Prefered cantilever brake

[hypnos]

Would appreciate some help from all the cantilever brake users out there. Which canti brakes do you prefer? I'm currently eye balling the Avid Shorty and Paul Touring Canti's.

Thanks in advance for your recommendations.

Jeff

[Doc Hollywood]

For Tandems, go with the Pauls.

I had the Avid Shorty 4's and one of them broke (pin that secures the spring mechanism) on my cross bike. I also find that the springs are on the short side, so if you really want to tension them, the spring can come off the post. They are fairly easy to set up and do stop well, but can squeak badly if not toed in (critical) properly. Not bad brakes IMHO overall. Stick with the 6's or 8's, though.

The Pauls are very nice. High tension, easy to install, and with the Koolstop pads, really stop well, almost too well. By high tension, I mean that the brake lever is instant spring-back, not mushy. I really like my Neo-Retro's. Unbelievable stopping power.

There are several things that I think people should buy good quality parts for. One of them is brakes.

Avoid Radius. Their bushing mechanism can sometimes bind.

Doc

[dbrk]

I am not a real fan of cantilevers in any application in which centerpulls are an option, but that is such a (m)oldschool idea that no one takes it very seriously, plus bikes don't come (or have the option of coming) with proper braze-on pivots for centerpulls, a real shame. Okay, so which canti?

Avid Shortys: I've never gotten the noise out of them. I can't say I've broken any and there's been plenty of use, but they squeal. Yuck.

Pauls are the best modern cantis but they are costly and, as much as I like them, I can't wrap my head around the cost/benefit.

It's not hard to find last generation NOS XT or XTRs and they work every bit as well. I liked the Suntour XC Pros but the last ones had that "self-actuating" spring thing and that was not so good. Still, a little poking around for the XT/XTRs would be worth it to me if I had to use cantilevers.

dbrk

[dnovo]

Agree with dbrk about the Paul Cantis, which I have on my Rivendell Rambo and a couple of other bikes. Very nice fit, finish, and function. Just tried my first pair of the older Shimano Cantis this morning out riding the Hors Cat Cross in the snow and ice. They function very well. Dave N.

[pbbob]

paul touring in the front and neo retro or whatever its called in the back is supposedly a hot cross setup, if you care about that kind of thing. I have old dia comps with kool stop pads. If I didn't have these I would have got the pauls.