If you could have only one brand of hydraulic brakes, which would it be?

All beer prices are assuming that I have the right bleed kits available...

Avids would be a tall boy
formulas and Maguras would be a sixer
Hopes would be a 12 pack
Hayes would be an 12-18 pack depending on the age of the brake system

 

For a basic bleed on hopes it is easy, just add fluid in the master as you either suck it out of the caliper or usethe lever to force it down.

When you have air in the lines it becomes a bit harder because, like hayes, it is difficult to back bleed the system due to how the master cylinder is designed.

Things like changing hydraaulic lines on hopes and hayes is a real pain.

 

Braking power mean the raw braking force, the ability to stop the wheel.

Modulation is the user's ability to feather power into the brakes.

The two are not as related as you might think. Power is more based on the amount of hydraulic pressure that the master cylinder can generate and the size and compsition of the brake pads (tire size and type also play a role, at least subjectively) whereas modulation is based on the lever stroke and piston speed.

So while power and modulation are related, the are not really the polar opposites to one another.

 

great explanation... but i will try and clarify modulation a tad more.

Modulation is the ability, to increase or decrease braking force.

some brakes are more sensitive to lever position,
lets say 1 set of brakes has 10 noticeable power positions, and another set has 100 different positions....

the one with 100, has better modulation, or more 'resolution' between zero brake and full brake.

 

Now the real question is how one differentiates between lever pressure and lever travel when it pertains to "modulation". Whole new CAN opened up..... I'll come back to this tomorrow morning.:wave: Gotta run for now.

 

yeah.... some people think they can feel a difference between new tefllon/plastic line and SS braided.... #-o
within 1% of each others burst stength.......

 

The E-Experts

claim many things#-o:lol:

 

Hey I want those.

I need to get new brakes by next weekend and I want the Red Hope special edition M4 set does anyone knoe where they are in stock? And how much?
PM me.

 

how much were they ken? :-k

hope takes a couple weeks IIRC. I know they did for me

 

I might have to bring my SOCOM instead of the UZI.

 

Basically:

Lever travel or lever free stroke is measured from when the lever is pulled until the pads touch the rotor.


Lever pressure is measured from when the pads touch until the wheel locks up.

As for their relationship to modulation, typically modulation is measured after the pads touch until the wheel locks and is based on how much pressure is put into the lever and what reaction is returned from the brake.


All of this is completely subjective to the riders ideal of good/ bad modulation and power and the experience of the rider.

The best thing to do is demo bikes equipped with thebrakes or similar brakes that you are interested in and make an informed decision based on what you want your brakes to be.

 

I thought that I saw another set on the shelf at the path when I pick my set up. $265 per end. Yeah, a little spendy but it's worth it.

 

I think to an extent that the power and modulation can be objective. Being that the ultimate power is measured by the line/lever pressure required to lock the brakes up and modulation being line/lever pressure from pad contact with the rotor to the point of lock up. Like you said though, feel is something everyone has a different prespective of. I don't like mushy feeling levers(same as a race car for me). I like my brakes to have a solid lever feel. Easy take up to the pad contact with the rotor and I don't like to have a bunch of lever travel to increase line pressure.

For instance, my 08' XT's have what I consider to be good ultimate power, but it has a ton of lever travel which I am not fond of. In comparison my Hopes(2 different bikes) have what I look for in a good brake( easy lever take up to pad contact, and then solid lever feel without much lever travel). I realize that this may be due to master cylinder ratio in respect to the caliper volume.

I completely agree with you on demo'ing as many different brake system as you can. It's hard to make a educated decision without experiencing as many as you can!

 

I think that you'll change your mind if you've ever changed to braided lines on your bike. I have and won't use plastic lines on my bikes, or cars for that matter.

Also burst strength being equal does not neccesarily mean same elasticity. To make an extreme example take a steel hard line versus the braided line. Even if they have the same burst strength, the pump will have to compensate with more fluid volume(more lever travel) to make up for the expansion of the braided line in comparison to the steel line.

 

Hope Mono Mini
Pros- Goregeous machining, great power, no heat problems, good modulation
Cons- a bit heavy, advanced bleeding is a pain, pad chainging can be a bit tricky

[-X

Lighter than Avids

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/listings/components.php?type=discbrakes

 

You know this is adjustable, right?

I have two bikes with 08 XT brakes; one has Goodridge lines and the other has the standard lines. The brakes feel and perform the same.

 

I've got mine adjusted to the min free travel, but still seems to have a little more take-up than what I like.

I'm starting to think that this is mostly the quality of the mineral fluid instead of the DOT fluid. The Magura's that I have tried felt very similar in feel to the Shimano's. Maybe it's the master cylinder volume ratio to the slave cylinder that I'm not fond of. Being in the racing industry may have made me hypersensetive to my preferences. :-k

 

XT's

hear good things about those brakes.........wouldn't mind giving them a try

 

Hmm...Although I work for a company that's big in auto and motorcycle racing, I'm not involved in those divisions. I'm just a racer. but I'm not one who believes unproven marketing hype. And so far, the Goodridge lines haven't proven to be better yet (I'm leaving that open, because there may be a time when I find a benefit).

That's the situation I was in. I just wanted to try them out to see if they lived up to the hype. And although I won't credit the Goodridge lines for any performance, I have been very impressed with the brakes so far. I had them on my Slopestyle at Summit this last weekend with 160 mm rear rotor and a 185 up front, I was very surprised that I didn't cook them to the point where they faded. Sure, the rotors have some color to them, but they continued to work great. The only problem I experienced was when I was trying to ride slowly behind my gf down some of the trails. From riding the brakes so much, they got to the point where they would start to howl a bit (metallic pads). After a good fast run with hard braking, they were back to silent operation.

 

And heavier than Magura Marta SL, Formula Oro Puro, Formula Ones and Shimano M975s. So what's your point?


For future refrence, you might want to use a website that has more current entries. They don't have any 2008 entries up and only 3ea of 2007 and 5ea of 2006 entries.

Wait, let me guess, you have Hope brakes, don't you. It's ok, they are good brakes. No one is saying otherwise. Don't get all butt hurt over it.