After the torrential downpour which seem to bring Boston Traffic to its knees, 7 of us(Mattison, PVB, Nick, Seth, Alex, Cary and myself) met at the Harvard Training grounds to get some laps in. The course was totally worked. There were enormous puddles, the depth of which I could not even fathom. I took my pit bike to test out the Nano-Brakes I just installed last weekend. I wanted to try out the V-brakes in the rain because I was told that they are very effective in all sorts of weather.
Equipment update...
I am using Tektro RX5 brakes with stock pads, and Dura Ace 9spd STI levers.
Currently my wheels are very true so there is no rubbing on the brakes when spinning the wheel around, which is a good thing I suspect. The first thing I noticed while going into some corners is that the brakes, with very little pressure, will slow down the bike, even if the rims are completely soaked or covered with mud. I did notice by the end of our pretty tough 1.5 hour workout that my front brake pads were pretty worn out and I could easily pull the lever to the bars. Even at this point, I was able to confidently stop the bike. This setup has about 2mm's of clearance between the rim and the pad(Pictures to follow) which is about the same amount I had on the BR550s. Even through the mud and the grass, it seemed to be enough clearance for me. I am totally impressed with these brakes and will install these on my race bike with an upgraded SwissStop Brake pads. The brakes are much mushier than on my Shimano BR550, but the lever action is so much lighter that my hands are not tired after a hard workout with lots of braking. I will also be adding a noodle with a built in barrel adjuster so that the bike can accomodate rims of different widths, which I was not able to do with the Shimano BR550. I think I may be the only one on the circuit using Nano V-brakes, but I think they are totally worth it, and if it is a super muddy race, I hope to be coming in to the pit for a bike change.
Technically speaking, the closer you have the pads to the rims, the less mud should get on your rims right? Since they will be scraped off by the pads? These ideas have not yet been tested.
7 comments:
Yash,
Try the Swiss Stop Rat brakes (green). Cyclocrossworld has them. They are very good!
I have the SwissStop on my race bike, since it gets more mileage than the pit bike. Also, I have noticed that the SwissStop is made od a much stiffer compound and does not compress like the stock Tektro pads.
how is the racing in GA?????????????????????????
igot my first ride in on the greens today. thanks for the tip yash. they rock. i gotta out some more mileage into them tmrw and then of course at sbc....
The racing in GA is usually pretty good. Our fields are much smaller than in the NE and I was a bit envious of your race schedule. Last year our whole series had less than 400 racers which is pretty small potatoes by NE standards. But, it is surprisingly competitive with a good core group of masters and elite riders. We always represent well at the UCI races and nationals and we have a lot of fun as well.
You should try to make it up for some of the Midatlantic races. they are supposed to be crazy fun. I am planning to hit some of the Jersey races. I have pitted at the pro races in Jersey, and they are awesome MUD Slug Fests.
I ran the same v-brake set up last year, my first year of cross and I loved it. I always stopped! This year I was talked into canti brakes. We've not had a muddy, wet event yet so I really don't have anything to compare to.
BTW, you looked pretty strong at Bedford
Roberto! Yes, the V-brakes are amazing. They do not give too much clearace so I broke down and bought some Travel agents. I now have 3 times the amount of clearance, and the braking is amazing. I am not sure what will happen when it starts getting muddy and the travel agent gets clogged, but I suspect that is what pit bikes are for.
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