Avid Shorty Ultimate

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Permalink Reply by Nathandor on October 11, 2010 at 6:49am

have you tried the Kore? they are pretty good and cheep

http://www.examiner.com/cycling-gear-in-seattle/brake-review-kore-c...

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Permalink Reply by Chris Cleeland on October 11, 2010 at 8:26am

I'm under the impression that narrow doesn't necessarily give you more braking power. Rather, it keeps the arms from being hit by your heels or other parts of your legs.

Consider running something that is not a stock pad? I had the 520s, and found the stock pad hard as a rock and not very pleasant.

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Permalink Reply by Hamilton on October 11, 2010 at 8:50am

In general, narrow brakes have more power, and wider brakes give more clearance for mud and debris. Brake pads, straddle cable length and other factors also come into play.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Mayhew on October 11, 2010 at 10:52am

Narrow gives you the ability to change mechanical advantage. With wide pads you're pretty much stuck with what you've got.

The first thing to do is get some cool stop salmon pads (file off the lip) and see what that does for you. Really only about 30% of your braking power comes from the rear anyways so it's not like you need a disc brake there or something.

If you're still not happy pick up some Shortys or something. No reason to get the Ultimates. Start with the stock straddle cable. If you're still not happy get a straddle cable carrier and a straddle cable and put it three fingers above the tire. That's a good starting point for more mechanical advantage.

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Permalink Reply by J.D. Kimple on October 13, 2010 at 3:19am

+1 on the Kool-Stop salmons. I have set up some wide-profile Shimanos on the monstercross bike. Stock pads make you think you *might* stop. Kool Stop salmons will stop you *now*, change the performance to more like V-brakes. I've bought these for multiple bikes and they always make a big difference to me.

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Permalink Reply by Antonio Guglielmo on October 11, 2010 at 3:17pm

the ultimate's are the best I have tried, shorty 6 and 4 were and are crap. Spooky's are fine as long as you didn't actually want to stop. Pauls are great but expensive and more challenging to set up. Zero Gravity brakes are super light but squeal horribly. The wide profiles give more clearance, the narrow gives more modulation, but both have plenty of power to stop you. No one the pro teams running these right now are running them wide, even last week in the mud and muck.

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