I bought these in 1995 used from a friend. I plenty of races, and lots of every day rides. They still work perfectly, no problems. Strong brake. Very light. Just have to keep the "brake glaze" off the pads and rims from brake wear with steel wool every 6 months, but that goes for all v-brakes/canti. The spring tension is as it was 10 yrs ago. Easy to adjust. No regrets
Submitted by
J
a Cross Country Rider
from AZO, MI, USA
Date Reviewed: March 25, 2003
Strengths: Without question, the lightest, simplest, and most trouble-free brakes money can buy.
Weaknesses: The only weakness is the small set-screw used in the cable-stop. Marinovative chose to use a standard (not metric) set-screw, so you need to keep a 1/16" allen wrench handy to adjust it.
Any weaknesses you may read relating to the performance of these brakes can be attributed to the use of a less than ideal brake lever matchup. I first used Real levers, which did not provide enough cable pull. This resulted in an extremely mushy feel. Get levers with lots of cable pull and you're all set
Bottom Line:
If you find someone selling their Marinovatives, buy them. If you don't want them, email me so I can. : )
Similar Products Used: Various Shimano and Avid linear-pull brakes, back in the day, various cantis.
Bike Setup: Litespeed with Kinesis aluminum rigid fork.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Grand Pooh Bear
a Weekend Warrior
from Rhode Island
Date Reviewed: March 18, 2003
Strengths: Weight, or lack thereof, stopping power with good modulation
Weaknesses: cable button clamp system
Bottom Line:
I bought mine used, so I did not pay the exorbitant price once asked for them. Are they still made? Anyway, I like the modulation they offer, combined with great stopping power. The big difficulty I have is the "button" that acts as the cable clamp. The tiny little allen screw does not always hold well enough, unless I really torque it down. I have noticed cable slipping through, getting mangled in the process under heavy loads. A slightly beefier screw would probably have worked better. I was (and still am) a weight weenie with my MTB. It was the sacrifice I made to get the lightest brakes available. Is that still the case?
Submitted by
Moondaddy
a racer
from North Carolina
Date Reviewed: December 10, 1998
Bottom Line:
Three suggestions:Sell your S-company V-Brakes and leversFind a set of Cheap Trick Brakes and Avid Ultimate levers Congratulate yourself on having found the best Brake/Lever setup of the 20th Century.
Much lighter than my old shimano xt and xtr v's. Excellent modulation at any speed (something my shimano's couldn't claim). BUT the setup and instructions were absolutely horrible! Once figured out setup was speedy but getting to the point of knowing which went where and how is a mess; there are about 2 or 3 possible combos if you're not careful. Instructions are horrible; thank goodness you only need them once. But the performance is outstanding! Oh, when I called Marinovative the # was disconnected, so...
im selling the cheap tricks i bought last summer the brakes are in mint condition and do not make any noise like those from that 'Big S' company. im only selling these because i got sick of looking at them. im asking $80 obo for the set. oh yea, they are red and the pads are like new. e-mail me with any ?
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Brooks Bennett
a racer
from Guelph,ont,Canada
Date Reviewed: December 28, 1996
Bottom Line:
About eight months ago I bought one(1) from my friend at $50 can. which I thought was a great deal. As these brakes have shown me time and time again it was. Today I purchased a second set for the front. I haven't had a chance to try them out yet, but from previous experience I can tell you:THESE BRAKES KICK ASS. Shimano V brakes still have ALOT to learn from their forefathers. These brakes are about 1000x better than V brakes or any other imitation. The moral of my story is this: THESE BRAKES KICK SOME BIG TIME ASS, ARE A GREAT VALUE REGARDLESS OF PRICE. BUY THEM. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPOINTED!!!
I heard great things about these brakes, but I had real trouble mounting them on my Grove Innovations X-frame, a design that would've been great for theses things. I bought them cheap, before V-brakes, but I also had some short-pull dia-compe levers to go with them. Ooops, they don't work worth s--t. As well, the bushing (brass) on one arm was marred when I got it, and modulation was never that great. They are now at the bottom of my tool kit. At least I have a neat water bottle...
