New ride, new brakes...

[Chip Henderson]

I'm building up a new street/park bike this week, and it's v-brake only. What's the best / easiest to use out there at the moment?

Pauls? XTR? Avid?

Chip

[Stoked]

currently i have a franken-brake setup. tektro v arms, avid ultimate lever, kool stop pads, and animal linear cable. i believe all v brakes are similar in power. the pads and cable you use will make more of a difference than anything.

i like the ultimate lever best cuz i like that you don't have to remove your grip to put on or remove the lever.

[scurban]

don't get XTR, oddly enough they have a linear push feature that takes away a lot of the good pure stopping (on/off) feel that makes V-brakes so great for street and park. I haven't used Avid, but I've heard great things about them.

I personally set up my bike with a Deore brake, Kool stop Salomon "mtb" pads, a linear slic cable (odyssey, animial and stolen all make these) and a Paul BMX (v-brake) lever. It had very very good stopping power. The whole set up cost me like $70 (the lever was $50 at dans comp) You could probably get away with using a cheaper v-brake lever like a Sinz, and have it work just as well. Remember, more money doesn't always mean better performance here.