Submitted by
Chad
a Cross Country Rider
from Vacaville
Date Reviewed: August 4, 2006
Strengths: Very light, easy pad setup when changing, strong braking, and they look really nice.
Weaknesses: I haven't really noticed anything.
Bottom Line:
I purchased these brakes, front and rear specific, and the levers to match, when I started working at a bike shop. Even at cost they were very expensive, but they haven't let me down yet. I think I have only changed the pads once in over 8 years??? But changing the pads is really easy since most of your pad adjustments are maintained. I have never felt the need to switch to either linear pull or disc brakes.
Similar Products Used: Dia compe cantilevers, and old lx cantilevers. I'm old school.
Bike Setup: Manitou Hard Tail with Grip shifter, X9 rear derailleur, old XTR front derailleur, XTR cranks, avid brakes, chris king wheels and crank brothers candy sl pedals. It's a mut, but it works great.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
tim
a Weekend Warrior
from cincinnati, ohio
Date Reviewed: December 10, 2000
Strengths: wide range of adjustability you can get 'em cheap used nowadays pretty light grease injection port
Weaknesses: return springs could be beefier i wish the arms stuck out more to get more leverage
Bottom Line:
pretty good stopping power, set the hanger low and you'll get the same performance as a medium to low-end v-brake. they sure do look a lot nicer, though. however, avid now makes a cyclocross canti that looks pretty nice- the arms stick out far so you can get lotsa leverage. not so with these, but these probably were the best of the low-profile cantis. i'd give 'em a five if comparing them to other low-profile cantis, a four when comparing them to medium-profile cantis, and a three when comparing them to a good v-brake.
Submitted by
Mark
a Cross Country Rider
from San Jose
Date Reviewed: June 21, 2000
Strengths: Ligh weight, looks cool, works great
Weaknesses: A bit pricey
Bottom Line:
The are probably the best cantilever brakes made. They are extremely light and strong. Pad setup and adjustment couln't be simpler. They are much easier to set up and adjust than Shimano canti's. The choice of colors is awesome. I've ridden them since '95, and they're still going strong.
Bike Setup: M2 Stumpjumper, Avid, Gripshift, Shimano
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Neil Higgins
a Cross-Country Rider
from Natick Ma 01760
Date Reviewed: May 25, 1999
Strengths: light, strong, adjustable, beautiful. Great service department
Weaknesses: price
Bottom Line:
I have the old tri-aligns in back and direct pulls in front. I love these brakes, great design. When they're off the bike they feel like they want to float out of your hands. One of the linear springs popped off and I lost it in the woods. I e-mailed avid, they sent me two replacement springs in two days. Later I found out I had set them up too close together, the spring was catching a tire knob. A simple adjustment, now no problem.
Submitted by
Andrew
a Weekend Warrior
from Berkeley
Date Reviewed: April 13, 1999
Bottom Line:
Speed Play 1.9 Levers with 40 Parallel Push brakes. Amazing stopping power, seem reliable, no problems whatsoever. A big improvement over everything else I've tried.
Submitted by
Bomber
a cross-country rider
from USA
Date Reviewed: January 31, 1999
Bottom Line:
Avid 2.0 V-Brakes- If your thinking about making the upgrade from canti's to v-brakes, DO IT. Get these babies. They rock. You will never go back to those worthless pieces of no stopping power. I have had mine for over a year and i love them. I haven't had a single problem with them and they are easy to adjust. The only thing that stinks is that you have to get new levers. oh well, these babies get 5 flaming big ones
Submitted by
brendan
a weekend warrior
from Boston, MA
Date Reviewed: August 18, 1998
Bottom Line:
well designed and quality built, but v-brakes work better. I regret spending all the money on them. i think they have a v-brake version out that i would definitely try. Despite, they are excellent to adjust, strong, and provide great stopping power (conpared to other canteilever (sp?). Try the v-brake version as I'm sure you will not be disappointed.
Submitted by
Barry Laws
a weekend warrior
from Los Angeles
Date Reviewed: June 27, 1998
Bottom Line:
Does anyone have any info on Avid 1d 25 brakes. They are spec'd on the new Santa cruz Heckler and I don't know what they are, nor can I find any info on the web with my search engine. Help. They come on an XTR build kit and I want to know if SC is saving some money, if they are trying to save me some weight, or if they are just promoting a new product????????
Submitted by
Jay
a cross-country rider
from New Orleans
Date Reviewed: June 6, 1998
Bottom Line:
First of all - thank you to everyone else who posted on here - you reviews helped my make an awsome choice for brakes. My old Rockhopper Sport had the integrated BL/Rapidfire thing, and my frame didn't have the cable stops for the rear brake line. So I was bummed - then I found all the gadgets that let you mount V-brakes to older components. Then I spent time on bikes with V's and found out I didn't even like the things - I eventually settle don these guys. They provide excellent modulation even with my crappy levers and Avid includes the best info/tech set-up package I have ever recieved. They take a little while to install, but if you follow what Avid says, you can even customize their feel and force to YOUR riding style - not the norm. These things are infinately adjustable, you can change pads w/o re-adjusting and they are beautiful! Cambria gave me a ggod deal too - go get 'em - let everyone else get stuck with V's. KUDOS
Great brakes! Powerful, easy to adjust, and very light. I have V's on my other bike and honestly, they are more powerful than the avids, but it's not like the avids are weak or anything. Plus the avids have more modulation and don't have the slop of V's. A very nice brake.
AVID TRI ALIGN III - They work awesome!!!!! I just switched over from XTR and did not notice ANY loss of performance. They are light, stiff and offer smooth and percise stopping. Very easy to mount and adjust - hey, if I can do it, anyone can! MY ONLY GRIPE IS THE PRICE -$99ea
Light weight but bites when compared to even the LX V's. I've ridden the same cool stop canti pads for almost a year. They stop you but not like the V's, even with my XTR levers. Shimano wins big over these!!! Cost is another issue, these things were expensive! They are easy to adjust and can be pulled way off an untrue wheel to prevent scraping but I don't recomend these to anyone. (especially those concerned with stopping)
Want to stop NOW and not ruin your expensive rims by grinding them away with V's ? These are the Ticket. I can skid a gray comp Dart on concrete with the front wheel!!!!! and it is predictable-no V-Brake surprises. Also I did not need to buy special levers, a true plus when you need your coins for groceries too.am still looking for a 6th star
Submitted by
lancer
a weekend warrior
from Northridge, CA
Date Reviewed: November 29, 1997
Bottom Line:
Upgraded my LX cantis to Avid's Tri Aligns. Noticed an improvement and accomplished my objective of not going to Shimano V-brakes. Excellent product and a choice in brakes for those who want to upgrade.
I read all these reviews praising the Tri-Aligns and complementing Avid on their design and I can't help but laugh. Its a little known, and very rarely acknowledged fact that Avid bought the Tri-Align design from another company, which actually invented the Tri-Align pad system. The original company, Westpine Cycles is unfortunetly, no longer in business, but some lucky people still own their brakes (I'm one of them).The original westpine's were great, but in some ways the Avid's are better, and in some ways they are worse. The Westpine TAC's had longer brake arms, and the arms flexed alot less, but the Avid Tri-Aligns are slimmer, weigh less, and the straddle cable attaches better. They are still quite expensive though. I sometimes wish there was a 4.5 star rating option.
