Will My Rims Be Too Wide For My V-brakes?

[Herr.Wolfkatze]

I'm currently customizing my Specialized P3 for street trials riding, and the gents at Tarty Bikes told me i'm going to want to be careful with running Echo Rims on it as they're a little wide for a standard MTB

My rims are thicker and wider than most, and are currently 36mm wide each, the brakes run as close as I want to with absolutely no problems.

I'm currently looking at the Echo SL front/rear at 38/44mm respectively.

The spacing between my V-Brake mounts on the bike is 100mm and i'm going to invest in some Shimano XTR's

Do you know if i'm cutting it a bit too close with this set-up? I want to run some Try-All Sticky front/rear tyres on my bike too so i'm a little worried about my tyres being too fat and rubbing against the frame with little or no clearance, they also mentioned it may be difficult to get the pads on close to the rim, although i'm not sure as the tyres and rims on my bike are definitely bigger and wider than most, if not all other MTB's i've seen out there.

The gent I spoke to on the phone at TartyBikes did say though that this kind of set up would be dangerous with Magura's which I originally wanted to run. However he said that if I were to run V-Brakes with rather skinny canti's such as Shimano LX or XTR's with pads that had slim backings I could get away with it, perhaps by the skin of my teeth, but if I wanted to squeeze the brakes further to the rim I could simply sand off some of the pad material, shortens the life but it's a sacrifice i'm willing to make for the set up I want

Any advice? Thanks

N.B. I've been told a thousand times already that my set-up is ridiculous/unusual/impractical/useless and I know it's ungeneric, but my P3 frame suits me well (and I still want to be able to take it out on dirt jumps if I feel like it) and the reason I decided to go with such a controversial build was because a mate of mine who got me into trials rides street just fine with a standard size 16 GT Chucker which is a FAR worse bike than mine to attempt to learn trials on, and he's damn good So i'll consider it skill and stamina training until I save up some funds for a thorough-bred trials bike.

[Ali C]

Hi, it was myself you talked to on the Phone at tartybikes.

I think you pretty much got the jist of it, however I would recommend the Shimano XT over the XTR brakes as they are thinner (same as LX), the linkage system on the XTR brakes can work loose and rattle over time also.

I have run vee brakes on a 46mm rim with 100mm spacing in the past, I had shimano LX brakes with Plaz CRV backings. It cleared pretty well, but thinner pads would make it easier to set up.

I know you mentioned a magura on the phone, but with you having vee brake posts, you would have to run Magura's EVO 2 adaptor to run the brake. This makes the brake much harder to set up and as I said on the phone takes up a bit of space too. As long as you set up a vee brake well with good pads and cable (BMX linear slick cables are good, or if you want bulk, as your local bike shop for shimano sp5 5mm gear outer in 15m length) it should work as well (or better) than a magura.. I had a vee on when I won a round of the world championships, so they are perfectly good.

I would also recommend a booster to make sure your're getting the most from the brake.

Cheers

Ali

[Herr.Wolfkatze]

Hi, it was myself you talked to on the Phone at tartybikes.

I think you pretty much got the jist of it, however I would recommend the Shimano XT over the XTR brakes as they are thinner (same as LX), the linkage system on the XTR brakes can work loose and rattle over time also.

I have run vee brakes on a 46mm rim with 100mm spacing in the past, I had shimano LX brakes with Plaz CRV backings. It cleared pretty well, but thinner pads would make it easier to set up.

I know you mentioned a magura on the phone, but with you having vee brake posts, you would have to run Magura's EVO 2 adaptor to run the brake. This makes the brake much harder to set up and as I said on the phone takes up a bit of space too. As long as you set up a vee brake well with good pads and cable (BMX linear slick cables are good, or if you want bulk, as your local bike shop for shimano sp5 5mm gear outer in 15m length) it should work as well (or better) than a magura.. I had a vee on when I won a round of the world championships, so they are perfectly good.

I would also recommend a booster to make sure your're getting the most from the brake.

Cheers

Ali

Hello again!

Thanks very much, you've been very helpful with sorting out my brake/rim issues for me.

What would be the main difference in performance between the Shimano SP5 and the BMX Linear Slick's? If I order Shimano XT's or XTR's I can also have them supplied with NOKON cables, do you know if these are a suitable option for the style of riding I want to get into? I'm not exactly sure what they are but allegedly they improve braking performance quite significantly and remove the necessity of having a noodle to hold the levers together.

Oh also actually, what kind of brake boosters should I be looking to run? Do I need a front as well as the rear? Because my bike has one of the funny looking front mounts like the one seen here: https://www.cambriabike.com/Images/product/...3_rim_brake.jpg

Except that is the entirety of the front fork, not an additional attatchment.

Edited June 4, 2009 by Herr.Wolfkatze

[Herr.Wolfkatze]

bump~

[CurtisRider]

I have had 3 Nokons...perfect on the front....but a bit sloppy on the back. Get a bmx linear cable, they rule.

[J Trials 31]

Hello again!

Thanks very much, you've been very helpful with sorting out my brake/rim issues for me.

What would be the main difference in performance between the Shimano SP5 and the BMX Linear Slick's? If I order Shimano XT's or XTR's I can also have them supplied with NOKON cables, do you know if these are a suitable option for the style of riding I want to get into? I'm not exactly sure what they are but allegedly they improve braking performance quite significantly and remove the necessity of having a noodle to hold the levers together.

Oh also actually, what kind of brake boosters should I be looking to run? Do I need a front as well as the rear? Because my bike has one of the funny looking front mounts like the one seen here: https://www.cambriabike.com/Images/product/...3_rim_brake.jpg

Except that is the entirety of the front fork, not an additional attatchment.

Looks like you have a Magura 4-bolt mount in the front. I'd get a Magura for it, because you won't be able to run a vee without an adaptor and it will be bulky especially on the front. So maggie front, vee rear. Magura 4-bolt mounts are actually quite common on trials bikes. They have been used for years on trials bikes.

[Herr.Wolfkatze]

Looks like you have a Magura 4-bolt mount in the front. I'd get a Magura for it, because you won't be able to run a vee without an adaptor and it will be bulky especially on the front. So maggie front, vee rear. Magura 4-bolt mounts are actually quite common on trials bikes. They have been used for years on trials bikes.

Thats really weird... My bike has a Magura 4 bolt mount AND a Vee 2 bolt mount on the legs of the forks.. No adaptor is needed, kinda like having vee mounts and IS mounts, except I have the choice of Maggie instead. That being said should I still put the mag on the front?