Originally Posted by
aggri1
I'd steer away from parallel push (?) v-brakes (the ones with the extra linkage). I got a second hand set of old parallel-push XTs: they were a little worn out (loose pivots), and when I had them on the front wheel, they'd squeal like a banshee. Really really bad! When on the rear wheel, and hence operating in the other direction, they worked fine and without noise, but I don't really brake with the rear wheel anyway.
I've also used a few different v-brakes, all worked fine. Currently have XTs, and they're great (KoolStop pads).
The early generation of XT v-brakes were too light in the parallel push mechanism. They squealed something fierce and really couldn't be stopped from squealing. Later version beefed up the mechanism but by then other (quieter) v-brakes were readily available.
I've never found v-brakes to play nice with fenders. It's the nature of the mechanism. The arms move inwards and often hit up against the fender while doing so. I even routed my fender
over the brake mechanism to avoid this problem
It's can be done with Avid Arch Rivals but not necessarily with other v-brakes.
For use with fenders, the
Cane Creek Direct Curve brakes would be ideal. No interference problems there.