The Official Brake Review Thread

I'm in the market for some new brakes! So let's here what everyone is running. What kinda of riding do you use them for? How do they hold up in hot/cold weather? What size rotors are you using? Basically the pro's and con's. So lets here it :bang:!


I currently am running Hayes 9HD's on my bike. They really are a good brakes for the price. You can find them for really cheap now. It just seems sometimes when I really wanna stop there not enough.

 

i'm running XT's on my pitch pro with 203mm front and 180 rear rotors. They were a little finicky until they broke in but since then they have been spectacular. I do mostly AM riding with a touch of XC thrown in. However most of the AM stuff I do I ride quite hard and beat the heck out of my brakes. Overall I am quite happy with the adjustability and performance, the bling looks don’t hurt either.

I had a chance to ride an 09 enduro that had avid elixers with 180mm rotors front and rear and I thought those brakes felt amazing. I didn’t have a chance to play with them all that much but I think I wouldn’t hesitate to give those a shot in the future.

 

09 Saints on my nomad..... Overkill? Maybe....is there such a thing?

I run hope 2 pc rotors, 203,180mm

Best Brakes

 

+1. M810 saints are pretty bomb brakes. tons of power/modulation (even with a glazed pad :lol. I actually find them hard to completely lock up.

same goes for XT brakes. powerful, good modulation, just to a lesser degree than the saints. feel very similar though.

Juicy 7's: good, functional brakes. fairly good power, but not as much modulation as the shimano stuff, or formula oros. usually can be found cheap, which is a plus. I do hate most things avid because of the CPS hardware, which complicates setup which can lead to noise and poor brake performance. they also like to shift around on me, which is annoying.

Formula Oro K24: I like these brakes a lot. light weight, powerful (used them on the DHer for awhile), great modulation. a little finicky at times, but setup is easy. great lever feel, and the pad contact adjustment is fast/effective.

Hayes Strokers: Not a huge fan. grabby and powerful enough, but not a lot of modulation. the pad clearance is a little minimal as well, making setup harder, and leading to a lot of squeakiness.

 

Having a hard time finding saint pads.:?:

 

I just put together some LX calipers with Deore levers for a SS project and I'm stoked. The levers where $20 and the Calipers with rotors $60. Very powerful, in fact maybe too much!
Have had Hayes 9's great
New Hayes Stokers, great brakes, I just don"t like the way they fit with the shifters, I can't seem to get it set up right, if I ran the lever closest to the grip wouldn"t be an issue
Magura Louise BAT, these brakes rock, however the pads are very expensive and wear out fast and that alone would stop me from buying another set.

I saw formulas at The Path yesturday for a good price, like to give those a try

 

Here's my experience with disk brakes so far.

1. Hayes Mags - noisy, good power, good modulation, can be had cheap, good basic brakes for the money.

2. M800 saint - great modulation, lacking overall power, noisy with metallic pads, OK price.

3. Avid BB7 - Hands down winner for mechanical disk brakes. Can be a little noisy if not adjusted properly. I still own a set as a back up.

4. Hope M6 - great power, modulation, quiet with the original pads, a little bit on the heavy side, Spendy, but seems to be worth it.

5. 775 XT's - great power, modulation, no noise (w/the koolstop red pads), good price. Currently on two of my main rides.

6. Hope moto V2 - Ultimate in power! fantastic modulation. NOISY, but it does quiet down with heat. Expensive, and proprietary rotors (vented disc).

7. Hope M4 - another great brakes from Hope! A little more power than the XT's but with a little weight penalty. Solid set up with the two piece rotor.

8. M810 Saint - Great power, modulation. Power up to par with the M6's. Too little time to tell durability, but if it's anything like the other Shimano brakes, they should be fine.

9. Avid Ultimates - ok power, ok modulation, nothing to write home about. I expected better for the price I paid.

10. Formula "The One" - Great power, modulation, but ran into some reliability issues with the master cylinder. The levers would go to the bar every-once in a while unexpectedly.....

