I put these on my old Ross Mt. Hood which have had the same old unidentifiable small pads from the 90's on them which were all yucky and half worn out. What a difference they made! I'm happy. I can just about lift the rear wheel off the ground with my old DiaCompe Cantilevers on that old long-frame Ross with these pads up front. They are powerful and controlable with easy modulation right up to lock-up. I took them to Critical Mass and it was a lot of brake-dragging to keep pedaling and doing track-stands and I was worried that I'd put a bunch of wear on my brand-new pads but after a few miles of that kind of abuse they still looked like new. Not too shabby IMHO.
I have these up front but I put a pair of Kool-Stops (Dual compound) on the back of my MTB to give them a try too. They were not any better than the standard all-black "sticky fingers" pads by Avenir. If anything, I think the Avenir's are better as they stop just as well in wet or dry (if not better) and seem to be wearing better than the Kool-stops.
An interesting thing about these Avenir Sticky Fingers pads is that they mount exactly backwards from the Kool-Stops. That is to say that the bigger side of the pad goes on the trailing edge of the mounting post rather than the other way around like on the Kool-Stops according to the L/R markings on the side.
Since my old Ross Cantilever-braked Mt. Hood was made before the days of these non-symmetrical pads the Kool-Stops won't fit up front in the correct orientation and the Sticky-Fingers won't fit in back without interfering with the wheelstays when I try and pull the wheels out the brakes hang up and they won't open up all the way -making it hard to fit the tire in or out with air in it. The mounting braze-ons must be shorter on these older MTB's and the brakes don't stand off as much.
The only way around this is to run the pads backwards from the way they are labeled. The Sticky-fingers don't seem to make any difference performance-wise frontwards or backawards, but I feel the Kool-stops have a marked loss in performance when run backwards. I could get away with running the Avenir's front and back but since I have them I will keep on running the Kool-Stops in back and the Sticky-Fingers up front right now. Maybe when the Kool-stops wear out I'll put Sticky Fingers pads in back too as they are so much cheaper. They do run fine backwards. This is something to think about if you have an older MTB and don't have as much clearance between the Cantis and the wheelstays/forks.
Kool-Stops are great brakes but not worth the price when the Avenir Sticky-Fingers are just as good, reversible, and much cheaper. Maybe when people discover this the price of them will go up to match the performance and the price of the Kool-Stops. Right now they get 5 stars while the Kool-Stops (reviewed elsewhere by me on Amazon) only get a 4. Performance-wise I'd call it a draw -with the Avenir slightly ahead due to reversibility, long wear, and being lower-priced. Avenir Sticky Fingers MTB Post Cantilever Brake Pads
These were installed today and I don't notice any difference between my 15 year old Shimano cantilever pads and the Sticky fingers. There is a lot more surface area on these pads and I hope they just need a few rides to "wear in."
Avenir Sticky Fingers MTB Cantilever Brake Pads
The rubber compound seems VERY hard. I could see these things eating a rim more quickly than Kool Stop brakes.
They are marked (L & R ) backwards from the industry standard. The long end points forward according to the markings. Hmmmmm. I think this was a mistake in the initial design that slipped past QC. That or they realized that this wont work on most front cantilever brake systems as the pad will hit the forks when you release the brakes to remove the Front wheel. OK wait, that can't be true, they wont fit on a lot of rear cantilever brakes with the long pad facing forward, I know, I just went & eyeballed it & it wont fit on any bike I checked, it'll hit the frame when you relaese the brakes to remove the rear tire. Hmmmmmm.
They are slightly curved to follow the rim.
The metal post is .268" or 6.8mm in diameter. 1.17" or 29.86mm long. The serations on the shaft are very smooth.
The pad is 2.78" long or 70.6mm.
From Mounting shaft EDGE to the short end of the pad is about .935" or 23.7mm. The long way is about 1.62" or 41.16mm
Maximum Total Height of the pad is .63" or 16mm, but the braking surface is about .395" or 10mm high.The braking surface is not centered in the face of the pad, it is towards the bottom of the pad, .053" or 1.35mm up from the bottom edge of the brake.
The left & right pads were slightly different sizes, one pad was about .01" or .26mm bigger than the other, in every dimension taken on the rubber. The metal shafts were identical.
Well, as another reviewer wrote, perhaps use these on the front with Kool Stops on the back?
I would rather have a softer compound that wears more quickly, than a harder compound that wears my RIM more quickly.
If you have a cheap bike that needs new brakes, these are great. If you have a quality ride, you may want to give the Kool Stops a try, I know I am. - Cantilever - Pads - Aztec'
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