Shimano LX Brakes Brake System

3.39/5

(23 Reviews)

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Shimano 96 LX Brakes

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Reviews 1 - 15 (23 Reviews Total)

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Value Rating:

Submitted by Alex a Cross Country Rider from Portland, OR, USA

Date Reviewed: March 21, 2003

Strengths:    Simplicity in installation and adjustment. These brakes provide not a bad modulation if accompanied with the proper levers. They allow to use wide carbon MTB fenders if used with wide "Problem Solver" yoke for the straddle cable. It's almost impossible to lock the wheel using these brakes, which is beneficial when you're breaking on a wet road.
These cantilevers have inner catridge bushings which contribute to its longevity.

Weaknesses:    The original LX brake pads are just a plain garbage.
Its rubber is very hard and has embedded metal chunks which grind the rims.
I replaced these pads immediately with soft "KoolStops" pads to save the rims and improve stopping power.

Bottom Line:

I dont believe in other guys statements that cantilever brakes is very diffucult to adjust. Actually it's much easier to adjust cantilevers than V-brakes.
V-brake pads have just two axes of freedom , cantelevers have three.
You practically can't toe in V-brakes to improve performance and eliminate squeak. During adjustment I use rubber rings to keep levers slightly squized, and smaller rubber rings around rear end of the brake pads for toeing them in.
After a such adjustment I can use these brakes untill the next brake pads chage. Front and rear cable hangers (stops) help to keep cantilever brakes in the centered position, so they hit the rim simultaneously.
V-brakes is a lot harder to keep centered. They always tilted to one side and hit the rim not at the same moment.
Enough said, I'm giving these LX canties four flames for its value 'cause of bad LX pads, and five flames for over all performance.

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Favorite Trail:   Mount Hood and city streets

Duration Product Used:   More than 3 years

Price Paid:    $12.00

Purchased At:   Bike shop

Similar Products Used:   Many other canti's and V-brakes

Bike Setup:   Custom built rigid commuter bike with aluminium LD-515 Leader Bikes frame, Surly rigid fork and all Shimano XT drivetrain and derailleurs. Power Control Dia-Compe7 brake levers.

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by JOSE GAME a Downhiller from TEMUCO

Date Reviewed: June 1, 2002

Strengths:    POWER WITH GOOD LEVERS, AND SMOOTH

Weaknesses:    NOT YET FOUND

Bottom Line:

THIS BRAKES ARE REALLY POWEFULLS AND WITH A REALLY SOFT TOUCH, THE NEW MODEL IS MUCH BETTER THAN 98, CAUSE' THIS HAVES A PARALELOGRAM FUNCTION, I REALLY LIKE THIS BRAKES!!! ARE BETTER THAN STX-RC V-BRAKES, AND NICE STOP!!! LIKE A DISC BRAKE, ONLY IF YOU HAVE A GOOD LEVERS!

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Favorite Trail:   HILLL

Duration Product Used:   6 months

Price Paid:    $23.00

Similar Products Used:   SHIMANO XT V-BRAKES

Bike Setup:   BIKE EQUIPPED WITH DEORE LX COMPONENTS

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by empty a Cross Country Rider from russia

Date Reviewed: August 12, 2001

Strengths:    breaking power

Weaknesses:    maitainance nightmare!!!

Bottom Line:

these ones break pretty good, but they're maintainance nightmare! it's very hard to set 'em up and i have to adjust pads after every ride to avoid severe degrade in performance.

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Duration Product Used:   2 Years

Purchased At:   came on my bike

Similar Products Used:   tekro & other low-end v-brakes

Bike Setup:   deore lx all the round

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by Rodney a Cross Country Rider from Upstate NY

Date Reviewed: May 27, 2001

Strengths:    Plenty of strength when properly adjusted.

Weaknesses:    More difficult pad & arm adjustment than with Vees

Bottom Line:

I have used these brakes for at least 3 years now and they still do what they are intended to do.... STOP ME. Although they may not be as strong as some V-Brakes, they still work great when properly adjusted. Check out the rant about brakes here at http://www.bontrager.com/rants_f1.html
Great advice on increasing your cantilever brake performance.

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Favorite Trail:   FLT

Duration Product Used:   More than 3 years

Price Paid:    $40.00

Purchased At:   Steiners

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by Luis Leon a Cross Country Rider from Ulster County, NY

Date Reviewed: November 1, 2000

Strengths:    Simple design, no extra doodads... Easy to adjust, I don't know what all those other guys are gripping about... And when properly adjusted will stop the bike, mine have never let me down on steep descents, but then again, I'm not a downhiller.

Weaknesses:    none that I know of... But I guess they're too old-fashioned for some

Bottom Line:

Good brakes, without all the hype of the others... I recently crashed during a race and wrecked my left shifter on the LX brake/shifter... It seemed like my options where to upgrade to 9 speed and incur all the costs. As I wanted to get separate shifter pods and brake levers... (Plus, new cogset, chain, etc...) But after factoring all the costs... I bought a pair of 95' XT lever/shifters from Cambria Bicycles for $33. Installed them and they work like a charm... Lighter than the LX lever/shifters I replaced...

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Favorite Trail:   any good singletrack...

Duration Product Used:   More than 3 years

Similar Products Used:   LX V-brakes on my bike friday, compared to the canti's, they're a pain in the ass to set-up...

Bike Setup:   96' Klein Pulse Comp LX/XT, synchros bar and seatpost...

