New (old) bike help required

[lewis noble]

Good luck with the bike and sorting it to your tastes and needs.

Drops / straights??  Very much a personal choice; I rode straight bars for years / decades but have adapted better than I expected to the drops on my Audax.  I think a lot depends on riding style, terrain etc. - I and most others prefer straight bars for trail riding.

The brakes - I think they are called centre-pull or cantilever? For years they were standard on most bikes, now largely replaced by v-brakes where rim brakes used.  Would you replace them with v-brakes or are they fine as they are? If you do decide to replace the lighting system with bar mounted kit, and retain the centre-pull brakes, bear in mind that the stud / front light bracket from the fork crown is an essential safety feature of centre-pull brakes - without that, if the brake cable breaks or slackens off inadvertently, the springs can pull the 'joining' cable down onto the tyre and jam the wheel (not sure of my terms here) - at least, so I was told years ago, and I never wanted to test that out! 

And it's surprising how better bikes feel when they are clean and well lubed and maintained!  An extra 10 miles a day I reckon . . . .

Lewis

[ourclarioncall]

Good luck with the bike and sorting it to your tastes and needs.

Drops / straights??  Very much a personal choice; I rode straight bars for years / decades but have adapted better than I expected to the drops on my Audax.  I think a lot depends on riding style, terrain etc. - I and most others prefer straight bars for trail riding.

The brakes - I think they are called centre-pull or cantilever? For years they were standard on most bikes, now largely replaced by v-brakes where rim brakes used.  Would you replace them with v-brakes or are they fine as they are? If you do decide to replace the lighting system with bar mounted kit, and retain the centre-pull brakes, bear in mind that the stud / front light bracket from the fork crown is an essential safety feature of centre-pull brakes - without that, if the brake cable breaks or slackens off inadvertently, the springs can pull the 'joining' cable down onto the tyre and jam the wheel (not sure of my terms here) - at least, so I was told years ago, and I never wanted to test that out! 

And it's surprising how better bikes feel when they are clean and well lubed and maintained!  An extra 10 miles a day I reckon . . . .

Lewis

Thanks Lewis , I hadn’t thought through the brakes yet other than they are a bit weak, maybe the pads need adjusted or renewed. I will take a closer look. I think I see what you mean about the brakes cables And the bracket thing the light is attached to which sort of catches it a bit if it were to snap somewhere

[ourclarioncall]

I forget that I am almost 17 stone (I feel like I’m 12 inside ) (I’m in my 40’s and also feel like I’m 21 lol)

If I lose a few stone the bike will feel even quicker than it already does . Maybe ? . But that would be a bonus

I wasn’t sure if I could change the current brakes to v brakes , would that work ok ? I might not do it yet but maybe later

[PH]

I wasn’t sure if I could change the current brakes to v brakes , would that work ok ? I might not do it yet but maybe later

You can, though they have to be matched to the appropriate lever.
Those brakes should work fine, they look well set up with a good straddle cable angle, cleaning the rims thoroughly might help as might better blocks. 
Those levers match those brakes, if you fit V brakes you'll need V brake levers which have more cable pull, if you change to straight bars you may as well change the brakes, but I wouldn't bother otherwise.
Lighting - if you've nothing better to do it might be fun to get that setup working, but really by modern standards it'll be pretty rubbish even if you do.  Any tenner battery LED light is likely to be brighter.  I'm a fan of hub dynamo LED systems for bikes that are going to be used in the dark a lot, but it's an expensive upgrade for those that are not, my bikes are half and half, top quality dynamo system or cheap battery light in the saddlebag.

[PH]

bear in mind that the stud / front light bracket from the fork crown is an essential safety feature of centre-pull brakes - without that, if the brake cable breaks or slackens off inadvertently, the springs can pull the 'joining' cable down onto the tyre and jam the wheel (not sure of my terms here) - at least, so I was told years ago, and I never wanted to test that out! 
Lewis

Not with mudguards fitted it won't 
This was an issue when knobbly tyred MTB's were the norm, Shimano introduced their own link wire to overcome it, which instead of a one wire yoke, had the main cable running all the way down to one arm.  But the best way to stop it was always to take care of your cables!

