Last year I upgraded my MTB to XT V-brakes last year... I was very happy with them when I got them, great power, big upgrade in the wet/mud, etc..

Now this year maybe 1000-1500 miles later they are toast... the linkages are all corroded and so on, I have to clean them out + lube before every ride. And now the springs on the rear brake are toast and they won't open back up again after I apply the brakes. I had the same thing happen with my 105 brakes on my road bike, but that was after like 10k miles, and I just took them into the shop and they disassembled them and cleaned and rebuilt them, no problem. The XT brakes don't appear to be rebuildable. I ride my bike in the snow, through any weather, on the road in the winter to stay in shape, etc.. but I'm pretty good about cleaning it up after each ride.

I'm looking for a recommendation for some bulletproof standard V-brakes that would come close to the stopping power of the XT/XTR brakes... are the Avids the way to go?

Thanks,
Ben