The Avid Arch Rival series brakes were amazing. The same basic concept as Shimano used on their parallel-push V-brakes; keeping the brake pad parallel with the rim brake track throughout the travel of the brake arms. Avid just went about it in a different way.
Both were incredible brake systems in their day, and I put a lot of miles on both (Arch Rival 40 and Shimano XT). But the (slight) edge has to go to Avid. Gobs of power and arguably better feel. Some of that could be chalked up to Avid’s excellent adjustable levers I suppose. Yeah, they have the usual limitations that go with any rim brake system, but they worked incredibly well. And in many cases, better than early disk brake systems.
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