Submitted by
Patrick
a Cross Country Rider
from Socorro, NM, USA
Date Reviewed: March 22, 2007
Strengths: Easy to adjust. Cool Retro.
Weaknesses: They break! My rear wheel seized up this morning because a fracture had loosened the brake and it spun against the rim. Upon closer inspection one of the front brake arms also has a similar fracture, which means it is about to break. OK. Maybe I overtightened a year ago when I installed them, but it would have sucked if the front wheel stopped at 20 mph!
Bottom Line:
Don't buy them! No one needs to deal with brake failure. Spend the extra money and buy some Pauls.
Strengths: classic chunky-looking design, good power when properly tuned. not extremely expensive.
Weaknesses: difficult to adjust to acheive a proper level of braking without breaking.
Bottom Line:
extremely high visual C-Factor, but ultimately useless (at best) at their intended function; in spite of great care to adjust them gently, carefully and properly, cracks appeared at the clamps for 3 out of 4 pads in just a few dozen hours of riding.
not recommended for anything other than decoration.
Similar Products Used: Avid Tri-Align, Paul Stop Lights, Scott SEs, Sh*tmano, Suntour XC, Mafac,...
Bike Setup: Ibis Hakklugi; Cane Creek, Phill Wood Ti, Cook Brothers Racing, XT, Dura-Ace 9-spd (triple), Modolo, Mavic, WTB, American Classic, Salsa...
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Jon Labrousse
a Cross Country Rider
from Eugene, OR
Date Reviewed: June 2, 2006
Strengths: Confident braking. Easy to adjust.
Weaknesses: Easy to break. Be careful not to overtighten your adjustments.
Bottom Line:
The brakes are awesome for stopping, but they don't hold their position. I'm packing heavy weight (trailer with kids) up and down hills every day to school and errands. They've done a great job. But I'm packing heavy weight at speed down hill and it's not the brake pads wearing down so much as it is the frictional adjustment that gives with use.
So I have to adjust the brakes every week to calm the squealing. And I have to tighten the screws so the pads don't move so much. Right? Wrong. Tighten them and the brackets break. Leave them too loose, they move with pressure and squeal. Bottom line: They failed. (Thankfully, I realized their structural failure during maintenance rather than on the road.) I'm buying something forged instead of machined...
I want to love them, but I can't. They lasted 9 months and could have caused a disaster.
Similar Products Used: controltech, shimano, avid...
Bike Setup: cross bike with 125 pound trailer sometimes in tow.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
sandoz
a Cross Country Rider
from washington
Date Reviewed: September 8, 2003
Bottom Line:
Wow, I can't believe all the low pepper reviews about these brakes... I've been using a set on my Cannondale for over 5 years now with NO problems. They stop like a dream and have never let me down. Squeeks? Uh, learn how to toe in your pads. That's why these have multiple adjustments unlike the shi(t)manos. Stress cracks and shattering parts from adjustment? Um, mine slow me down from 40+ mph regularly and have gotten the crap kicked out of them, no problems. Buy some real tools and quit wrenching your ride with vise-grips. Rust in the bolts? Big wah. Shiny bike=poser bike. Incidentally, Onza sold a titainum bolt set for these brakes to shave a few grams, side effect being they didn't rust... Screw v-brakes, I love my H.O. Onzas.
Strengths: Weight, Ease of Setup, Looks, Stopping Power
Weaknesses: Rust on fixing bolts (but that is nit picking)
Bottom Line:
I have had no problem with these at all. Went to red Ritchey pads and that was the key. All the above mentioned problems you guys had are from mechanical ignorance! Take it to someone who knows how to setup equipment!
Similar Products Used: LX Canti,s, Ritchey canti,s, LX V's
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
tacoma
a Cross-Country Rider
from SLC, UT
Date Reviewed: May 5, 1999
Strengths: way easier to adjust than those Shimano canti's kick-ass machined looks adjustable spring tension!!
Weaknesses: Chill Pill hanger is a pain in the ass not as good as any V-brake out there now....=(
Bottom Line:
All cyclocrossers, listen up, you need these brakes....I had these for a while before V-brakes came out... back when everyone had those #%$#@#$ hard to adjust Shimano brakes, with the one bolt for toe in AND vertical adjustment. I hated those things. The Onza brakes were WAY easier, and also allowed you to fine-tune the modulation, and the spring tension, something I wish more brakes did these days. Oh, but that's right-- they make these as v-brakes now... hmm maybe I need a new set.....
Submitted by
Woody
a Cross-Country Rider
from England
Date Reviewed: April 4, 1999
Strengths: To be honest I cant say that they have any due to the repeted braking of parts.
