Decent new V brakes

[CassidyAce]

A question but, first, a very brief tale of two sets of v brakes:

Once upon a time there was a Palisades Trail used as a commuter: the cantis were removed and a cheap set of Tektro v brakes were used instead. These brakes were unpretentious, did their job perfectly well and still do. No complaints; still going strong. Not my favourite levers but £30 well spent. Their owner lived happily ever after, despite cars, pedestrians, and all manner of pillocks not looking where they're going. Then there was another bike and that got Deore v brakes and they were twice the price but a bit crap. Weak return springs, rattling levers . . . Their owner lived but not so happily. :facepalm:

Now, given the tale above, if I buy some LX or XT v brakes (new: I don't want used), am I going to think, "Wow! These are so much better than the Deore BR-T610" or am I going to think "Woe is me. It's all brand snobbery and these are a bit crap too"?

That is the question. Anyone got any relevant experience?

Thanks in advance.

 

[FluffyChicken]

New LX/XT are nice Vbrakes, use them myself. They're all the same, just pic the one that looks the nicest. Don't buy the LX based on the old style STX levers, they are horrible.
Probably be looking at the T series now as they switched them to Trekking. (I have the last M770 and similar LX version and the newer XT T780 after that (I think). Actually not sure what levers I'm using, they either XT late 90's or Avid SD of a similar age. Must check.
It may well be Deore and Alivio now too.
They just work, but Tektro still make decent brakes


Either way, whatever you buy, the rubber boots will not stay in place.

 

[CassidyAce]

Re:

OK. Thank you. It looks like T670 was the last of the LX v brakes and T780 was the last of the XT v brakes although a few places have residual stock. Alivio is the highest quality v brake I can see in Shimano's latest line up: T4000. I would be happy with a new set of Avid's SD7s but they seem to have stopped selling those too, although they still sell the levers. TRP produce nice V brakes but for CX and the calipers aren't long enough for fat MTB tyres.

Looks like it's T780 or Tektro!

 

[dandy1]

Re:

For me the thing that makes the most difference is the pads. I run koolstops on all my v brakes / cantis (some brakes are garbage) but a decent pad will work wonders

 

[legrandefromage]

Use good quality outer cable too, so often forgotten about.

 

[tintin40]

Re: Re:

For me the thing that makes the most difference is the pads. I run koolstops on all my v brakes / cantis (some brakes are garbage) but a decent pad will work wonders

Agree.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Re:

and good decent wrists and fingers for long* bumpy descents. I don't so I tend to pass people as my wrists give up.

*or even short ones now.

I'm sure they'll come along with some modern tech to help me out, but till then I'm still using V-brakes and canti's

 

[Captain Stupido]

Re:

To the op... also had very good experience with cheap Tektros. I do quite like parallel push XTs but otherwise Tektro brakes are basically as good as anything else imo, especially if you upgrade to cartridge pads. Why not just buy a set? There are some semi fancy RBP ones on eBay if you want to bling it up a bit.

 

[hamster]

LX and XT don't exist new any more as far as I know. Don't buy parallel push brakes if you want quiet and non-rattly. They wear then rattle, or screech, or both.
The modern Deore M610 seem good though and have worked well on my son's bike.

Pesonally I prefer Avid, they are a tad lighter and look better-finished to me. The Avid SD25 brakes are lighter than XTR, although secondhand only these days.

 

[ishaw]

Re:

I might have a decent set of sd7s if you don't want to buy new.