Rim Brake Calipers

Rim brakes have been part of Off Course’s repertoire since our early days. Despite declining in abundance across the bike industry, we pride ourselves in keeping a range of rim brake options from Shimano, Paul, Tektro and other great brands.

Rim brakes differ in overall design, as well as their “pull”; that is, the length of cable pulled by the brake lever to affect optimal engagement at the rim.
Read on for a breakdown of these variations.

Rim Brake Design:

Rim brakes come in three common types: Caliper, V-brake and Cantilever. Though others exist, we won’t get into the less common variants here.

Caliper brakes are most commonly found on road bikes, and are made up of an arch-shaped assembly going over the tire. They are fixed to the frame by a single bolt at the apex of the fork, or near the join of the seat-stays at the rear of the frame. Getting the right “drop” on a caliper brake is important for effective engagement between pad and rim, and is influenced by the the length of caliper arms, and the distance between the caliper bolt and the rim.

V-brakes have a different design, and are more common on gravel and mountain bikes. Two arms attach to the frame on either side of the rim, pointing upwards, with a cable running horizontally across to bridge the two.

Finally, cantilever brake pads can appear similar to V-brakes, but mount to specially designed “studs” on the frame, and rather than the arms pointing upwards, they point both up and outward. Instead of a single horizontal cable linking the two arms, a straddle-cable forms an “arch” between the two, with the main brake cable anchoring halfway along to actuate the system.

Rim Brake Pull-Types:

There are two pull-types found in cable-actuated brake systems. For effective brake action, pairing your brakes with levers of the same pull-length is crucial.

Short-pull (AKA “Road”) is found on most caliper and cantilever brakes.
Long-pull (AKA “Mountain”) is found on standard V-brakes.

Some exceptions exist.

If you are unsure of what brakes are appropriate for your bike, get in touch with us here at Off Course.