I am looking to replace the Tektro Oryx cantis on my Cross Check. Does anyone have suggestions on a good cantilever brake for this application? Right now I am leaning towards the Shimano 550, but I'd love to know if anyone's found a better one.

I probably will not go with Avid Shortys - they are strong and I like their aesthetics, but I had them on a Kona a couple of years ago and I could never get them to stop squealing.

Let me know if you have any suggestions. Also I'm curious if I would get measurably better performance from using a straddle cable with a wide carrier instead of using a link wire set-up.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

For the avid shortys if you were running the stock pads they have a history of squealing problems. In my experience it is good to experiment with different toe settings that include flat and even reverse toe. I have no idea why reverse to and no toe even work on brakes but I have got some to stop squealing using both of these methods.

Also, I have run shorty 4s for a while and have never been especially pleased with their stopping power and am planning on getting some Tektro CR720s for the front.

good luck braking it up

For what it's worth I just built up a bike using Shorty 6's; I've got the fronts toed in quite a bit and the rears flat. They stop like crazy and don't squeal at all.

kool stop pads, any flavor, are my suggestion :)

my stock avid pads lasted about a month.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. My Tektros have V-brake style cartridge pads, so I might just get some Koolstop inserts for them and see how that works. Thanks again!

For the avid shortys if you were running the stock pads they have a history of squealing problems. In my experience it is good to experiment with different toe settings that include flat and even reverse toe. I have no idea why reverse to and no toe even work on brakes but I have got some to stop squealing using both of these methods.

Also, I have run shorty 4s for a while and have never been especially pleased with their stopping power and am planning on getting some Tektro CR720s for the front.

good luck braking it up

I use the CR720 on my mtb and are very happy with them. The stock pads were crap, replaced with koolstops. I switched from v-brakes to canti's with road levers and found the difference in stopping power to be negligable at best. And they look cool IMO.

dont get tektro oryx, they are not very good at all.

I like the Oryx's better than the Shorty 4s.

But with those kinds of brakes, it's much more about pad adjustement/type.

Shorty's are noturious for squeeking but then so are most canti rim breaks. I like the brakes that fall further away from the rim. They have less stopping power but they clear mud better. I've got a set of SRP Grumpy's, Pauls are similar.

Here's an article: http://velonews.com/article/9054