XT V-brakes - are they worth it?

[David Martin]

The next stage in the gradual upgrade of the commuter MTB will be an
upgrade from canti's to V-brakes. The front cantis are giving problems
stopping the bike on a steep hill.. and that is with pulling the brakes
so hard my hands hurt. Having started to put decent quality bits on the
bike I was wondering whether the XT v brakes are really so much better
than the Deore ones.

There is a considerable price difference, in that it is possible to get
both Deore levers, brakes and cables for the same price as one set of XT
brakes alone.

The main feature on the XT ones appears to be the parallel push mechanism.

Comments anyone?

...d

 

[Arellcat]

David Martin wrote:

> The main feature on the XT ones appears to be the parallel push mechanism.
>
> Comments anyone?

I had XT V-brakes fitted to my mtb - talk about power! The seat stays
flexed quite a lot and quite easily. They're easy to set up in respect of
toe-in and they modulate well. They also wore out my rims! The main
advantage I felt was that on a bike whose cantilever bosses were, shall we
say, less than shiny and smooth, the XT V's had their own pivots; the Deore
V's still pivot around the standard bosses.
I've actually reverted to XT cantilevers and I like them a lot. I still
have the front and rear V's with Deore levers to suit, and unless someone
can find a 1995 Rockhopper frame that hasn't rusted away by now and with
which I can replace my broken one, I might possibly be persuaded to part
with the set. At the moment they're just expensive spare parts.

Becky

 

[Dave Larrington]

David Martin wrote:
> The next stage in the gradual upgrade of the commuter MTB will be an
> upgrade from canti's to V-brakes. The front cantis are giving problems
> stopping the bike on a steep hill.. and that is with pulling the
> brakes so hard my hands hurt. Having started to put decent quality
> bits on the bike I was wondering whether the XT v brakes are really
> so much better than the Deore ones.
>
> There is a considerable price difference, in that it is possible to
> get both Deore levers, brakes and cables for the same price as one
> set of XT brakes alone.
>
> The main feature on the XT ones appears to be the parallel push
> mechanism.
>
> Comments anyone?

I personally rather like the fact that Avid achieve the parallel-push
business using about two moving parts where it takes Shimano a Several more.
I did fit XT to The Woman Formerly Known As Mrs Larrington's MTB a few years
ago and they were shedloads better than the manky Sun Tour cantis which were
original equipment.

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
World Domination?
Just find a world that's into that kind of thing, then chain to the
floor and walk up and down on it in high heels. (Mr. Sunshine)

 

[B.G. Finlay IT Services]

David Martin ([email protected]) wrote:
: The next stage in the gradual upgrade of the commuter MTB will be an
: upgrade from canti's to V-brakes. The front cantis are giving problems
: stopping the bike on a steep hill.. and that is with pulling the brakes
: so hard my hands hurt. Having started to put decent quality bits on the
: bike I was wondering whether the XT v brakes are really so much better
: than the Deore ones.
: There is a considerable price difference, in that it is possible to get
: both Deore levers, brakes and cables for the same price as one set of XT
: brakes alone.
: The main feature on the XT ones appears to be the parallel push mechanism.
: Comments anyone?

I replaced the LX cantis on my old mtb with Deore Vs ... big improvement.
You can get the Deore kit (Vs, levers, cables) for under 30 quid.
Blair.

 

[Zog The Undeniable]

David Martin wrote:

> The next stage in the gradual upgrade of the commuter MTB will be an
> upgrade from canti's to V-brakes. The front cantis are giving problems
> stopping the bike on a steep hill.. and that is with pulling the brakes
> so hard my hands hurt. Having started to put decent quality bits on the
> bike I was wondering whether the XT v brakes are really so much better
> than the Deore ones.
>
> There is a considerable price difference, in that it is possible to get
> both Deore levers, brakes and cables for the same price as one set of XT
> brakes alone.
>
> The main feature on the XT ones appears to be the parallel push mechanism.
>
> Comments anyone?
>
> ..d
I went for the Deore version. The parallel push adds unnecessary
complexity [1] and can squeal like a pig.

[1] it may be useful if you often swap wheels with different rim widths,
or if you run massively wide tyres on narrow rims.

 

[Peter B]

"David Martin" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>> The main feature on the XT ones appears to be the parallel push
mechanism.
>
> Comments anyone?

My bike came with Avid Single Digits which I couldn't fault, one pivot with
its own bushing per arm and no other moving parts, easy to adjust too.
I think adding more moving parts to linear pull brakes in the hope of making
them more efficient at extra cost is pointless because if you're really that
concerned about braking quality you may as well bypass rim brakes and move
straight onto discs (which is why I sidelined the Avids).
YMMV.

Pete

 

[Peter B]

"Pete Franklin" <pete.franklin@your_spleenbigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I threw my XTs away .... squealed like a stuck pig whatever you did with
washers, toe in, out,
> different pads....

A comment I meant to add to my post is that a friend has XT's and you can
hear him coming down the mountain (I mean riding his bike).


Pete

 

[Pete Franklin]

"David Martin" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> The next stage in the gradual upgrade of the commuter MTB will be an
> upgrade from canti's to V-brakes. The front cantis are giving problems
> stopping the bike on a steep hill.. and that is with pulling the brakes so
> hard my hands hurt. Having started to put decent quality bits on the bike
> I was wondering whether the XT v brakes are really so much better than the
> Deore ones.
>
> There is a considerable price difference, in that it is possible to get
> both Deore levers, brakes and cables for the same price as one set of XT
> brakes alone.
>
> The main feature on the XT ones appears to be the parallel push mechanism.
>
> Comments anyone?
>
I threw my XTs away - they were no more powerful than my old DX cantis and
squealed like a stuck pig whatever you did with washers, toe in, out,
different pads.... I replaced them with Avid Tis and they are absolutely
superb - you will get the same braking performance from Single Digit 7s for
rather less money (but the Tis are so bling!).

--
Pete
===
850 Le Mans II, Marin Mount Vision, Onza Muni
Remove your spleen to reply by email.

 

[David Martin]

Peter B wrote:
> A comment I meant to add to my post is that a friend has XT's and you can
> hear him coming down the mountain (I mean riding his bike).

Sounds ideal for urban cycling then. "Not only blind but deaf too!"

 

[yorky]

Got to agree with the Avids. Just replaced some XT canti's with SD7's
and my god are they powerful and so easy to set up, also about half the
price of XT V's (got muine fomr chainreaction)

Bryan

 

[David Martin]

On 28/1/05 9:38 am, in article
[email protected], "yorky"
<[email protected]> wrote:

>
> Got to agree with the Avids. Just replaced some XT canti's with SD7's
> and my god are they powerful and so easy to set up, also about half the
> price of XT V's (got muine fomr chainreaction)

XT V's and the AVID SD7 are the same price. Same for levers.

Given that they will see 99% on road use, what makes the SD7 so much better?

I like the idea of a separate bushing (as per SD7 and XT) as that would make
things more maintainable.

The LX system is a fraction of the price of the XT, and not much more than
Deore but has the parallel push and the bushings.

...d

 

[Tim]

In article <[email protected]>, yorky wrote:
>
> Got to agree with the Avids. Just replaced some XT canti's with SD7's
> and my god are they powerful and so easy to set up, also about half the
> price of XT V's (got muine fomr chainreaction)
>
> Bryan
>

Has anybody used the Avid Arch Rivals and are they worth the
increase in complexity over simple Vs?
--
Tim.