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by Kent Ryhorchuk a Weekend Warrior from Sunnyvale

Date Reviewed: May 12, 2000

Strengths:    Had them for almost seven years.

Weaknesses:    They are not V-brakes

Bottom Line:

I saw this review category while I was looking for a review on LX V-brakes. My retired old Kona that I ride to work (rode 5000 road miles on this bike last year) has these brakes. They work well, for cantilever brakes. They have lasted long with few problems.

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Duration Product Used:   More than 3 years

Similar Products Used:   LX/XT V-brakes. Ugh.

Bike Setup:   93 Kona Cinder-Cone. LX/DX components. Conti Town and Country tires. Joe Murray rules. Buy Voo-Doo.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by Hans Persson a Weekend Warrior from Lund, Sweden

Date Reviewed: November 10, 1999

Strengths:
?

Weaknesses:
Set-up
Breaking power

Bottom Line:

I hate these brakes, even though they are my wifes bike. They are impossible (for me) to adjust and the breaking power is very bad. I had them adjusted at my LBS a while back but it did not improve things very much. An awful design: I'm so angry now!!!

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Duration Product Used:
1 Year

Similar Products Used:
XT V-brakes

Bike Setup:
'96 Crescent Lodur

Overall Rating:

Submitted by Richard Bickle a Racer from Santa Barbara, CA

Date Reviewed: July 11, 1999

Strengths:
Fine, if you're on an incline.

Weaknesses:
Too much tinkerin' for the late nineties.

Bottom Line:

Have a wake, or slap 'em on your beach bunny.

Expand full review >>

Duration Product Used:
more than 3 years

Similar Products Used:
The tips of my Converse.

Bike Setup:
A breeder of contempt: a '95 Ritche Comp

Overall Rating:

Submitted by Lee Chun a cross-country rider from Concord, CA

Date Reviewed: October 5, 1998

Bottom Line:

I find the LX cantis to be OK>!
Tho, my brakes look different than the one in the picture in the site.
mine look a lot better, but anyways, these brakes are good, but sometimes I wish I had a little more braking power. But, I never had these brakes fail.
I'm sure I'll be switching to V brakes soon, but hey, these are still working fine.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by Gagz a cross-country rider from Ct

Date Reviewed: July 3, 1998

Bottom Line:

These brakes suck. There is no power at all and they always squeak. They really suck! Get v-brakes. These things are as bad as Alevio cantis, they just weigh less. I repeat, do not get them! Get v's. I couldn't flip on these if I wanted to. They're awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DO NOT GET THEM EVEN IF THEY ARE A GOOD DEAL!!!!!!!

Overall Rating:

Submitted by Dingbat a weekend warrior from Bristol, UK

Date Reviewed: June 15, 1998

Bottom Line:

A year and a wet winter of commuting on these, and the LX cantis are holding up beautifully. Nice solid arms, wear-proof bearings, easy adjustment, and the worst pads I've ever thrown away. The cartridge idea is cute, but the compound for the rubber is so soft that it wears out inb no time at all, stopping only to collect enough grit to sandpaper the rims into oblivion on the way.Nice brakes, but fit Aztecs or someone's pads instead.
4 for the arms, a reluctant one for the pads.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by Tony a cross-country rider from New York

Date Reviewed: April 8, 1998

Bottom Line:

These brakes work fine, especially since I don't do any gonzo riding. The main problem is the setup - these things are a headache to center. The straddle cable design is so damn primitive. But since I don't have money for V-brakes, these'll have to do. Did I mention what a headache it is to center them?

Overall Rating:

Submitted by Ryan a cross-country rider from Maryland

Date Reviewed: February 2, 1998

Bottom Line:

I have these brakes on the rear of my bike and they work great. They have the same stopping power of v's if they are set up right. I get my LX set up once a year and that seems to be enough even though i ride 4-5 times a week all year. For the price you cant beat them but if you want to be up to date than get v's or hydalic brakes.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by vikram a weekend warrior from San Francisco

Date Reviewed: January 20, 1998

Bottom Line:

On the whole these brakes work quite well when they are properly adjusted. The problem is they require constant maintainence. after every major ride i find myself having to adjust them. i have pounded on them pretty hard for about 8 months, including a lot of wet weather riding. overall they are okay, but time to get v-brakes.

Overall Rating:

Submitted by Rob a cross-country rider from Mississippi

Date Reviewed: December 29, 1997

Bottom Line:

Bought a set for my B bike -- $10 an pair. Tossed the original pads and EZ-slop toe adjustment thingies, and set them up with good pads and real cable hangers, the way Professor Bontrager teaches. Not too hard to do. OK, if I had half-hour downhills in my backyard, I might want something more powerful to reduce hand strain. For my XC courses, I can deal with two-finger braking. A locked wheel is a locked wheel, regardless of the braking mechanism, and these things can lock.They're typical LX stuff, well built, but corners were cut to keep down the costs. Had to toe the front shoes a LOT before they stopped squeeking, so that's a problem. And like all canti's, if the front hanger dropps into the tire for some reason, you're going OTB (IMHO V's main advantage over canti's, and probably in Shimano's legal department's too).Final analysis: if you've got a good XC B bike you're keeping around as a spare, and it's got crap for brakes and you really don't want to shell out for V-brakes AND V-levers, these are a steal.

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Shimano LX Brakes Brake System

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