuttering .

in germany even a lot stock bikes are sold with mini-v .
the best pressure point ,you will have with using campagnolo-levers.
you can use nokon or jagwire reinforced outerhousing to have a much better pressure-point .
i never tried tires wider than 37 mm
for quick wheelchanges you need adjustable noodles.
attention :there are differnt tektro mini v brakes on the market .
now 35 % of german cyclocrosser use mini-v.
on races you see 8 % of the riders with mini-v
three years ago ,there have been two riders in races ........
it will become stndard.
frm will bring a superlight one in summer .



elmar

The Tektro model commonly sold here is the 926A mini-v.

I was looking at some BMX bike parts and noticed that some of those have shorter arms too, longer than the 926A but still shorter than regular mtn bike v-brake arm.

Interesting thing is that the new 08 Specialized Tricross Expert has mini v brakes that are not tektros. They work with the SRAM Red brifters as you can see in the pics.

http://www.leelikesbikes.com/wp-content/110107tricross.jpg

hmmm - interesting !

elmar - what are adjustable noodles ?

I used the RX-5's with 105 brifters all last year and thought they were great. I didn't use a travel agent and thought they still worked fine, although I'd assume the travel agents would give you more clearence if you need it. A whole lot more power than the canti's i had been using (cane creek's) and they were very inexpensive (<$30 on ebay). The modulation is fine too. Also good for road riding, since canti's absolutely suck for any sort of panic stop you may have to do on the road (i commute on my cross bike fairly often, also take it up to the mountains from time to time). Also if you ride your cross bike on mtb trails the mini-v's are nice--again, more stopping force than canti's, which is nice on tight switchbacks or downhill sections.

FWIW I have no problem getting my wheels in/out with the mini-v's. no nead to fiddle w/ an inline adjuster. Just unhook the noddle and pull out the wheel.

thanks turbo :)
I think I'll go for them...

hmmm - interesting !

elmar - what are adjustable noodles ?


foto
http://crossladen.de/shop/system/detailimage?shop_param=cid%3D40%26aid%3D11%26posit ion%3Dposition1%26

thanks elmar !

never seen them in the UK.......

where do you get them from ?

thanks elmar !

never seen them in the UK.......

where do you get them from ?
i am a bike-shop owner ............

I never knew they existed either - glad to learn something new today! Thanks!

http://www.tektro.com/02products/16small%20parts.php

I never knew about these too.

Doing a search, I found that Jagwires a noolde with a barrel adjuster too.

http://images.channeladvisor.com/Sell/SSProfiles/42000175/images/11/BR7107.jpg

elmar - fancy exporting to the uk ? :)

I contacted Specialized here in the UK and they sent me this reply....

'Hi Justin,

Thanks for your email, it's always good to get feedback from riders.

As performance upgrade we are now offering mini v style brakes for Tricross'.

If you take your bike back to your nearest authorized Specialized dealer (you will need your original proof of purchase) they will remove the original canti's and we will send you out a set of the new brakes.

This should solve the problem.

Regards'

Got to be pleased with that...

Got to be pleased with that...

Man, that is impressive customer service. Please post pics of the v-brakes they're sending you. I am curious as to what model they are and how long the brake arms are to be able to work with the brifters.

Hi, I've got Tricross Comp in UK two weeks ago and it came with Tektro RX6 - black.
They actually stop better then Avid-4. I compared to the Comp model I've test ridden - much better. However I can't remove wheels - just can't press then close enough to take out noodle, so if got puncture then will have to loose pads first.

here is a picture of new breaks from Tektro website:
http://i035.radikal.ru/0805/6f/2b26a9c25df5.gif (http://www.radikal.ru)

and info as well:
RX6 NEW!! Lightweight design
3D Forged aluminum arms
With 876.12 cartridge pads
With quick release machanism cable guide pipe and holder
Arm length : 90mm
Dimension : 20.5 - 36.5mm
Standard finish
Sand blasted black anodized
Weight 144 grams / wheel

However I can't remove wheels - just can't press then close enough to take out noodle, so if got puncture then will have to loose pads first.If the tire is flat, it will be much easier to squeeze between the pads w/o releasing the noodle. Just remember to re-install the wheel before re-inflating.

If the tire is flat, it will be much easier to squeeze between the pads w/o releasing the noodle. Just remember to re-install the wheel before re-inflating.

Thanks a lot!!! That's a good point 'cos I'd need to remove them only to change tube.... Still not easy for thieves to steal the wheel :)

For all the current mini users: are these any easier or harder to install than the standard V-brakes? I really like the looks of them. Most of my cantilever equipped bikes stop ok, wouldn't mind more stopping power.

For all the current mini users: are these any easier or harder to install than the standard V-brakes? I really like the looks of them. Most of my cantilever equipped bikes stop ok, wouldn't mind more stopping power.

Installation is exactly the same as regular v-brakes: dead easy.

Thank you. This is very good to know because I'm definitely going to go this route. I second using the in-line cable adjuster for the brakes.

However I can't remove wheels - just can't press then close enough to take out noodle...

I quit using them when I flatted in a race and couldn't get the wheel off to change it. :mad2:

hmmm - interesting !

elmar - what are adjustable noodles ?
http://patineto.smugmug.com/photos/287064431_HAmiF-L-1.jpg


????

I just installed a set of XTR (952) series v brakes with some nice soft ritchey red pads. I switched over from the TRP CR950 carbon cantis.

Obviously night and day difference, and while I might be increasing the problems for mud package, the stopping power is so much more useful. I have read over and over again that "stopping" is not necessary in cross. Ok, maybe, but for fat/larger fellas the increased stopping ability makes diving into corners and such that much more appealign and doable.

only one long ride on the brakes, but main racer is being upgraded as well to some 960 XTR's. Could care less if it looks ok or not, but me not crashing head first into a tree cause i am unable to stop sure has its pros. :D

Anyway the pros can ride what they wish to. Me I ride what I like. Being unsponsored and unproven does have its advantages. :thumbsup:

I used them last year, I could only run them on the front as my rear wheel is often out of true, they stop much beter than my expensive pauls, but they sit close to the rim and rub in the mud. They would be great for dry onditions or road applications, plus they are very cheap.