Originally Posted by
BetweenRides
I bought a Kona Jake the Snake last summer. It came with cantis. I use the bike for trail/night riding, plus shorter group rides with a spare set of road wheels. Love the bike but the braking was so poor it was almost dangerous. I replaced the brakes this fall with Deore V brakes and threw on some travel agents for good measure. Stops on a dime, on par with my regular road bike.
Yup. I test rode a Kona Jake with Avid 4 cantis. Horrible braking performance compared to linear pull let alone disc brakes. Just so it wasn't that particular bike, I took a different Jake out. Same deal. It just doesn't illicit confident stopping performance.
BTW, road bikes do come with linear dual pivot brakes which are way better than cantis. I know because it was the first thing I check when shopping for a roadie. I can only presume cantis still exist for some bikes especially CX is that mud don't gather on it as much as other brakes. However disc brakes pretty nullify that reason but weighs heavier.