[martinf]

Lighting - if you've nothing better to do it might be fun to get that setup working, but really by modern standards it'll be pretty rubbish even if you do.  Any tenner battery LED light is likely to be brighter.

Agree. But it was a very good setup about 25 years ago, much better than most of the lighting systems available in the 1970's.

[mickeg]

You have cantilever brakes. Centerpull brakes are similar but do not have cantilever posts installed on the frame or fork.  That said, some people call the ones you have centerpull cantilever.

This would be a centerpull brake.  I can't say what era they were common in, but in early 70s when I worked at a bike shop they were common then.  I have an early 60s bike that also had them.  But I can't say when they stopped being common.
https://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=24214e28-8234-434b-9f67-841c14823b1d

Try the canti brakes first before you think about replacement.  I have canti brakes on my rando bike, my Thorn Sherpa (medium touring bike), and my errand bike.

[Prince of Darkness]

Those B&M dynamos are pretty good. I used to use one and the only issue I ever had with it was a tendency for the roller to lose grip in heavy rain, which is obviously not good. They do an all weather roller, which is basically a wire brush. It's supposed to cure the slippage problem, but I can't imagine it being good for the tyres! A major upgrade is to replace the halogen headlight with a LED, this gives much more light. I upgraded to a Schmidt hub unit, which is significantly better, so the B&M is available free if you want it

[Moronic]

You have cantilever brakes. Centerpull brakes are similar but do not have cantilever posts installed on the frame or fork.  That said, some people call the ones you have centerpull cantilever.

...

Try the canti brakes first before you think about replacement.  I have canti brakes on my rando bike, my Thorn Sherpa (medium touring bike), and my errand bike.

My recent experiemce endorses that suggestion. I had good cantilever brakes in good shape on the Trek I replaced last year with my Thorn Mercury.

The Mercury has a V-brake up front and a mechanical disk brake at the rear.

One thing I did not notice after the switch was greatly superior braking.

I am not convinced the V-brake was designed to improve braking power, even though it has the potential to do so through an increase in leverage.

I think it was designed mainly to save weight. When introduced on mountain bikes, V-brakes came with much smaller and shorter brake levers. The increased mechanical advantage of he V-brake caliper allowed the design to accept reduced mechanical advantage at the lever.

The levers on my Trek (straight 'bars) look like motorcycle brake levers by comparison. But they allow me to apply lots of force.

Having said that, if you're switching to straight 'bars and therefore need new levers anyway, you'll likely find V-brake lever and caliper combos easy to come by and they should fit the same frameposts as the cantilever units.

Its a long while since I've used drop handlebars but FWIW I used them exclusively in my 20s and I do think they offer a better range of hand positions than straight bars, even with the Ergon grips and bar ends now recommended by Thorn. You can ride up on the flats, or with your hands in several places around the initial curves, or forward on the brake hoods, or when climbing, facing a headwind or maximising descent speed either forward on the drops or right down on the drops.

No doubt though, access to brakes and gears is inferior. I never found the brake side of that a problem for road use. But it would annoy me a lot these days on gravel descents, where I would be forced onto the drops if I wanted swift access to maximum braking power.

[Danneaux]

...if you're switching to straight 'bars and therefore need new levers anyway, you'll likely find V-brake lever and caliper combos easy to come by and they should fit the same frameposts as the cantilever units.

The bosses are compatible but the spacing may not be. In my experience, "yes" if the bike/fork is spaced /intended for use with tires wider than 32mm as commonly found on bikes equipped 26in wheels; less so on 700C road tourers and many hybrids. I have a number of early 1980s road tourers that have canti-brake bosses that will accept v-brakes, but...the spacing between the bosses is too narrow to accommodate v-brakes no matter how the spherical washers/spacers are juggled. You just can't achieve a good arm angle and so they tilt out a long ways at the ends and  it can be difficult to impossible to get a good approach angle for the brake pads to hit the rim squarely.

