Most road bikes over the past 25 years have been built with short reach (49mm) road racing brakes. These brakes fit just about all 26C tires and many 28C tires. For many road riders, this is plenty for just about all road riding.
Recreational riders want the durability and comfort of larger tires. 28C tires have become increasingly popular for riders in centuries, multi-day rides and so on. The larger the tire, the longer they hold up. Unfortunately, 49mm brakes don\'t offer the level of tire clearance needed for these larger tires.
Related to this is the growing number of riders who what to mount fenders on a performance bike. Fenders significantly the required clearance. Only with very specialized equipment can you mount fenders on bikes designed for short reach racing brakes. This is particularly true for people who want to ride all winter.
That\'s why Waterford introduced several bikes with clearance for bigger tires - the Road Sport Extended, the Cyclocross, the Road Sport Touring and the Adventure Cycle. Since they use either cantilever brakes, linear pull brakes or regular reach (57mm) caliper brakes, you can mount larger tires and still have fender clearance.
The 57mm caliper brakes offer an excellent solution to the problem of fenders and road tires. One limitation is that no one has yet to introduce a composite fork for 57mm brakes, though there are some plans in the works. Waterford does produce an excellent steel fork to match the 57mm brake.
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