Originally Posted by RiDE
i just have regular deore v-brakes with shimano pads... first time i went out with them they were grinding my wheels... and the noise never really went away. looked up reviews on mtbr.com and people are having the same problems.
Put some koolstop pads on there and big difference... stopping power and no noise. never thought it would have made that much of a difference since i use shimano pads on my roadbikes. these should hold me up just fine til i go to disc brakes.
Same here, Deore V's with cool-stops, soon to be replaced with MEC pads as I hear they are better and way cheaper. The stock Deore pads are junk, solid as a rock and squealed like pigs. With cool-stops they work great.
To echo others, I think the most important aspects of V brake performance is pads, tuning, and rim surface. Any decent caliper and lever should work fine, although some have a nicer, lighter feel, like Avid SD7's.