The good brakes The bad brakes and the Downright Ugly Brakes

Jd1986@hotmail.com

Hi

Looking at buying some new hydro brakes for my bike now i do varied riding which is Freeride, Light Dh and a bit of dirt jump. Been reading some reviews on various brakes as in Magura, Hope, and Avid and they all seem to have there fair share of problems.

Friend of mine advised me to stay away from hayes as in his words "Ther sh*t" Is this true?? Im looking at either the Magura Louise or Hope M4 anyone that runs either of these brakes care to share there experiences??

Im going to be parting with a fair wad of cash so would rather be buying something worth it.

Thanx
J

jacktheoc

i agree with your mate ive had 2 sets of hayes and broke them both.... have a look at formula oro a few people i know are using them and have had no faults also they are excellent brakes....if you have a look on southerndownhill their is someone selling a brand new set for £140 which is cheap.......

Jd1986@hotmail.com

Yer just had a look its been sold now though

jacktheoc

have a look on ebay you should be able to get a brand new set for about £160

Jd1986@hotmail.com

What about the M4's or Juicy 5's or 7's?

dav1

I have been tempted to get some hayes 9 for my XC bike. Having second thoughts after reading your post though jack.

Docgeoffyjones

I had M4s (Black/gold). I now run juicy sevens. I much prefer the Juciys. I had alot of problems with my hopes and sticking pistons. carefull set up counts for nothing if the piston keeps sticking whenever the brake gets hot. i tried alot to cure this: pad changes, seal changes and several bleeds.

I'm sure alot of poeple will disagree with me but i find the basic avids sevens have alot more power than my fully pimped up M4s. The modulation on the avids is way better.

jacktheoc

Dav1 wrote:

I have been tempted to get some hayes 9 for my XC bike. Having second thoughts after reading your post though jack.

dont get them, i had one set on my scott which i use for jumping,street etc and blew the pistons in them which meant i had to get a hayes sole brake and send the other off to hayes to get fixed. second set i had on my norco a-line for DH and blew the pistons in that yet again had to send to hayes to get fixed and cost me £15 each tim to get them fitted, also in the norco i blew both pistons so i was left with no brakes .
trying my best to avoid them now, i currently have shimano xt brakes which are excellent and on my cannondale i had magura julie which are good brakes....

dav1

bugger.

Shame because the hays 9 carbons seem to be an utter steal atm. At my budget looks like i need to turn towards avid juicy 3 or shimano deore m525 from CRC.

thing is is XC really going to hammer them enough to blow the pistons? MTBR seems to have a few people with such problems but they all have freeride and DH rigs. Rather not take the risk though.

keith

Juicy 5's are cool. My hayes have never let me down?!

alaric@epicmtb

Em and I have Hayes on three of our bikes, and we've had no problems at all with any of them, and we're riding 4-6 days a week in the mountains here in Greece.

The only issues I've had with them are that the reach adjust lever can sometimes "creep" and need adjusting,and they don't have the modulation of some of the competition.

Avids have built a great reputation over the last few years...Certainly the ones I've seen and set up have been excellent.

I don't know enough about the current range of Hope to really comment, my C2's are excellent, but a bit dated now!

Hope this helps a bit...

jacktheoc

Dav1 wrote:

bugger.

Shame because the hays 9 carbons seem to be an utter steal atm. At my budget looks like i need to turn towards avid juicy 3 or shimano deore m525 from CRC.

thing is is XC really going to hammer them enough to blow the pistons? MTBR seems to have a few people with such problems but they all have freeride and DH rigs. Rather not take the risk though.

im using xt brakes now which are excellent, probably the best ive had. i cant imagin the deore m525 brake to be massively different..
ive not had a set of avid brakes yet but alot of people say they are very good..
have a look on crc and see if they are any reviews!

dav1

Hmm was planning on spending £150 on the brakes, beed kit and any facing of the mounts that i may need.

Basically troll the internet looking for a steal

Found a nice deal on LX but the rotors are centre lock not 6 bolt

problematiks

jacktheoc wrote:

im using xt brakes now which are excellent, probably the best ive had. i cant imagin the deore m525 brake to be massively different...

The biggest difference is in modulation.XTs modulation is excellent while M525 has more of an on/off feeling.They tend to overheat sooner, too (I'm talking about long steep descents though).
As for those Hayes brakes...I've had three sets in the past (each been used for about two years), my girlfriend has had hers for four years now and none of them were problematic.They were the better Mags though, except one Nine.Mags tend to be more consistent from brake to brake.I've tried lots of different Nines and some had good modulation (almost as good as the Mags) while others were almost on/off.That might be due to poor brake setup though.
If you'll use the brakes for XC, try getting some Oros, they are pretty light and are powerful with good modulation.XTs are better in the modulation department, but are slightly heavier.

Marko

mr mangos

Dav1 wrote:

bugger.

Shame because the hays 9 carbons seem to be an utter steal atm. At my budget looks like i need to turn towards avid juicy 3 or shimano deore m525 from CRC.

thing is is XC really going to hammer them enough to blow the pistons? MTBR seems to have a few people with such problems but they all have freeride and DH rigs. Rather not take the risk though.

Juicy 3s are fantastic value. Picked mine up from CRC for under £100 F+R. Doddle to fit and align and they've been ace so far. Great power and modulation for fairly aggressive XC use. Did have an issue with lazy front piston but the LBS cleaned it up and it's been fine.