avid - arch supreme yeah, i know. they're not obscure by any stretch of the imagination, and they're the first brake in the list, but thats only because of the alphabet. they're here not because they're so odd, but because they're mechanically interesting, and somewhat deviant from the standard long-arm canti/v-brake design. a different approach to the parallel-push idea behind some of the high-end shimano v-brakes, and a better one, in some people's opinion.

brooklyn machine works - snot rocket very basic long-arm canti, but the part that started the bmw business...

brovedani anti-loc cantilevers



tech sheets (720kb) crazy italians. a fairly standard-looking low-profile cantilever, with one exception... the roller in front of the brake pad, as it contacts the rim, drives a cam which pulses the actual brake pad in and out slightly during braking. voila! anti-lock brakes for your mountain bike. do they work? i dont know. would i be a little nervous to try them? yes.

marinovative - cheap trick ok, not all that different than a standard long-arm cantilever - but crazy light, homebuilt, and quite effective. i like them, so they're here. nevermind that they were one of the first "linear-pull" cantilevers that started everything towards v-brakes...

mcmahon racing components - batwing very similar in basic design to a lot of linear-pull brakes, but way funky on the design end - the batwing is to the linear decelerator as the widget is to the switchback... well... sort of...

onza - h.o.? i forget the name of these little buggers. while theyre not all that unique on a certain level, the neat thing about them is that they allow enough adjustability to switch back and forth from 26" to 700c wheels on the same set of canti studs. that's cool in my book.