Best of the pre V Brake Cantis... a thread that may of been done to to death

[FluffyChicken]

It's an absolute pain as I find the M900 with their levers (or later Servowave pattern levers) to be the best.
Fit and forget, fit Vbrake style stud blocks so you can slide in new pads.
Honestly the best setup I've had through the years.
I find SS7 and PC9 (check number) lever comfy too, the PC version bing better but uglier.
987 are nice, I find them not quite as good as the M900s, but I think that down to bushings being used.

All the others are just crapper or a variation of the 987 as Dicompe probably made them anyway.

Maybe bar the later Avid, but I've not used them.

 

[Tayside]

As above.
I know it might 'brake' retro rules,but while building an unstealable bike for one of the kids,
I fitted the cantis with some Vbrake pads and some Avid speed dial 7 levers. They worked very well.

 

[Mkane]

Scott se

 

[TreaderSteve]

Agreed - a well set up canti set-up is excellent. I've not done much off-roading, but canti's are surely 'enough'? They need fettling as the pads wear but this is only more tiresome on a commuter with heavier use - this is Retrobike - (quite) a lot of the talk is about bikes that get much less use!

What I don't like seeing are frames with canti stops fitted, fitted with V's!

 

[raidan73]

I agree with @benjabbi re your budget.

I personally like the various Dia Compe iterations, including Ritchey Logic. I find the Ritchey levers particularly comfortable, and they look good too.

 

[bikeworkshop]

Agreed - a well set up canti set-up is excellent. I've not done much off-roading, but canti's are surely 'enough'?

The geometry of cantilevers means the relative power falls away with cable tension.
well set up, decent quality cantilevers are excellent in most situations, but under emergency braking, v-brakes keep on giving.

This is why tourers stuck with cantis, but mountainbikes moved swiftly to Vs

 

[Tootyred]

canti levers...xc pro...the latter version, not the old chunky clunky ones....light good feel, superbly made, nice champagne colour! What's not to like.

As for cantilevers. Wide arm....the only reason they went compact, was because rear triangles got shorter and everybody kept kicking them! Unfortunately they don't work as well as you have lost your leverage (unless you stick the pads right out, but then your more likely to get vibrations and noise).

Yes, terminally you might have slightly less power then v brakes, but you gain huge amouts of modulation in the arc, completely lost on a v brakes linear design.

So im saying xt m732 (or mt62 avoiding xt tax all for a round pad holder ) with last gen. suntour xc pro levers.

 

[Tommy27]

I think I might have to look into new levers. The Avid SD, although supposedly designed to work with both, just don't allow us much power as I'd hoped with the 737 canti.

Looks like the 737/ 900 were only designed for rapid fire and didn't come without the mounts?

@Tootyred I take the XC pro levers you're mentioning were designed to work with thumbies?

 

[widowmaker]

Anyone used/rate Shimano BR-CX50 new cantilever?

 

[Tootyred]

Xc pro levers designed for both thumbies and suntours own (pre dating shimano) rapid fire. They will fit together with both...inc shimano rapid fire units.

The other option is m733...well made with linear response springs in. The 2 fingers were nicer than the 4 imho. Good shape and again there's a cheaper deore version to be had.