Earliest V-brakes/'best' cantis?

[SSBonty]

When did the earliest v-brakes come out? Who were they by and were they any good? And what year were the first Shimano ones - presumably XTR? Alternatively, if this is a bit late for a 92/93 frame, what are peoples thoughts/opinions on the best performing cantis in terms of power and ease of setup (nightmares of a bunch of 16 yr olds on the coast to coast ride faffing with cantis for hours every morning return to haunt me...!)?

Thanks,

Ian

 

[magicmistertea]

not sure when v brakes first came out, i would guess 93 ish. as for cantis i would go for some pauls or some onza hos (i have a set on my steed) they have so much adjustment its unreal. very simple design and they look the mutts if you have a bit of a cnc fetish like me!

 

[Augustus]

I think V's appeared in 95. The 94 Spesh range still had canti's but IIRC by 95 they were running V's.

 

[pete_mcc]

The first v's were made by Marinovate back in 1989/1990, the design was then 'borrowed' by shimano for their Vs:

http://www.firstflightbikes.com/marinovative.htm

There were some UK makers at the same time doing something similar but I can't remember their name...

 

[cce]

first shimano V's were 95-96 i think - XT and XTR, basically the same design but the XTR was better made and ligther. LX got some a year later, these were different, the classic M600.

 

[manitou916]

[removed]

 

[pete_mcc]

My favourite website has some great piccies:

http://www.blackbirdsf.org/brake_obscura/mtb.html

You'd be hard pressed to find any differences between the 'cheap trick' and the shimano v brakes other than the parallelogram bit. Only problem with the marinovative ones was that they hadn't sorted out decent levers to make em work so they were always a bit spongy.

 

[retrobikeguy]

According to the american forum bontrager made the first ones as used on the kestrel nitro back in 1988, the whole thing never went into production though inc the brakes, the first production ones were marinovative

kestrel nitro

marinovative

http://forums.mtbr.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=57295&stc=1&d=1108669260

http://forums.mtbr.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=57296&stc=1&d=1108669289

 

[SSBonty]

Great answers! Love the odd brakes website... A direct pull brake is then one where the wire pulls on one arm directly at about 90 degrees to the arm and pulls the other arm towards that arm? What is the difference between direct pull and 'v' - is it just a shimano name for the same thing? And how often do the marinovative stoplite ti direct pull brakes come up for sale?! Any other brands of direct pull brake I should be looking for that work well and are from 92/93?

ian

 

[retrobikeguy]

Apparently Mrazek took the design on, and they might be easier to find as they still make bikes :idea:

all I can find -

http://forums.mtbr.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=270664&stc=1&d=1181450566

http://www.tenerife-training.net/Mrazek-Bicycles/Mrazek-Bikes.html

<Edit> http://www.mrazek.com/