I know there are a few more that I have owned or ridden on, but these are the ones that stick out in my mind right now.

 

Currently running Avid Elixer CR's on my Tracer. 203 front, 160 back and I do All Mountain riding. These are the best brakes I have ever used. I have even turned a couple friends on to them. Lots of power, great feel.

Avid BB7- Very reliable, easy to use, easy to adjust and cheap. Obviously they lack the power of hydraulic but not a bad brake for a budget.

Hayes HFX-9- They worked great on my Turner 6 Pack. No problems, but they lacked adjustability.

Juicy 7- Currently running these on my Air 9. I would not recommend these, the Elixers are so much better.

 

I just put the new Hope Tech V2 with Vented rotors on my DH bike and they are sweet. The new tech levers with reach and bite point adjustments on them are awesome. Highly recommended.

 

Just put on some Avid elixir crs. Way better than the Juicy 5's I was rolling with. No more squeeking. Mostly ride all mountain. These things have lots of power. Running with 203 in the front 185 rear.

 

Heres some info on the brakes I've used:

Avid BB7's: Great Mechanical breaks ran them on my 29er with 160mm's front and rear, I felt like they needed a bit more power, I suppose I could have fixed this with a larger rotor in front.

Avid Juicy 5's: Nice cheap way to get into hydro disks. I think they worked fine, a little loud at times. I didn't think they were hard to set up. Easy to bleed

Avid Juicy 7's: Of the 3 sets, I still have on my XC bike. I got them cheap and used and I've had them for over 5 years now... I only bleed them once a year and day in day out they continue to stop me safely. I don't have an issue with these being noisy, I do find the little red knobs on top over rated I don't think they help adjust that much. Either way I'd call them bullet proof.

I've been tempted from time to time to upgrade to some elixers and I probably will someday, but as long as my 7's work I'll keep running them.

 

Yea my debate right now is Juicy 7's or Hayes Stroker trails. I can't really decide. I really want to get some Avid Elixir CR but are they really worth the money? And what about the Avid Elixir R...anyone using a set of these? If so how do you like them?

 

I recently put on Hope Tech M4s w/170 rotors on my BLTc and they rock. The lever action is the smoothest I've felt with great modulation and zero fade. Very powerful brakes and beautifully made-- the calipers are cut out of a single billet of aluminum. We weighed them against the Avid Elixir CRs I replaced and they were identical (according to The Bike Co. scale anyway).

The Elixir CRs are excellent stoppers as well but I wanted a bit more stopping power-- especially with my new bike which is set up for higher downhill speeds.

 

Yea I was looking at Hope Tech M4s but man they are expensive lol. Almost $500 for a set #-o

 

I run elixxers on 2 of my rides, They are somewhere between a saint and a juicy 7 in terms of power.

Nice brakes for a solid price.

I would run anything before i ran hayes...

 

I just buy my brakes from freekengo now. Xt's or M4's all the way.

No more avids, ever.

 

How do the Avid Elixir CR's compare to the Juicy Ultimate's?

 

I'm on my 2nd set of Juicy 7s. I never had any problems with the CPS hardware that annoy most people. However, this particular set I have has been rebuilt already, pistons and seals got worn out after 1.5 years of use - no matter how much care you put in them.

- Easy to bleed, but bleed kit is a rip off.
- Nice it uses DOT4 brake fluid which you can get almost anywhere, even the grocery store.

Other than that, it works well. Others have already expressed the other pros and cons.

BTW, in case you are interested you can put the Avid's on a diet by replacing all the bolts with Ti. It'll cost you another $50 or sofor all the bolts.

Good luck shopping.

 

I have XTs on my Ibis and I can say they're not worth the money. They're ok but one crash or one freeride day and they're F_ucked. They vaporize way to easily, as well. The whole 'modulation' thing seems to me to be a marketing gimick.

The Juicy three I have are much cheaper and do just as well. The only drawback is bleeding them-- pain the ass.

 

I have been hearing good things about the new XT's


Can rate this against Avid Juicy 7s, in a 1-10 scale (10 being the best)?