New brakes, new fork - worth the trouble?

brownian

Hiyiz

I've an Airborne Carpe Diem (out of business American brand) titanium cross/road bike (ultegra kit, Campy neutron wheels, brooks saddle), which I've loved for many years and still runs lovely. The only thing I don't like about it is the canti brakes, which are a throwback to its other potential role, as a cross bike.

The front fork is a simple steel one, with canti bosses. I'm considering replacing it with a carbon fork, mainly so I can put proper "road" brakes (or a disk?) on the front, but also for the extra vibration damping.

Is this a daft idea?

Thanks!

blorg

That's a touring bike, not a road bike. Airborne became Van Nicholas. I have the newer version- the Van Nicholas Amazon, which I believe is the same frame just with disc mounts.

I wouldn't put a road fork on a touring bike personally. I would suggest you try wide profile adjustable cantis, and adjust them correctly, before anything else.

Other than that I think I would go for a disc front rather than a caliper, and keep the clearances.

Lumen

brownian wrote: »

The front fork is a simple steel one, with canti bosses. I'm considering replacing it with a carbon fork, mainly so I can put proper "road" brakes (or a disk?) on the front, but also for the extra vibration damping.

Regarding discs...

A 700c disc-compatible carbon cyclocross fork will be expensive. The last time I looked there was only one of these available (from WoundUp) and they're not cheap (the one I was looking at was about $500+shipping+duty+VAT. Otherwise you'd be looking at various flavours of rigid MTB fork, which are cheaper but you'll have work to do in matching the geometry.

It would be more sensible to get a cheaper steel fork, (e.g. this for £50). But even then you'll have to get a mechanical disc brake (e.g. Avid BB7 with 160mm rotor) and a disc-compatible wheel, so it'll cost a couple of hundred at least.

Or as Blorg says, stick with cantis.

brownian

Isn't a cyclocross fork basically the same as a road fork, but with clearance for fatter tyres and with bosses for cantilever brakes? I was thinking of the kinesis dcx7 (http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=65378) as a possible replacement.

Of course, then I'd need to shelve my neutron front wheel and get a disc-compatible wheel...not too wild about that.

Could I ask why you wouldn't put a road fork on a touring bike? Whether the Carpe Diem is a touring bike (I do, in fact, tour on it) or a cross bike isn't really the issue, except for the wide clearances and the canti bosses. Since I don't need wide clearance for 23mm tyres and would prefer road brakes like these
(http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=39005), why not a road fork?

I've played around quite a bit with the canti brakes, including replacing the Avid Shortys at the back with Shimano brakes, using KoolStop pads instead of the factory ones, etc. Never seem to get near to the raw stopping power of road brakes (never mind discs), though. Am I just doing it wrong?

Lumen

brownian wrote: »

Isn't a cyclocross fork basically the same as a road fork, but with clearance for fatter tyres and with bosses for cantilever brakes? I was thinking of the kinesis dcx7 (http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=65378) as a possible replacement.

Check out the fork specs, compared to a road fork:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=49350

The CX fork has a crown height of 405mm, compared to 378mm for the road fork.

This will change steering geometry. Fill yer boots:

http://yojimg.net/bike/web_tools/trailcalc.php

blorg

brownian wrote: »

Isn't a cyclocross fork basically the same as a road fork, but with clearance for fatter tyres and with bosses for cantilever brakes? I was thinking of the kinesis dcx7 (http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=65378) as a possible replacement.

I think that fork would work.

Could I ask why you wouldn't put a road fork on a touring bike? Whether the Carpe Diem is a touring bike (I do, in fact, tour on it) or a cross bike isn't really the issue, except for the wide clearances and the canti bosses. Since I don't need wide clearance for 23mm tyres and would prefer road brakes like these
(http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=39005), why not a road fork?

It falls into the category (for me) of trying to make the bike something it's not. It is a lovely bike but even with 700x23s tyres is more sluggish than a road bike. There might also be geometry considerations although I am not sure on that one. And you lose the ability to run wider tyres which is the whole point of the bike.

I've played around quite a bit with the canti brakes, including replacing the Avid Shortys at the back with Shimano brakes, using KoolStop pads instead of the factory ones, etc. Never seem to get near to the raw stopping power of road brakes (never mind discs), though. Am I just doing it wrong?

You haven't tried wide profile adjustable cantis though. They aren't as good as calipers but they are a hell of a lot better than low profile cantis.

Lumen

brownian, it important that you throw money at this problem until you find the answer.

The internet needs to know.

TinyExplosions

Lumen wrote: »

brownian, it important that you throw money at this problem until you find the answer.

The internet needs to know.

And Lumen is a fine example of this theory too!

Wide profile Cantis are grand for stopping power, just stick a set of these on and you're sorted!

blorg

TinyExplosions wrote: »

And Lumen is a fine example of this theory too!

Wide profile Cantis are grand for stopping power, just stick a set of these on and you're sorted!

I have those on my cross bike, they are good. Planet X Frogs Legs copies on my touring bike, also good.

Holyboy

Throw on a set of V brakes and some problem solvers travel agents, BOOM job done and if your worried about frame/fork flex find your self some old skool brake boosters! Itll all wear your rims out nice and quick:)

seve65

TinyExplosions wrote: »

And Lumen is a fine example of this theory too!

Wide profile Cantis are grand for stopping power, just stick a set of these on and you're sorted!

I have those wide profile tektro cantis with kool stop salmon and they are ok in the dry. But in the wet they arent great for me, having said that it seems to be because the pads start collecting loads of c**p including tiny bits of the rim (perhaps its time for new rims anyway...was thinking Easton EA70s). I had to take the orignal tektro pads off because they were awful, albeit that was a few months into riding so perhaps the rims might have started to wear prematurely at that point. I try to clean the pads regularly now but got to be careful i dont overdo it and introduce some unnecessary squealing. I also dropped the straddle cable quite low which seems the best position for those tektros.