Some of the bikes look good. The ultra at £2000 very sleek. However, they have the back brakes down near the bottom bracket. Directly mounted on the frame. The propensity to pick up dirt must be high? Road cc have a big advert for them, but no reviews yet
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
2014 decathlon road bikes brake mounting
(12 posts)-
Posted 10 years ago #
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Review (but not test) -
http://www.road.cc/content/news/97203-decathlon-unveils-2014-btwin-road-range
Includes -
"
Campagnolo's gain though is SRAM's loss. Because Decathlon’s stores are all linked back to HQ in Lille, product managers can see what components are presenting problems and choose accordingly. That’s a powerful tool for a company that sells four million own-brand bikes per year. Crunching the numbers revealed a much higher rate of return for SRAM than Shimano."
Posted 10 years ago # -
Maybe also why they have Microshift on the triban 3 which they judge to be more reliable than shimano entry level gears.
Elsewhere on road cc you will of course find CHDot and Arellcat
Posted 10 years ago # -
80's mtb's had the brake down behind the bottom bracket too, it was a terrible idea. I guess for a summer use road bike its ok though.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Anything that avoids stringing a straight brake cable under a curved top tube is to be welcomed imo. The range looks great.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Concealed brakes are usually the preserve of time trial bikes where every aero advantage is employed. But mounting the rear brake to the main triangle rather than seat stays will reduce flex considerably to provide the stronger braking being claimed by Decathlon.
If the brakes are sealed well enough, I don't know that the crud issue will be quite as bad as feared, especially on the road. But it would still pay to keep the bike clean between rides to avoid mud build up.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Bikeradar have reviewed one of their midrange CX bikes and said it's very, very good....apart from the brakes. In fact the brakes let it down so severely it's the only reason they gave it 2/5 instead of a perfect 5 and a recommendation. The actual problem was brake shudder caused by the front canti setup - I thought this bit was interesting:
'We took our concerns to B'Twin but were told there are no plans to change it, which is a shame as it would be very easy to cure: either spec a mini-V-brake or use a fork-crown-mounting hanger – Tektro's costs just £7.99. In every other way the bike would be the bargain cross ride of 2013: light enough to race, tough enough to abuse and a whole lot of fun.'Seems Decathlons gleaming reputation might be in for a battering if they keep this up.
Posted 10 years ago # -
TBH I would rather a lower spec and discs
Posted 10 years ago # -
I would rather a lower spec and discs
And that's exactly what you can get on countless other CX bikes for the price, so this Decathlon one looks like a non-starter.
The BB mounted brake on the road bike also looks like the sort of thing that's going to come back and bite them hard. I mean there has to be a reason that nobody else has bothered with it for so many years. As has been said probably fine for sunny days but I wouldn't put much faith in it even with full guards in the wet.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Quite a few folding bikes - e.g. Chameleons, Bike Fridays have BB mounted rear brakes, mainly because they don't have seat stays...
I've not noticed any problems on mine, but then again, I don't tend to rely that much on my rear brake, and I use it to stabilise me under heavy braking.
The front brake is crown mounted though.
Posted 10 years ago # -
Sounds like the canti shoes were not 'toed in' properly. That's a set up issue rather than a fundamental flaw.
Posted 10 years ago # -
"Sounds like the canti shoes were not 'toed in' properly. That's a set up issue rather than a fundamental flaw"
The best case scenario then being that the bikes are leaving Decathlon with the brakes set up wrong, to the extent that braking is severely impaired and even dangerous. I also have to assume the reviewers are bikeradar know what they are doing and would have at least attempted to sort it if it was that obvious.
I've read that the cable setup is a very common cause of problems with cantis. Plenty more reports of that sort - severe shudder being solved by mounting the cable hanger off the fork rather than headset, exactly as bikeradar suggested.
Posted 10 years ago #
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