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Holy Grail of V-brakes ?

9467 Views 23 Replies 21 Participants Last post by  zkampyman, 
M
Hi guys,

Which were in your opinions the holy grail of V-brakes !?
I mean rare, limited, exotic, kool, sexy, etc.
Nothing comes to my mind right now besides the
Mrazek BOC or the Paul Innolite... what else was there ?
With pictures please !!!
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M
I'm sorry, I meant Motolite...
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mtnbiker72
Avid Arch Supreme
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mimi1885
mtnbiker72 said:
Avid Arch Supreme
Click to expand...
Yep:thumbsup: I've got 3 sets 2 are on my bikes Ibis ti, Merlin ti and another one is still an unfinished project(restored Yo Eddy) Match with silver Ultimate lever.






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Berkeley Mike
My XTs and XTRs have always treated me well. I did ad a brake booster but that has more to do with the flexy seatstays on my Bontrager Racelite. It seems unnecessary on the front.
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M
Nice, nice!
Yes Mike, same here, the m950 xtr levers are one of my all time favourite.
Not overdesigned, not underdesigned, the curvature and feel is perfect, shows awesome.

But I wanted to dig deep into the eighties with this thread. Was craving for some pictures of rare V-brake stuff, I'm thinking MacMahon Scissors, Marinovatives, Mrazeks, Pauls, that kind of stuff. Was hoping that you guys would remind me of the rest along those lines.
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H
As someone who didn't begin mountain biking until 2006, I am compelled to ask: when did disc brakes first appear and how long was it before they were common and/or the de facto standard?
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Shayne
mrpink said:
Nice, nice!
Yes Mike, same here, the m950 xtr levers are one of my all time favourite.
Not overdesigned, not underdesigned, the curvature and feel is perfect, shows awesome.

But I wanted to dig deep into the eighties with this thread. Was craving for some pictures of rare V-brake stuff, I'm thinking MacMahon Scissors, Marinovatives, Mrazeks, Pauls, that kind of stuff. Was hoping that you guys would remind me of the rest along those lines.
Click to expand...
Check this page for unique brakes

http://www.blackbirdsf.org/brake_obscura/mtb.html
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boomn
mrpink said:
Nice, nice!
Yes Mike, same here, the m950 xtr levers are one of my all time favourite.
Not overdesigned, not underdesigned, the curvature and feel is perfect, shows awesome.

But I wanted to dig deep into the eighties with this thread. Was craving for some pictures of rare V-brake stuff, I'm thinking MacMahon Scissors, Marinovatives, Mrazeks, Pauls, that kind of stuff. Was hoping that you guys would remind me of the rest along those lines.
Click to expand...
I thought marinovative didn't invent v-brakes until somewhere around 1990, which means technically anything that is a v-brake couldn't be from the eighties
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knottshore
hdparrish said:
As someone who didn't begin mountain biking until 2006, I am compelled to ask: when did disc brakes first appear and how long was it before they were common and/or the de facto standard?
Click to expand...
Not sure on the downhill and one-off end of the spectrum but I bought a 98' Trek 8900 with a set of Hayes Hydro disc brakes and it was on of the first production bikes from any of the big hitters at the time that offered them- it had a silly 22mm rear calibler set up that went the way of the doe-doe bird pretty quick- by ~2000 2001 they were pretty mainstream on higher end bikes. I am sure a good ole goodle search would firm up the facts though-
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jtmartino
knottshore said:
Not sure on the downhill and one-off end of the spectrum but I bought a 98' Trek 8900 with a set of Hayes Hydro disc brakes and it was on of the first production bikes from any of the big hitters at the time that offered them- it had a silly 22mm rear calibler set up that went the way of the doe-doe bird pretty quick- by ~2000 2001 they were pretty mainstream on higher end bikes. I am sure a good ole goodle search would firm up the facts though-
Click to expand...
Sachs made the PowerDisc back in 1994, which I believe was the first mass-produced hydraulic disc brake system.


There were other styles of disc brakes around long before that, though.
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mitzikatzi
I had a bike in the very late 70's that had a rear cable disc brake. It was on a Malvern Star (an Australian bike brand)
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Shayne
Pro Stop brakes were out around 1991
Hope had discs going back to 1992 perhaps a bit sooner
DiaCompe had a disc out in 1993

As mentioned Shimano and some others had discs out for low end road bikes in the 70's
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shiggy
mrpink said:
Hi guys,

Which were in your opinions the holy grail of V-brakes !?
I mean rare, limited, exotic, kool, sexy, etc.
Nothing comes to my mind right now besides the
Mrazek BOC or the Paul Innolite... what else was there ?
With pictures please !!!
Click to expand...
IRD Widget and Switchback.
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Slow Eddie
Avid made a linear pull version of the tri-align cantilever brake - the Tri-Align III. Worked OK, fairly light, but, for better or for worse, used the tri-align system. The Single Digit 3.0 v-brake was as adjustable as the TAIIIs, but fairly heavy and fugly atmo. Rare, but not a grail by any means.

Hershey linear pulls - beautiful; used smooth post canti pads and eyebolts, and were finicky to get pad alignment set up right. Power and modulation were not on par with their cantis, sadly.

I run current-generation Single Digit Ultimates now, but would agree that Arch Supremes are the "holy grail" of linear pull brakes, and would drop my SD's in a heartbeat if I could score a pair of Arches for a reasonable price.
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clarkrw3
That is what I have on my Obed SS they are sweet!!:thumbsup:

mimi1885 said:
Yep:thumbsup: I've got 3 sets 2 are on my bikes Ibis ti, Merlin ti and another one is still an unfinished project(restored Yo Eddy) Match with silver Ultimate lever.






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JmZ
Slow Eddie said:
Avid made a linear pull version of the tri-align cantilever brake - the Tri-Align III. Worked OK, fairly light, but, for better or for worse, used the tri-align system. The Single Digit 3.0 v-brake was as adjustable as the TAIIIs, but fairly heavy and fugly atmo. Rare, but not a grail by any means.

Hershey linear pulls - beautiful; used smooth post canti pads and eyebolts, and were finicky to get pad alignment set up right. Power and modulation were not on par with their cantis, sadly.

I run current-generation Single Digit Ultimates now, but would agree that Arch Supremes are the "holy grail" of linear pull brakes, and would drop my SD's in a heartbeat if I could score a pair of Arches for a reasonable price.
Click to expand...
It is funny, but my favorite two V-Brakes are the ones above.

Avid Tri Align V's. Never had a problem with the power, was able to lock up or modulate at will, and they were easy to adjust.

The Hershey's are still doing duty on the wife's bike. Can still lock them up, and modulation is fine too. Spring tension takes a bit of practice to set up, but that's my only quibble.

JmZ

Interloc with TAIII's
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proline69
Not to many brakes but real nice levers
http://www.mombat.org/Brake_Lever_Museum.htm
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A
I'd have to go with Widgets, by far my favorites. Wasatch Clamps were pretty cool also but a little bulkier and not quite as pretty.
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EBasil
:) Our ten year old just aged into an older hardtail race bike that's now his, complete with Arch Supremes. For his maiden voyage we had a long descent and he commented, "these brakes are awesome". Yes, yes they are.
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