@dcv 36342 wrote:
Hilarious.
Did your bike come with canti rear brakes and direct pull V brakes up front? Also is the front a mini-v brake? I didn’t think integrated brake/shifters worked with long pull V brakes.
The reason I’m asking is I’m planning a drop bar conversion on a bike with V-brakes and about to order mini-V’s to work with Tiagara shifters.
Johnny is an old Lemond Poprad- when I acquired him he had dual Avid shorty canti’s… I couldn’t stand them up front (Link to thread) and settled on a set of Paul Mini-moto linear (short) pull fronts. I now have about 1500 miles on them and am still really jazzed about their performance. Adding the interrupter levers was a great move as well. However, just this morning I found some sort of special slime on Difficult Run trail that lubed up my rim so badly that I lost 95% of my braking power and shot into the trees. Meanwhile, my buddy on his Avid mechanicals merrily went on his way right through the goo. If I could (and felt like spending the money) I’d rebuild that front with a disc but I don’t think that the frame has enough life left to justify a new fork.
Only other issue with the Paul (besides cost) is that it takes some fiddling and a 15mm wrench to get it dialed in after a wheelset change (I switch back and forth between a set of commuter slicks and the CX tires). It’s not a huge deal but like most Paul products, the documentation is well-neigh nonexistent so some trial and error is in order.
The other huge improvement I recently made was switching from high pressure CX (Hutch Piranha @ 80psi) to low pressure tubeless CX (Michelin Mud2 @ 38-40psi)- off road handling is a TON better at the lower pressures even if my on-piste performance is a bit slower. Also- no more evil pinch flats…
