I'll go out on a limb and commit heresy here. The best current available Canti is a Shimano Altus or Alivio set up with Kool Stop Salmon Pads. They're ugly, they're tough, they're harder to adjust than a CX50, but they work really well and they last forever. If you wanna get all retro, just get some old low profile XT brakes. Wide profile canti's do not produce as much mechanical advantage / power at the rim, and so unless you wanna buy your brakes based on looks alone, they should be discounted. The best Canti brake ever made was the Paul Stoplite, more powerful than either current Paul Canti.
IRD Cafams, Paul Neo Retros, Mafac cantis, they all look great. I love the way they look. But if you just want a brake to shut up and work and be strong, get the Alivios! I'd second the CX50's as the next best thing, after a pad swap. Even flexy center mount center pull Racer brakes have more power than the wide profile design. I switched between the two and was stoked by how much better the Racer felt, which is odd, given the flexier nature of the mounting system. -james On Sunday, April 14, 2019 at 8:00:01 PM UTC-4, Erik Wright wrote: > > I'm thinking about getting canti posts brazed onto my sidepull Sam > Hillborne to fit a wider tire / make wide tire installation easier. Canti > brakes would be replacing Paul Racers. > > If I go this route, what are the best options out there? I figure top of > the line is Paul, but what's a more affordable brake? I see a lot of > chatter around Shimano CX70, but hear they're discontinued. Is there a > comparable option available now, or does it make sense to hunt down a used > set of CX70s? If I splurge on Neo Retros, am I gaining anything > functionally over other options? > > Thanks! > > Erik, Philly > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
