Originally Posted by james_swift

The first thing I noticed (and looked forward to) in comparison with my Avid SD-5 V-brakes was their silent operation: no squeal, no squeak. Yes! Even with their cheap cartridge pads, they stopped silently at all speeds. With the Kool Stop Salmon pads on my V-brakes, they squealed at low speeds and under hard braking. Annoying as hell. The cantis are smooth and silent.

As for braking power, they remind me a lot of my old Shimano 105 caliper brakes. In fact, the cantis work and feel just like road brakes. Although they don't have the sheer clamping power of Vs, the action and modulation of the cantis (like road brakes) is smooth and predictable. They work perfectly for "feathering", in situations where you need to make only slight adjustments to your speed such as cornering or riding in a group.

These Nashbar brakes (which look suspiciously a lot like re-branded Tektro Oryx brakes) have come a long way since the cantis on my '90 Specialized Rockhopper. They were really easy to set-up. They use standard threaded replaceable cartridge V-brake pads. The yoke has a clever alignment indicator and a guide housing for the brake cable.

I like the look of cantis on the Swift...kinda retro.