The Xtracycle is a great bike, but this is the Achilles’ heel. The Free Radical kit doesn’t have an attachment for cantilever brakes, so I had to use a V-brake. As I’m not about to throw away my very good shifter/brake levers to I had to try and fit this little beastie in to make the V-Brake on the back side fit with the cantilever-compatible levers up front. It’s called a Travel Agent, and in theory it reduces the force produced by the levers so that the Xtracycle stops smartly but gently when I pull the lever, instead of locking the back wheel and throwing me over the handlebars. The problem is that it’s a pain to adjust, and usually results in the rear brake being as effective as a bowl of jelly. Usually I end up using the adjuster at the front to get any bite out of the thing at all. So I’m wondering about alternatives. If anyone has any pearls of wisdom in response to these questions, please feel free to comment:
- The point is to reduce the force on the brake blocks/wheel when using cantilever levers. Is there another, less awkward way of doing this, like another piece of kit to fit on the cable?
- Is there a way to fit cantilevers on an Xtracycle?
- There is an adjustable travel agent. Could this mitigate the problem?
- Am I missing the point? Do V-Brakes simply feel soggy compared to Cantilevers?
- And the potentially dumb question: I know it goes against all published wisdom, but what difference would it make if I just used the v-brakes directly from the brake lever, (Especially as it’s on the back of a long heavy bike, not the front) Would it just lock the back wheel?
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November 3, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Nick
I don’t know the answers to most of your questions, but in my limited experience V-brakes feel anything but soggy compared with cantilevers. Quite the reverse in fact, they’re not soggy at all.
November 3, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Zweiradler
Normally it’s easy to block the wheel with V-brakes and I think that’s a good thing. I like powerful brakes.
You won’t fly over the handlebars, by the way – that only happens when you use too much power on the front brake (or did I misunderstand something?).
But I don’t know anything about the compatibility of levers and brakes.
Nico
November 3, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Jon
I use V-brakes with standard cantilever brake levers with no travel agent. The only drawback is that the lever feels mushy if you pull on it to “test” it, as you are sitting still. In fact, you can usually pull the lever all the way to the grip.
Keep in mind, though, that you will lock the wheel up waaayyy before you pull the lever that far, as you ride. I think the extra modulation of the standard lever is a good thing, and I actually kinda prefer that set-up to V-brakes with V-brake levers.
That said, you simply can not go the other way and use V-brake levers ith cantis. Just won’t work.
Anyway, get rid of the travel agent, adjust the cable tight enough that you can just manage to get it to release at the noodle so that you can open them up when you need to remove the wheel, and you will have all the brakes you need.
(I would never try to ride a loaded extracycle with cantis, as they are just not strong enough. That’s proboably why a cable stop is not provided.)
November 3, 2009 at 9:13 pm
David Hembrow
V brakes are horrid things. Too many degrees of freedom, so a pain to adjust, and they need adjustments every few km to get them working properly again. When they’re adjusted well, though, they’re strong brakes.
Anyway, to skip to question 5… My Xtracycle has canti style levers as well. I don’t have a travel agent and simply connected the brake lever directly to the brakes. OK, so the pull isn’t quite the same for left and right brakes, and you have to adjust the even more precisely than usual (because V levers pull the cable more than canti ones do), but it actually works just fine.
As Zweiradler says, you’re not going to fly over the handlebars whatever happens, so why not just try it.
If you want reliability, consider fitting a hub brake. You’ll have to DIY the attachment of the arm, but then it’ll just work.
November 5, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Andy in Germany
Thanks to all, that’s been very helpful- I’ll take the travel agent out when I have time and see what happens. I’ve noticed a slight buckle in the wheel as well, which isn’t going to help so it looks like another visit to the bike shop…