whats the best ever canti set up?

[KeepItSteel]

cast your votes!

bitd I was one of the v-brake converts as they arrived on the scene proper circa 1996/97.
now I have got the RetroBike bug bad im picking up frames and parts left right & centre, however my knowledge of canti's is pretty poor.

I have a wonderful steel frame that ill eventually build up into something nice, but as it is a 95 vintage and has a canti hanger then its going to have canti's fitted.

I like the look of XT/XTR canti's of that era but some of the more independent brands and levers look so damn good, Onza Ho's/ Paul love levers spring to mind.

So, tell me, what is the trickest looking, bestest working canti out there...pics if possible! (and easier to find than hens teeth is a plus!)

 

[cchris2lou]

2 cantis spring to mind when you mention quality and beauty :

XTR M900 and campa record Or .

 

[Senri]

I have a set of Avid Tri-Align on my bike and they seem to work very well. Pretty easy to adjust and after some tuning I have some decent stopping power as well.

 

[pete_mcc]

Campa OR are very nice, they are basically the same as FRO brakes (see my Bradbury FS) and similar in many respects to later Grafton SC I (both of which I like also). The early ones had a habit of cracking but the later ones (post 94/95) with the ball joint pad mount seemed to be a touch better.
The set up I really love is my Box levers with IRD Switchbacks (I know they are not totally canti, but they aren't totally V either) with Scott Mathauser or Winwood Poly blocks.
The other levers that are really special are the Avid ultimates with the power dial thing (not the later V ones, but the earlier ones as specced on s-works bikes from the early nineties.

Pure canti-wise then nothing touches XTR, all of the CNCed ones are a bit too flimsy or rattle themselves loose too quickly, although for power the Pauls Neo-retros is fairly hot!

 

[tintin40]

I like 987's in black. Could get them to work for one ride The ones that did look good was the onzar's HO but I couldn't get them to work :x

 

[Tallpaul]

Any Shimano Canti from STX upwards seems to work pretty similarly IMO.

The only canti i've used that I would say is awful is the Onza HO as a set tried to kill me a couple of years ago.

In terms of actually stopping, pads are more important than the canti (assuming the canti isn't made from cheese and you know how to set them up), I prefer Kool Stops.

The Dia-Compe SS7 lever, M900 canti, Kool Stop red combi on my Lava Dome is as good as any I've used. But i'll probably replace the pads with Kool Stop dual compounds when they wear out.

 

[dbmtb]

Dia-compe SS7/987.

Never bettered, except in the looks department.

 

[lewis1641]

i have silver 987's on my khs. the front is awesome as far as i am concerned, the back, far less than satisfactory. and i have no idea why!

got to love cantis

 

[Err]

I've got some unidentified canti brakes on my recently acquired hot.

I'm stunned by their performance, i'm finding them as good as v-brakes on my rockhopper. I'm led to believe it's due to the scott/mathauser pads, which are no longer made but the same compound is used in koolstop salmons.

I'll be getting koolstop salmon's (or maybe black/salmon dual compound) for the v-brakes on my other two bikes.

 

[fingers]

My onza HOs spun on their posts, so when I tightened them up the alloy split...

Good ol deore LX cantis, work a treat