The Motolite is here to stay. The design of this product is so nearly perfect that there is no foreseeable reason to ever change it.
The pivot mechanism has an excellent track record (first used in 1990), the quick-release (releasing the cable for wheel changes) works so well, and is so simple the only reason it isn't widely copied is because Shimano doesn't use it, and it is so easy to set up.
The arms are reversible so the cable can come in from the left or right, and the noodle is lined with Teflon for smooth action.
The guy who earlier said it was easy to set up, but then put in parentheses that it took him AN HOUR to setup, is a total moron. Congratulations, you just won first prize for dumbest post of the century. No V-brake should ever take more than 5 mins, and that probably includes taking it out of the box.
There has been endless mention about how finicky the initial setup is. I agree, and that's because for whatever reason, Paul does not have the centering slot that a 2mm allen key would fit into it, like Shimano or Sram. You have to loosen the spring, then GUESS the tension, tighten it, and hope that the brake pads are now evenly centered. If not, repeat. Often. THAT IS THE MAJOR GRIPE with the setup, and something the poster from Earth wrote many posts below, who at least gave us the reason why this was setup was tedious, instead of basically everyone just saying, "it's a hassle to setup initially". At least that dude educated the masses. And yes, you do need a cone wrench to hold the spring down, unless you're Superman (a few posts below) who was able to do it with his hands (sorry, but you're in the minority, since most of us get pleasured by a woman, not by your own right hand). Ever see how big a cone wrench is? Good, because you'll be having to carry that since no mini-tool has one.
Submitted by
My2coins
a Cross Country Rider
from Northern California
Date Reviewed: October 25, 2011
Strengths: These are strong and very adjustable. You can swap washers for wider seatstays and / or more leverage. There's also room to move up or down to get the pads to make flat contact. I rode these for the first time and almost forgot they weren't discs. One finger no problem!
Weaknesses: None so far
Bottom Line:
These brakes are great. There are lots of good brakes out there to choose from but these have been and are as good as anything non disk you're going to find.
I really don't understand all the complaints about the difficulty getting these adjusted.
Just to prove it to myself, and you all, I decided to see if I could adjust them well enough to ride using just a 5mm allen and my hands. No problem took all of two minutes to loosen the fixing bolt which releases the spring tension, and then re adjust the springs, on both brakes.
The key is that you need to loosen the fixing bolt and then set the spring and yes it is way easier with a small adjustable or in my case an original "COOL TOOL" to get the springs dead even but they don't need to be dead even to pull you to a dead stop! By hand the tension can be too light for some levers so using tools is the way to go. There should be no reason to have to adjust these while on a ride but if you ever do, you should be prepared to work on any part of your bike. Especially if you plan to leave the parking area.
Amazing brakes, incredible workmanship great stopping power smooth as butter and a work of art. Now setting these babies up takes a bit of time. It is quite simple but let me deatil a couple of things that I ran into. 1) Make sure the brake studs are firmly tight as adjusting these puts greater turn force on studs. 2) The coil tension springs are not multi directional they have a specific whay of being placed so that they tighted in when box nuts are expanded outward. If you place them wrong they will not exert the correct outward force. That said they are actually quite simple to set up and offer countless set up options.
Bike Setup: Rocking Mountain Soul SS, Rac-Face Deuce, Chris King BB, 18t cog and headset, Titec Ti bars, Wipperman SS chain, Paul Motolite brakes, chain guide and breake levers, Selle Italia SLR 135gm saddle, Thomson SP and stem, Pace RC31
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Carl Williams
a Cross Country Rider
from New York
Date Reviewed: October 15, 2010
Strengths: Stopping power
Weaknesses: Setup
Bottom Line:
Setup, as mentioned repeatedly in these reviews, is a major hassle. Unlike Avid or Shimano brakes (tighten them with a 5mm wrench and center the pads with the screws on the sides, taking all of a few seconds), the Pauls require you to guess the spring tension by doing and undoing the springs. If you ever have adjusted the old cup and cone hubs, you'll know exactly what I mean. The worst part is having to use a cone wrench - and since most cone wrenches won't fit inside a small saddle pack when, for instance, a Topeak Alien will, you have to carry it in a jersey pocket in case of roadside adjustments. It makes no sense why any rim brake requires a cone wrench to center the pads when Shimano/Avid have simplified the design ten-fold. This isn't good ol' fashion Paul bashing for the sake of it- read the previous reviews and you'll see many folks complain about the set-up.
