Despite their age, our articles on v-brakes and v-brake conversions remain very popular with GRAVELBIKE’s readers. To help folks determine whether a certain brake will clear their bikes’ fenders or fat tires, we’ve compiled a list of popular v-brakes’ arm lengths (the list will be updated as new information becomes available).
Model | Length (mm) |
---|---|
Tektro 917A | 75 |
Tektro 926AL | 80 |
Paul MiniMoto | 83 |
TRP CX8.4 | 84 |
BOX Eclipse (short) | 85 |
Campagnolo Mirage | 85 |
Promax P-1 (short) | 85 |
Tektro BX3v | 85 |
Tektro RX5 | 85 |
Shimano BR-R353 | 87 |
Shimano BR-R463 | 90 |
Shimano BR-R573 | 90 |
Tektro RX6 | 90 |
TRP CX9 | 90 |
Tektro 930AL | 95 |
Tektro BX25 | 95 |
Bullseye Raceworks | 96 |
Tektro M530 | 102 |
Tektro M730 | 102 |
TRP M920 | 102 |
Paul Motolite | 103 |
Avid SL | 104 |
KCNC | 105 |
AEST | 106 |
Koski Lite | 106 |
Shimano Deore XT BR-T780 | 107 |
BOX Eclipse (long) | 108 |
Promax P-1 (long) | 108 |
Tektro 857AL | 110 |
Tektro C310 | 110 |
Tektro 849AL | 120 |
I believe that Shimano’s new short pull v-brakes are 90 mm. If you like, I can confirm when I return home.
That would be great, thanks.
I measure 87 mm — center to center — with my caliper.
Shimano BR-R353
It would be nice to know what brake levers work with them. I tried the Paul MiniMoto with Shimano Ultegra 9 speed brifters and the levers bottomed out. No way would they work.
I’ve used Paul’s MiniMotos with various levers (Campy, Shimano) without any issues. This illustrates that performance is often influenced by factors such as brake boss spacing, rim width, brake reach, etc.
In my experience, most modern integrated brake/shift levers will work with 80-85mm brake arms. Longer arms (90-95mm) generally perform better with levers that pull slightly more cable, such as Shimano’s 5700 and 6700. For anything longer, you’ll generally need v-specific levers such as those offered by Cane Creek, Gevenalle (aka, Retroshift), or Tektro.
Avid SL: 104mm, Koski Lite: 106mm. Cheers.
Tektro 917A – 75mm
This is a great article. I’ve been putting together similar information. You are right on the Shimano, they advertise 90mm for all the models. If you want to complete the table a bit.
BR-R353 is Shimano Sora
BR-R463 is Shimano Tiagra
BR-R573 is Shimano 105
I have sets of each, all measure between 87 and 90mm with my calipers. Seems there may be some quality control issues.
Campagnolo Mirage Linear Pull measure 85mm
For completeness they should all probably be listed
Really useful information, thank you much! But…..you don’t provide a diagram or indication what the measurement, precisely is of. That is, are you measuring from the center of the mounting bolt to the noodle insertion? Or from the center of the brake pad boss to the noodle insertion (I would think the former). It may be obvious, but ambiguity like this makes a useful article MUCH less useful. Could you indicate in a few words what you are measuring? Thank you!
That’s an excellent question. Arm length is measured from the center of the mounting bolt/brake boss to where the cable attaches.
Tektro 849AL : 120 mm
Thank you, added it to the list.