Paul Component Touring Cantilever Brakes

  With many high end bits and such, we can't possibly stock 'em all, but we appreciate you ordering thru us, regardless.  If you read about here, and learned something, that's a good reason to snag it here.   There's a bit of lead time, but that's the case with most high end bike bits!  It would be the same if you ordered it direct, or on Jenson or whatever. 

Cantilever brakes are the Pentax K1000 of the brake world. They’re not new, they’re not innovative, they’re not featured in the latest magazines. But just like the K1000, a good set of Cantis works really well, lasts forever, and looks nice doing it. Archival quality components are a rarity today, but we try to sell them wherever we can.

Most brakes, shift levers, cameras, pedals, heck, even bike frames, are worn out within a few years. I used to work at a shop that sold Trek Madones. These carbon ‘wonderbikes’ ‘featured’ bottom bracket shells that needed to be shimmed after a season of riding. Stuffing them in a van for a big event could result in a scratch that ended the life of the frame. Installing the wrong stem lead to the steerer tube snapping off, which is exactly what happened on a whole slew of bikes sold to a team in the mid Atlantic.

Paul bucks the trend. His cantis use service parts that are interchangeable with brakes he made in the early 1990’s. You rarely, if ever, even need those service parts, because it’s really friggin’ hard to wear the bushing and springs out.

Paul makes two cantis, the Neo Retro and this one, the Touring Canti. The Neo Retro, in my opinion, looks more rad, but it produces very little mechanical leverage, and therefore very little stopping power, especially with contemporary brake levers. The best thing about the Neo Retro, besides looks, is that the brake pads sit pretty far from the rim when the brake is properly set up. This makes it a good brake for Cross racing, or muddy but flat riding environments. If you want power and easy set up, get the Touring Canti. Pretty readily available in polished, silver, or black, custom ano add a couple'a weeks time and probably a little more scratch, email us!