These brakes are the original linear pull brakes. Marinovative is known for its innovative products (hence the company name), and this brake is one reason why. Back in the days before long pull levers, these brakes provided strong braking, albeit with mushy lever feel. With the introduction of Shimano V's, more linear pull levers are being produced. This new generation of levers gives the Cheap Tricks a new lease on life. Originally selling for around $50, it also gave them a reason to raise their prices, now they go for about $80-90 in stores. Compared to Shimano, these brakes provide much of the same face-plant inducing power. The subtle differences in construction and design are what sets it apart. First is the box section of the arms themselves. This provides a very stiff mount for the brake pads. Secondly, the cable entry into the brake arms is very simple, using a half tube and short noodle section. It is easily reversed for left or right entry to suit all types of frames/forks and rider preferences. The half tube section also prevents mud accumulation like the Shimano rubber booties. Shims are provided to hold the pad at any angle and make toe-in and set-up a simple task. With CNC construction and no extraneous pivots and parts, this brake is THE lightweight champ with a total damage of only 135 grams per set with pads. That is lighter than regular cantilever brakes!Power is extreme, modulation is superb. Fit and finish is on par with the best small companies out there. In summation: Light, Powerful, Pretty. (if you got them when they first came out then you can add the words Bargain Price to that list too)
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Jon Severson
a cross-country rider
from Winona, MN
Date Reviewed: November 16, 1996
Bottom Line:
These are a true mountain biker's brakes. Light, simple, and they work. I've had Marinonvative's for almost 3 years now and wouldn't trade them for Maguras, V-Brakes, disks, or anything. Why?-No slop. V-brakes develope slop with in as little as 2 months of riding. -No maintence. No oil to change, no shims to buy, no fancy expensive pads (I use ritchey and Mathuaser), No problems. -Lightweight. With Mathauser pads they weigh about 100grams a pair! This is half the weight of XTR or XT v-brakes. -Cheap. They did raise the price, but it just dramatically dropped about $10 at the wholesale level. Retail is abou the same as XTR or less. -Cool looking. Sick of Yellow Judy's that blow their load and V-brakes, these are what you want. -Colors. While I got simple black, silver, green, red, blue, and other colors are available.In closing, their are only a few companies that make damn fine stuff that you can trust. WTB, Syncros, Halson, Sachs, and Raceface to name a few. Marinovative ranks with those big names in durability though a small company it is. I've ridden other brakes, and these are the best I know. Yeah disks stop better, but if you need that kind of stopping power you need to learn how to control your bike better or learn there is more to this sport than racing downhill races/runs at ski resorts.
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Chris Svirklys
a cross-country rider
from Canada
Date Reviewed: November 11, 1996
Bottom Line:
No, no, not the band, the brake. They where the first before the UV whatever craze. Comes in a really cool waterbottle (yah!). A nice thing about these brakes is that you can set them up for left or right pull (yah again!). Very easy to set up and they use standard threaded brake pads (yah, yah!). I've have also seen these brakes used on mutant road bikes (gasp!). They work well (real well) in all sorts of conditions. The only thing to keep in mind is that you must have a longer pull brake lever. Which of course is no longer a problem thanks to UV whatever companies. Annnnd lastly the price is in line with anything else out there
Had these for a couple years. I ride with the front brake on the right. Ex motocrosser. My Cannondale had those stupid Force40 contraptio ns. The brakes are easy to set up. Finding pads might be a problem,as they are the threaded post kind I use Scott Matthauser. Have used three types of levers. Shimano worked fine. Dia Compe PC11, front great,rear mushy, Avid Speed Dial 2 GREAT. Only two bad points to these brakes. First the price has jumped DRAMATICALLY with the release of V brakes. (these are the fater of them) Second mud will pack up on the cable at the top of the arms. T o the point of having to stop and clean it out.
High point with the Avids it's one finger stopping with good feel.