Submitted by
251
a Cross Country Rider
from Glenelg, SA, Australia
Date Reviewed: August 6, 2009
Strengths: Easy setup, easy adjustment and very powerful. The Motolites with Pauls levers also have a great feel that is superior to any Avid or Shimano setup I've used (including discs). Replacement parts are also very easy to get from Pauls.
Weaknesses: Expensive. Ships with non-cartridge Kool Stop pads. I would prefer to pay less and supply my own pads, especially considering the included pads are not ceramic-rim specific.
Bottom Line:
Well worth the expense. These are the best v-brakes I've used.
Similar Products Used: Shimano LX, XT, XTR v-brakes, Avid Single Digit 7.
Bike Setup: Pauls Levers, Kool Stop green ceramic pads, Deore XT cartridge carriers, teflon cables, Mavic ceramic rims.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
REvers
a Cross Country Rider
from Stavanger
Date Reviewed: April 19, 2009
Strengths: Good modulation, light, adjustability of spring action.
Incredible stopping power.
Weaknesses: None.
Bottom Line:
Not cheap, but well worth the money. Once setup (might take an hour or so), very easy to adjust spring action.
Brakes have been in use daily in Norway (muddy, wet and rocky conditions), as well as in Spain - dry, very fast and steep downhill sections. Never felt any lack of stopping power.
Weaknesses: to me none, adjusting if you´re stupid
Bottom Line:
There are the most powerful v bakes i ever tried, more than my xtr´s. They´re just excellent.
Contaray to most, I find them easy to adjust, you have to be real dum in order not to be able to adjut them properly.
Even easier than regular v-brakes.
Incredible performance and dzign.
Submitted by
Derrick Seys
a Cross Country Rider
from Edmond, OK
Date Reviewed: November 27, 2007
Strengths: Stiff and durable
Weaknesses: none
Bottom Line:
This is five year follow up on my 9/9/2002 review. These are still riding strong. Very uiform wear on pads reflecting their overall stiffness. i replaced the kool stop pads with shimano slide in shoes (form a set of XT's), and the shoes wear incredibly even. Setup is a litte touchy at first, but a 14 mm wrench and an allen will get you through every little tweak needed race day morning or in the shop tweaking. This setup makes lateral pad / arm gap a breeze. toe in is even easier. I adjust very rarely. Absolutely no complaints after 5+ years and probably 3000 miles.
Submitted by
Adam Hunt
a Cross Country Rider
from Berkeley CA
Date Reviewed: July 31, 2007
Strengths: Smooth, powerful, can be used on both 26" and 700 c wheels and is probably the best rim brake outside of the old WTB roller cam.
Weaknesses: Set up. Yes... this has been covered to the point of tedium and there's a lot of post from people having to use more than one tool for their set up. All this is true but if you think these are a problem to set up try building a Brompton folding bike and all it's British eccentricities. That's a bad design.
Here's a tip buy a torque wrench there bubbah. Do all of your set up with a standard allen wrench set but do your finish work by torquing the 5mm pivot bolts to 65 inch lbs and the smaller 4 mm bolts to 45 inch lbs and everything will hold their place. I also highly recomend greasing each and every bolt with a good quality grease because it will make adjusting the brakes easier.
Last I have set up these brakes two different ways, one is setting the brake pads concave, convex washers so the brake arms are nearly parallel to the seat stays and a second way where you replace the order of the washers as they come out of the box with the thicker of the washers so they brake arms flare out from the seat stays; this second method while it increacese the profile of the brake arms especially on smaller frames dramatically increases the stopping power. Play around with the two set ups and go with what works for you.
Bottom Line:
I will acknowledge the set up issues concerning the Motolites but these are a lot easier than many of Paul's earlier designs. They take some finesse and patience but they aren't the most difficult or poorly designed brakes out on the market.
I think the top three prizes for a piss poor brake designs have to go to the old Mafac tandem cantilevers (Spring adjustement ? Partily disengage the brake pads and bend the springs as needed. Toe adjustment ? Bend the brake arms with an adjustable crecent wrench or a channel lock. Bad designs.) Any sub LX level Shimano V brake, and last but not least the Ritchey WCS cantilever; the worst of Mafac and DiaCompe in one nasty little package. Dishonorable mentions also have to go to the Paul Crosstops, Suntour roller cams, and Grafton cantilevers.
Here's my two cents too Paul brakes work best with Paul brake levers. Yes, I've tired them with Shimano, Suntour, and Avid brake levers but
Similar Products Used: Shimano, every V brake they have made, Avid (same) and the Ritchey V brake (great but sadly no longer in production) Paul Crosstops (antiquated and potentially dangerous).
