deng brakes in theory should be better than maggies but i've heard alot of bad things about the leaking and the voided warrinty if you run cnc'd brake backing. back to topic,vees tend to have more modulation than maggies so they are going to be better suited to the front,though some riders like their front maggies.tarty bikes and chainreactioncycles both sell good vee's and levers ,to make a decision i would search the forum to find out what others are using have you considered a front disk brake?disc brake usually perform well over a greater spectrum of conditions than rims brakes,for example 2inch deep mud,a good disc brake is a avid bb7 steve