Best / favourite / best made Canti brakes from 90ies

[ibbz]

What are the nicest made and best canti brakes from the 90ies? (Calipers not levers)

I’ve tried a search but no previous threads

I know of many but wondering what are peoples favourites as well??

I’ve had modern Paul’s, Campy Record OR, Ritchey Logic and Suntour XC Pro
My personal favourite were the Suntour XC Pro in champagne.

Any other? Especially French or Italian?

 

[FluffyChicken]

M900 for actual work well, look good, use their own bearing and are easy to setup.

All others are a compromise.

 

[Prodigal Son]

Dia Compe 987. Suntour xc pro. Actually set up and brake pad compound make a difference along w/ slr brake levers for example. It´s the sum of many little things.

 

[benjabbi]

I currently have Exage M520, XT M734, XTR M900, Dia-Compe 987 and Avid Tri-Align in use, all set up with the corresponding levers. They all work. Spring tension adjustment is a bit more fiddly with the Dia-Compe/Avid compared to Shimano, pad adjustment is fairly similar on them all with a slight nod to the Avids in that regard, Servowave levers, choice of pad and straddle height make the biggest difference to performance imho, rather than the caliper used. I agree with @FluffyChicken that you can't really go wrong with M900 especially with Servowave levers, look good and can be relatively cheap especially if you're not bothered about missing logos.

 

[vtwinvince]

I agree that M900 are nice and easy to set up, but I have a soft spot for Ritchey Logic.

 

[hamster]

987s for me if you want later designs. Sure M900 look nice but it's the triumph of marketing.

However wide profile ones avoid the compromises with cable pull and highly variable mechanical advantage of low profile cantis. The old M730 wide type therefore take the win for me.

 

[mk one]

987's here too. They work better than any other I have tried, apart from Magura.

 

[ibbz]

Thanks guys
Any pics to go with the thread?

I found the build quality and quality of components on the XC Pro very nice indeed and a good step up from Ritchey Logic or the similar Diacompe ones I had.
The Record OR were also very nice.

I do like the cannondale ones as on the M800 I recently sold - they work so well !!

 

[benjabbi]

 

[Tootyred]

Xtr are nice to set up, light, with more heal clearance, but lack the true power and feel of more horizontal arm designs.

Suntour xc are fiddly buggers as are dia compe....all that fiddling round the back of the arm nonsense.....but, good when set up......Ritchey, sold mine pretty quick, nice levers, but cantis were merrrrrrrrgh.....

So for me last edition of xt m732.....which probably just scrapes into 1990s on the date code!