Bike Setup: I have these on three different bikes, a Kelly single speed cross bike, a Spot single speed mtb and now a geared Karate Monkey. They work well on each bike but best on the Spot and the Karate Monkey.
Strengths: Lots of adjustability for different wheel sizes, excellent stopping action with little hand pressure, no squealing. Quick release is a pleasure. This brake just looks good.
Weaknesses: Somewhat hard to setup, but once figured out, it's pretty simple. Kind of pricey, but quality doesn't always come cheap.
Bottom Line:
I needed a front brake with good adjustability since I was going from a 406 to 451 wheel. Had some trouble with initial setup, but pulled out a small adjustable crescent wrench out of my bike tool bag and with an allen wrench, set the spring tension easily. I've ordered another Paul brake for my Reynolds T-Bone recumbent.
Submitted by
Gary
a Cross Country Rider
from San Jose
Date Reviewed: January 12, 2007
Strengths: "Product Strength" and "Paul" in the same sentence? HAHAHAHA!!!
Weaknesses: Where do I start?
Bottom Line:
Anytime you need a 15mm cone wrench to adjust v-brakes, you know you've got a terrible design not worthy of even Paul's outrageous prices. Did anybody here adjust the tension spring properly on their very first, or even, second try? I didn't think so.
Similar Products Used: Avids, Tektros (back in the day), and that 800 lbs. Gorilla starting with "S"
Bike Setup: Jamis
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Paul Crawford
a Cross Country Rider
from Vassalboro,ME,USA
Date Reviewed: December 10, 2006
Strengths: Stiff, light, everything can be replaced.
Weaknesses: What? Weakness? Where!?
Bottom Line:
If you are a weeny for replacing every bolt in a system with Ti like I am, you have 94 gram brakes which stop like 6 piston discs. Jagwire's Ti-Carbon pads are the way to go with this brake, since they pivot like yer wrists until you tighten them down, then they are solid like rocks. They are also the only way to get Ti brake pad bolts. The Paul's arm system is way lighter than anything else, and offers supreme adjustability. Nokon cable and a Travel Agent makes them so stiff you will NEED a brake booster like a Gorilla or AC, because the frame will bow madly. I have a Cannondale, with this on the front and back, and even with an FSX carbon Judy fork, the legs bow slightly when I squeeze really hard. All the chilis they've got in this joint, these are the XC racer's best choice.
Similar Products Used: Machine Tech Zeroflex V-brake
Bike Setup: Nokon Cables, Travel Agent rollercams, Paul's Love Lever compact, Jaguar Titanium pads, Titanium canti studs in the frame, Ti bolts in the pivots, lever clamps, alignment brackets, Travel Agent pulley, and cable pinch bolt, Gorilla brake "beefer".
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
DCS
a Cross Country Rider
from New York
Date Reviewed: November 15, 2006
Strengths: Construction Performance Appearance
Weaknesses: Somewhat finicky on initial setup
Bottom Line:
It takes some tweaking and fiddling to get these brakes initially dialed in. However, once this is done, these brakes are terrific. Tremendous stopping power, modulation and feel. No squealing at all in wet or dry conditions.
Weaknesses: setup is not as easy as most v-brakes but it's not rocket science either
Bottom Line:
These things are great. After I put them on the bike I went down some local grass hills that were pretty wet(no trails nearby) just to see how well they worked at low speed. I was able to ride down the whole hill as slow as I could stay upright while never locking the wheels. Today I went out to the trails and found myself hitting things faster right away because I knew I had so much braking power and could feather it on. I was letting a friend use my other bike with the arch rivals on it and tried it out. I always kind of liked those brakes but there was no comparison the pauls were so much nicer. They aren't cheap but they are cheaper than going to disc and buying new wheels and brakes. That's why I gave the 5 value chilis. But the setup isn't the easiest. Once you get it down it's not bad though. Everything in the setup makes sense but an extra hand would have been nice. I think all the main gripes are already listed in previous posts. I don't dread ever having to work on them. If you are thinking about getting these and it won't break the bank don't hesitate.
Strengths: If you have the IQ of a coffee table you can dial these in like the sweetness. But if you whine and complain about every little component, then have a REAL mechanic install them for you and pay the REAL mechanic to maintain them.
They work very well if you take the time, like REAL mechanic would to set them up.
Weaknesses: Those JUNKY Kool Stop Thinline pads that end up wearing a groove down the brake track where a normal width pad would not.
Bottom Line:
Don't let Tony the "mechanic with 15 years experience and every Park Tool" work on your bike.
The Motolite brakes work very well.
Tony is also not an engineer and has not place to blather about "Shimano's overly-designed parallelogram bullcrap".
