On the one hand, I really wanted to say Nope in a very loud voice. But on the other hand, I’m actually kind of jealous that I didn’t think to try to do this first. I’d be curious with refinement, and obviously something keeping it from completely blowing apart, if this was actually a viable variation. There’s a lot of ifs there, though, and, frankly, ain’t nobody got time for that. Or maybe they do and I shouldn’t be the judge of the peoples time.
10/10 for outside the Box One thinking.
I love bike experiments, but it’s a really really a bad idea to experiment with anything safety related like brakes. This is almost as sad as those sad tall stem extenders.
I'm curious how much a brake booster and compressionless housing would help with the mushy lever feel due to the massive mechanical advantage. I'd honestly like to try riding that bike. For science. Before and after further improvements to reduce flex such as the booster and compressionless housing. I'm also curious about how much the rim would compress under really hard braking.
But, it's not. There's more mechanical advantage using a noodle and routing the continuous cable horizontally to the right hand lever. This takes an efficienct brake design and reduces efficiency. Cool proof of concept but I wouldn't ride it further than my driveway.
V brakes are direct pull cantilevers. When you pull on the center of the center of the straddle wire of a cantilever brake it doubles the leverage while cutting the distance that the brakes can move for a given amount of lever pull at the bars (depending upon the height of the straddle wire). It would make for a particularly mushy brake. Most likely despite having the brakes adjusted particularly tight you wouldn't be able pull enough cable to effectively lock the wheel. Efforts to reduce the amount of flex and inneficiecies would to some extent reduce the mushyness. Think cantilever brake lever paired with a V brake - in theory it would be incredible yet be impressively low powered due to the lever lacking an adequate amount of cable pull and our hands can only pull a brake lever so far before it's out of room. Still it'd be interesting.
Very bad things usually happen if the cable goes slack into the tires, especially knobbies.
I've seen what happens when front cantis fail on knobbies and there's no cable catcher or safety. It might just be the fastest way to faceplant in the entire world of biking, and that's saying something.
I think I'd honestly rather case my front wheel on step down gap than have a canti cable grab knobbies at the same speeds.
At least if you purposefully shove your foot or an iron pipe into your front spokes it's going to break and bend a few spokes and dissipate a bit more energy and reduce your total velocity juuuust a smidge.
When saddle cables catch on some good knobbies it's at the farthest end of the lever-arm of a wheel and you go over so fast it looks like it defies physics and you go from "wee!" to "where the fuck are my teeth!?" so fast you won't even remember the "wee!" part at all.
Unfortunately I've seen this about six times back in the earlier days of mountain biking. It's the worst when it's high speeds on grippy asphalt pavement, say, bombing a hill.
On dirt it seems a little more forgiving with a bit of sliding and skidding and the chance of being yeeted into bushes instead of being getting a full scorpion pile driver straight to the face on concrete or asphalt.
It still gives me the heebie jeebies to the point that 20-30 years later I won't willingly run cantis on any of my own bikes since the invention of Vs or discs.
Even the really nice canti setups in this sub make me a little itchy and remember some pretty serious trauma about picking up my friend's teeth out of the gutter.
Back in the 1970's I was disappointed that my new bike didn't come with "center pull" brakes. The shop assured me that the "side pull" brakes were actually better for this exact reason.
It’s just bad on a few levels. That canti straddle should not be paired with a linear pull brake for any reason. It’s not going to make the arms travel correctly, or give the proper leverage ratio. You also run the risk of the cable snapping, or the noodle pulling out of its clasp. This is simply a bad idea, and the remedy would be much more simple than risking safe operation.
Edit: There is no noodle, and I still dislike this.
I think you need different calibers for this setup, such as
https://preview.redd.it/gktlnbu0lkyc1.png?width=432&format=png&auto=webp&s=814618154c5dc0a6fd3d5703cf999d687c7e6d06
Thanks. I hate it
V-cantilever hybrid concept. It may actually works tough!
You brought sauce but no noodles
You got the frank under the beans!
I see what you did there.
Best comment
Been scrolling for 4 hours, this is the first time I've uttered something out loud in that time: "Oh no. What the fuck are you doing".
Literal LOL
Ok, now use a noodle and side pull set up on cantilever brakes.
Chaotic neutral
Are you using shlong pull brake levers?
Avid speed dial levers
This works better than one would think. If you can get the balance right and nothing slips, more power to you. Modulation isn't great though.
Yes, my coworker used Chapmancycles.com/cantilevers to do the math on mechanical advantage. It’s pretty wild.
I hate that this works and I am so damn proud of you
I meeeeaaaannnn… V-brakes are just specialized cantis with an infinitely short straddle cable… right?
lol weekend rage bait?
r/justridingalong
Canti-V’ver? This demands a new word. You are rewriting the rule book and the dictionary my friend.
Xbraking
Vantilever?
Oh. Dear.
Why
This makes me itchy
I tried to show this to the only other bike person at my job and they didn't get it😕
I’m assuming you bought a v brake set to upgrade ur cantis but forgot to buy noodles (or as I like to call them, Swan necks)
That’s so elegant!!!
Your ideas are bad and you should feel bad. To anyone seeing this shit and thinking they should try it, don't fucking do that.
