That's what Panter said repeatly in this thread,that's what i will replace with when my Avid 3 starts to go south but now at 2,000 miles,they are doing just fine.

Panther's claim to fame is finding every component on his bike substandard and replacing basically everthing except frame and fork. I always read his story as a variation of The Princess and the Pea.

Yeah, but isn't that the fun of having a bike, getting a good case of upgrad-itis? I mean cars are getting too complicated for the novice to do this, but bikes are just right.

Oh, I've done my share of upgrades., Haha!

Just wanted to say that a component that most of would enjoy using for many years might not meet Panther's requirements. Keeping that in mind, if Panther didn't like these brakes, that's another data point to consider and indeed the SD3 might be a little too cheap in manufacture to be a dependable stopper. Panther would probably thumbs down most of our brakesets though. I'm sure all of my bikes have stuff that would not be good enough for Panther.

I think the brakes on my Felt are Avid 5's, but they may be 7's. Anyway, they have been great so far. And I agree, the 3's on my 7.3 FX suck. They go out of adjustment if I look at them. I've never understood why, but they do.

The brakes on my bike work great, i've only got a little over 400 miles on it but so far they stop me fast and smoothly. I have to try them out on just about every ride I go on. I am coin diver, if I see a coin in the road, no matter the amount I stop to pick it up unless it is pressed into the black top, so as soon as I see one its hit the brakes time, thats part of the reason my mph avg is not as high as would like to be I guess.

The Deore stuff is bulletproof! Just make sure you put a drop of oil on EVERY moving surface every time you oil your chain. Wipe off the excess and you're good to go.

You will be happy with Deore.

Kool Stop Salmon pads will complete the revolution. Clean them with alcohol every time you oil your chain.