What are you upgrading this season? I'm thinking of new brakes for my bike, as I begin my third season of cross on this same old bike. I picked up an old carbon fork for almost nothing this summer, and the only other components I thought about changing were brakes. Why change out the brakes?

The brakes on my bike work great. I've never had a braking issue, I've always been able to stop, or slow, when necessary. I think sometimes that weak brakes would be better, but that can be simulated by not applying as much force on the lever, (or possibly trimming some of the meat off the pads a little). Either way, less braking means more speed, unless there's an obstacle you are slowing for- sharp turn, barrier, wall, tree, Ponytail Man, etc.

When do we actually need to start braking? Well, an old theory in motorcycle racing is that you should either be accelerating or braking. Cruising along at a steady pace was considered inefficient, and if you had no acceleration left, then you geared the bike incorrectly. We could look at cross racing the same, especially since we rarely have any straight-aways long enough to run out of gears (except for the rodeo clowns on the singlespeeds).

If we are in a constant state of acceleration, then braking will become more critical. Our speed should be increasing until we stop turning the crank and pull the levers. Gear bikes will need to do some downshifting, but that takes little time. If you are following another racer closely while approaching an obstacle worthy of braking, you can often "out brake" them. This means waiting a split second or longer, before applying your brakes. You can also increase your lead this way, after passing that early braker.

With these two speed control techniques- accelerating/braking, or out braking, the functionality of the brakes become more important. The effort needed to stop may become an issue if your brakes are spongy feeling; that could be a hint of needing new cables. If you think new brakes would be great, or you just think that spending a little money on parts makes the bike faster (my bike is always faster after buying new parts), then here's a couple of models to satisfy a few wallet sizes, and there are many more options out there. Weight may be an issue, but I don't think an ounce per wheel will make a difference at the finish line. If so, then skip those last two ounces of coffee before the race starts, or leave a quarter of that Golden Pride #9 (breakfast burrito) for after the race.

Given the angles between- (a) mounting points, (b) pad contact points, and (c) cable angles, I would imagine that one will apply more pressure from a given input than the others. But, I don't have the lab equipment in my barn to prove it (in addition to the fact that I don't have either of these brake sets, and I don't have a barn either).

Ciamillo Zero Gravity GX Cross Brakes
118 grams per wheel
Titanium hardware
$350.00 ish

Spooky Cross Brakes
160 grams per wheel
$159.99 ish

Tektro CR 720 Cantilever Brakes
161 grams per wheel
Cartridge pads
$27.99 ish

(images coming soon)