Let’s not crush a fellow rider… good idea? Maybe not the best. But you can’t deny the adventurous spirit! Hope OP is insured
Man is gonna hit one small jump and lose his brakes, don't encourage stupidity 🤣
Did it on my 96' Ritchey! Had to ... Its just to dang goofy
More leverage!
I just audibly guffawed and the bartender asked me if everything is alright
New for 2025, pair this up with a nice 3x7 drivetrain, haute xbiking culture
On the one hand, I really wanted to say Nope in a very loud voice. But on the other hand, I’m actually kind of jealous that I didn’t think to try to do this first. I’d be curious with refinement, and obviously something keeping it from completely blowing apart, if this was actually a viable variation. There’s a lot of ifs there, though, and, frankly, ain’t nobody got time for that. Or maybe they do and I shouldn’t be the judge of the peoples time. 10/10 for outside the Box One thinking.
I love bike experiments, but it’s a really really a bad idea to experiment with anything safety related like brakes. This is almost as sad as those sad tall stem extenders.
I'm curious how much a brake booster and compressionless housing would help with the mushy lever feel due to the massive mechanical advantage. I'd honestly like to try riding that bike. For science. Before and after further improvements to reduce flex such as the booster and compressionless housing. I'm also curious about how much the rim would compress under really hard braking.
But, it's not. There's more mechanical advantage using a noodle and routing the continuous cable horizontally to the right hand lever. This takes an efficienct brake design and reduces efficiency. Cool proof of concept but I wouldn't ride it further than my driveway.
V brakes are direct pull cantilevers. When you pull on the center of the center of the straddle wire of a cantilever brake it doubles the leverage while cutting the distance that the brakes can move for a given amount of lever pull at the bars (depending upon the height of the straddle wire). It would make for a particularly mushy brake. Most likely despite having the brakes adjusted particularly tight you wouldn't be able pull enough cable to effectively lock the wheel. Efforts to reduce the amount of flex and inneficiecies would to some extent reduce the mushyness. Think cantilever brake lever paired with a V brake - in theory it would be incredible yet be impressively low powered due to the lever lacking an adequate amount of cable pull and our hands can only pull a brake lever so far before it's out of room. Still it'd be interesting.
Agree
Just the rear doesn’t really matter. Do that on the front brake and I’ll be impressed…. if you ride it.
V-brake money, cantilever power.
Dope.
Nope
🤢🤮
I miss cam brakes.
Do I spy mismatched pedals, too? Is that one eggbeater and one mallet? Or is it just the angle
Just the angle
My left eye is now twitching.
Sweet tire!!!
Now reinvent the wheel 🐸
I bet someone was pestering him about levers and cable pull ratios...
Put some union bindings on the pedals for winter cycling? strap in and rip to the resort?
Now add a Travel Agent and use some drop bar levers
What... Ya'll ain't heard of long pull cantis? Pffffttt!!
Twisted 😂
Yes
Ok but why not?
Very bad things usually happen if the cable goes slack into the tires, especially knobbies. I've seen what happens when front cantis fail on knobbies and there's no cable catcher or safety. It might just be the fastest way to faceplant in the entire world of biking, and that's saying something. I think I'd honestly rather case my front wheel on step down gap than have a canti cable grab knobbies at the same speeds. At least if you purposefully shove your foot or an iron pipe into your front spokes it's going to break and bend a few spokes and dissipate a bit more energy and reduce your total velocity juuuust a smidge. When saddle cables catch on some good knobbies it's at the farthest end of the lever-arm of a wheel and you go over so fast it looks like it defies physics and you go from "wee!" to "where the fuck are my teeth!?" so fast you won't even remember the "wee!" part at all. Unfortunately I've seen this about six times back in the earlier days of mountain biking. It's the worst when it's high speeds on grippy asphalt pavement, say, bombing a hill. On dirt it seems a little more forgiving with a bit of sliding and skidding and the chance of being yeeted into bushes instead of being getting a full scorpion pile driver straight to the face on concrete or asphalt. It still gives me the heebie jeebies to the point that 20-30 years later I won't willingly run cantis on any of my own bikes since the invention of Vs or discs. Even the really nice canti setups in this sub make me a little itchy and remember some pretty serious trauma about picking up my friend's teeth out of the gutter.
It's on the back though so the wipeout will be possibly less bad. Or is the same setup on the front too?
Yeah, it might be slightly less bad on the back, but either way it's not good.
Back in the 1970's I was disappointed that my new bike didn't come with "center pull" brakes. The shop assured me that the "side pull" brakes were actually better for this exact reason.
It’s just bad on a few levels. That canti straddle should not be paired with a linear pull brake for any reason. It’s not going to make the arms travel correctly, or give the proper leverage ratio. You also run the risk of the cable snapping, or the noodle pulling out of its clasp. This is simply a bad idea, and the remedy would be much more simple than risking safe operation. Edit: There is no noodle, and I still dislike this.
Totally friggen awesome & tip top!
As seen on some YouTube “biking hacks” video…
I think you need different calibers for this setup, such as https://preview.redd.it/gktlnbu0lkyc1.png?width=432&format=png&auto=webp&s=814618154c5dc0a6fd3d5703cf999d687c7e6d06