Adam Craig is a dude — check out his bike check and interview on CyclingNews
Craig: "Because most people suck at riding, and they don't know any better. They think that the wide-profile Mafac thing is cool, which it was back in 1954"
Adam is using the new TRP CX9 brakes. See that pic down below from Mallory Park? You'll see I'm using the same brakes. That was my first race on them and they were great. I was swapping between EuroX's and CX9s on my two bikes and the CX9's made life so much easier. With good brakes you're either on the gas, or on the brakes. With normal - ineffective - brakes, you end up freewheeling the whole time so as not to pick up too much uncontrollable speed.
Which sucks.
Anyone who tells you you don't need brakes in cyclocross is a crank who's never raced properly and/or is a crap rider. Brakes matter — get the best you can, and set them up so they work!
4 comments:
Adam Craig also adds later that mud clearance is not an issue as he's got a spare bike and US races are dry and fast anyway and mud is a rare exception. Won't the mud clearance be in issue in really bad weather, like what we had in the last two London league races?
yes, it will be an issue — I trained last night on these brakes and they were rubbing a bit when we riding lots of muddy stuff.
That doesn't mean though that you have to be content with crap brakes. Low profile cantis are more powerful than wide profile ones, and you can upgrade the pads in any brakes to some that work better.The only reason EuorX's are remotely useable with carbon rims is the advent of Swisstop brake pads.
Mini Vs like the trp CX9 are fantastic (especially as they eliminate fork judder) but lets not get carried away with the idea that Mafac style cantis like the Frogleggs et al are 'crap brakes' they take a bit more effort to set up but are more than up to the job! I had a go on a set of Avid ultimates (set low profile) and they were fantastic too but nowhere near the clearance of my conventional Frogleggs and I don't think the slight performance gain would justify the quadruple cost (well not with Christmas coming up!). It's interesting that Nys experimented with the Avids and has gone back to TRP Mags (maybe he got a slapped wrist from his sponsor?) but it seems the majority of the euro pros use wide profile cantis and they have the luxury of a spare bike and a pit crew with karacher every lap ;-)
Andy - i love that bottom picture where you look perhaps slightly nervous, confused about where you are... Am I in a cross race?
Are these brakes actually working?
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