The solution in many (but not all) cases is the "mini-v" brake, which often allows for closer spacing. It also has a cable pull ratio compatible with canti- or road drop-bar brake levers.

Best,

Dan.

[Moronic]

Thanks for clearing that up, Dan.

[PH]

...if you're switching to straight 'bars and therefore need new levers anyway, you'll likely find V-brake lever and caliper combos easy to come by and they should fit the same frameposts as the cantilever units.

The bosses are compatible but the spacing may not be.

I'd say almost certainly V's are suitable for that bike, the flat bar version would have come with V's as standard, I can't imagine they'd reset everything for the drop bar frames.  Easy enough to measure, 80mm is probably ideal, anything over 75 will be fine, under that and the rim width and dropout to boss measurement starts to play a part.
My opinion on the difference between cantis and V's is that well set up cantis offer the same braking as V's which are far more tolerant of not being perfectly set up.  For example, I never adjust my V brake blocks at the brake, I have them set to be optimal at the mid wear point and take the slack out at the lever.  The mechanical advantage remans the same, they're not technically called linear pull brakes for nothing.  The mechanical advantage of many cantilever brakes is dependent on the angle of the straddle wire, pad wear should be taken out there rather than the lever cable.

[mickeg]

Mini-V brakes might not fit if you use fenders (mudguards).

Generally a mini-V has an arm about 85mm from the center of pivot to cable.  I have mini-V brakes on my folding bike, I have 40mm wide tires on that bike and no fenders. I initially used cantilever brakes, but the folding mechanism created some odd cable routing on the rear that proved problematic for cantilever brake in rear.  When I changed that to mini-V, I also changed the front for no particular reason.

My Nomad Mk II uses a Tektro V brake, I do not recall the model, the arms are 110mm long.  Because I use road brake (short cable pull) brake levers I used a Travel Agent to accommodate the change.  There is no way that a mini-V would have fit with an arm length that is 25mm shorter.  I use fenders on this bike, and with 57mm wide tires, I need long brake arms to clear it.  Photo attached, sorry about the focus, auto-focus cameras often focus on the wrong thing and in this case the focus is on the ground in the background.

As I previously noted, my suggestion is to try the cantilever brakes first.

[ourclarioncall]

Greetings again

Okay just did a bit of homework and testing of the bike

Put in an order to sjs for

Thorn Comfort Bar
Ergon grips
Jtek friction shifter adapter thingys
Barrel adjuster for jtek thingy
Thorn stem
Couple sets of various size spacers
V brake levers

I’ve stolen the v brakes off another bike I had and they seem to work fine , well the front one, I’ve yet to do the rear

I think the only thing I didn’t get was a new headset , as I didn’t know much about them . I’ve watched a few videos on installation and removal of headsets

I see you need special tools or can diy it with other methods .

Just wondering which kind to get , and also their longevity and do they wear out or parts need replacing over time ?

The one I’ve got might be fine …. But it’s not black is it ?! 😄😄

[ourclarioncall]

Those B&M dynamos are pretty good. I used to use one and the only issue I ever had with it was a tendency for the roller to lose grip in heavy rain, which is obviously not good. They do an all weather roller, which is basically a wire brush. It's supposed to cure the slippage problem, but I can't imagine it being good for the tyres! A major upgrade is to replace the halogen headlight with a LED, this gives much more light. I upgraded to a Schmidt hub unit, which is significantly better, so the B&M is available free if you want it

I did notice the drag of the dynamo while in lowest gear going up hill. I couldn’t get it working and just took it off. Thanks for the offer , I think I will just continue to spend money lol and either get a dynamo and new front wheel or get modern led lights on the handlebar