Weaknesses: The bigest problem is a design falt. I can tel you that the spring covers will brake, the bolts will rust but the most deadly thing of all thay will brake around the clamp bolt holes & then you have NO brakes, if you are doing 30 MPH at the time you are definatly in trouble. I was luky not even a scratch. I am an exrace mechaninc among other things & I tel you all now DO NOT buy them. They are DANGERUS (more dangerus than my spelling). & for those of you that are still using them you better do your self a personal faver & bin them ASAP. Beter safe than sorry. They will brake sooner or later. Play safe. Dont say I never told you.
Bottom Line:
The most iritating thing about these brake is the amount of noise thay make. I dont mean squeel its more like a stuk pig or a bunch og geese on fire. I could never fix this problem & belive me I did try. these brake are DANGERUS they will literaly just brake. The first sign is srtess cracks around the clamp bolts. No wonder the company went under. Nodout to avoid giong up against the consumer council.
Similar Products Used: XT, XTR, cants, Vs, Magura, Hope.
Bike Setup: Cannondale SVA 2000 plus Fatty, Spinergys & Gortex Rideons
Overall Rating:
Submitted by
corndog
a weekend warrior
from cleveland
Date Reviewed: January 16, 1999
Bottom Line:
I had these a long time ago, and since then had the v-brakes. But back in the tweaked cantilever day pre-vee, the onzas with red ritcheys worked fantasticly. Dial-it-up-modulation. Any way you like it. But the switch to vee brakes proved their superiority quickly. Bye.
I had these damn things on my bike for less then a week, they looked so cool, cost a bit though, they are the best canti brakes I've ever seen, but the something went horribly wrong, setting them up is so sweet, until the spring tension screw shatters, I could make a strong tension system using duck tape. This is to say that, this one thing wrong with these brakes takes them from being the best cantis ever to being crap, I gave them to a friend and got some replacement tension screwa, they blew up on him too, and he's a shop mechanic!
Submitted by
420 Rider
a cross-country rider
from Sonama County
Date Reviewed: December 25, 1998
Bottom Line:
Had them for over three years now (Onza H.O.) and they have never let me down. Super easy to adjust, great combo w/ R. Wale Tail pads. Durable, light, different and powerful. If you don't have a decent grip you should look for a new sport. Replaced them once w/ shimano xt and they broke/sucked! Go ONZA!
I've got HOLA's, they're cool! They caused me no problems. Setup seemed easy, I put the pads flat and sanded the rims a little and they're quite and strong. I like the way they look and perform and don't foresee any longterm badies... They don't blow me away as being the most awesome thing since v brakes(!?!), but they definatley do they're job at a reasonable price. So I give em fo.
Submitted by
Scott
a cross-country rider
from MINNESOTA
Date Reviewed: November 1, 1998
Bottom Line:
ONZA hola brakes... hmm.. i just got these bad boys and let me tell you how bad they are... First let me say a fellow mechanic reccommended these he said another guy had them and they are tough to set up but they worked well... I read the reviews here and knew i would need to be careful as not to ruin the screws... its harder than it sounds... i pulle dout the torque wrench and set it to 60 lbs as specified,, but the when i brake the whole assembly twistes and dives intot he frame locking up the wheels... SAFE?? probably not... I really hate these brakes and the squeal consistently even after toeing in setting up flat sanding pads sanding rim.. they still squeal... i put ritchey pads and that solved it...BUT these thhings blow
C'mon, guys and gals, these brakes are not like you all say. If you would just take the time to learn how to tune these things properly, you wouldn't have so much trouble. DON'T tighten them so much, and things don't break! I have had these things on for 2+ years, and haven't had a single problem. I have been using Real brake levers, and have them tuned so well that I use 1 (that's ONE) finger to stop, even on downhills. That leaves the other 4 to shift with my gripshift if I need to. What more could I ask? Easy adjustability (without changing everything in the process). The cool factor just won't go away, either. Yeah, they rust in the bolt holes, so clean them out with a fine wire brush and put in a spot of lacquer if you are so vain and more concerned about how they look rather than how they perform (which just shows the true poseurs out there!). Get real, folks, rate something on how it works, not your own ineptitude with respect to adjusting, and your own vanity! 5 flaming dead horses for the brakes, WAY less for you boneheads panning these brakes.
Submitted by
Mike Dege
a weekend warrior
from SLC,UTAH
Date Reviewed: September 2, 1998
Bottom Line:
The onzas were on a GT RTS-2 I bought used. I took it for a downhill run at Deer Valley, BOOM, a hundred yards down the hill the clamp holding the pad cracked in half. Poor quality in my opinion, this bike was taken care of with no abuse and this is how the brakes stand up? Also the screws showed some rust, Mtn Bike components that rust? POS in my opinion
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