What brakes do you use?

Justinjured

It looks like my current hayes brakes will need replacing, and am looking for a replacement that is both light and fairly maintenance free.

Have looked into hope mono minis and avid juicy ultimates, but both seem to have set up and maintenance problems.

What brakes do you run , and how reliable have they been?

nicklouse

formula Oros. there was an issue with the main piston seals but that was replaced under warenty. 2 years old now and no other issues.

Big Red S

My M760 XTs have been fantastic. More conistent and reliable than the Mono M4s they replaced.

My Magura HS33s are amazing, but they don't work particularly well.

ride_whenever

I've not had any set-up or maintanence issues other than a bit of squeal with both sets on hope mini's, that's a lot less than can be said for the avid juicy 7's I put on my friend bike the other day. They were a bit of a nightmare!

jayson

My last 2 bikes both had Mono Minis on and they never let me down once, i had zero probs with setup and they were always VERY powerfull even in the rain and mud.

If i can ever get another bike at some point i'd like to get some with the floating rotor cos they look cool

Kiwi Kranker

I recently built an S-works hardtail up and I initially ran Juicy 7's. I had no problems setting them up and they were fantastic with a great feel. (I assume the Ultimates or Carbons would have similar characteristics)

I dont consider them to have set up 'issues' you just need to take your time to get it right.

The juicy's were just a stop gap until a set of Hope Mono Mini Pros turned up. Once again no real problems setting them up but I found them horrendously underpowered for my liking. I didnt have confidence in them that I did with the juicys.

It is each to their own but I like the confidence of the Juicy range compared to the Hope Mono Minis Pros. The hopes were very light but they trade off in power in my eyes wasnt worth it.

I recommend the Avids. Oh and I have never had a maintenance issue with my Juicy's? I wasnt really aware there was one, whats the story there?

Surf-Matt

Juicy 5s on my Stumpy, Juicy 3s on Mrs Matt's Rockhopper (which I occasionally use), old Avid Vs on my old Stumpy!

Found the 5s took a long time to bed in properly (I think they came badly set up - slightly sticky piston on the rear) but now I've bled them and replaced the pads they are near enough faultless.

singlespeedexplosif

Avid all the way. Had Mono Minis initially, terrible brakes. Replaced by BB7s, far superior. Then finances allowed the purchase of Juicy 7s. Phenomenal.

Andy B

Hope mono mini MKI (160/160) with standard hoses & Hope mono mini MKII (180/180) with braided hoses.

Both have good stopping power (MKII's are superb stoppers!), good modulation & are very easy to bleed & you can make a DIY bleed kit for under a tenner, including fresh brake fluid.

Have also used Hayes Nines (180/160) with braided hoses, pretty powerful, but very on/off in feel. (never bled them so dunno how easy it is)

Spider987

at the moement shimano LX.
But im going for juicy 7's soon

The Pinkster

Seems I'm bucking the trend and using Hayes Stroker Carbons. not had to beleed them yet but they have phenominal stopping power, especially with 203mm discs F&R!.

Set up was pretty easy and they've given me grief free service so far.

Dilker

Avid Juicy 7's - faultless.. occasional whine on pad change.

Avid pads are suspect at times, i now use Superstar ones... at a third of the price i don't care if the wear quickly. the current ones have been in for 8 weeks and are still going strong. I went through some Avid pads in 4 weeks of riding no more that 8 hours per week.

Justinjured

I recommend the Avids. Oh and I have never had a maintenance issue with my Juicy's? I wasnt really aware there was one, whats the story there?

Have been looking at CRC website to get a few owner reviews. Not too good for mono minis and a few bad ones for the juicy's also, so am just trying to gather a few balanced opinions and maybe ideas for other products.

Dilker

I got a bleed kit for my Avids recently and it's an absolute piece of cake to use. I can't say anything bad about them, I've heard they don't like the heat but... in this country you should be fine.

Papa Smurf

Hydraulic - Hayes Nine's.. Pure power, reliable.
Cable - Avid BB5/BB7 - Pure power, reliable also..

clarkson

the spesh has avid 5's. fit and forget is all i can say on them!! nice and powerful too. my xc bike has hope minis. crap to fit, not really very powerful but loads of modulation. light and look pimp too. dont think i'll buy again though. im only 10.5 stone. dont stop me particularly quickly, anf the rear brake has a very slow leak.

cant fault my avids though.

Dazzza

Another vote for formula oro's after having no end of problems with hope.

Fantastic feel/modulation/power you name it.

avid89

I run Juicy 3's on Specialized p - all mountain and i really can not fault them, brilliant stopping power, never squeak (unless it's wet) and pad life is pretty good, about to change pads to ECB ones after 6 months of abuse.

stevieboy

Avid Juicy 5's, Formula k18 Oro's and Hayes 9's x 2 on our fleet.

The easiest to maintain are the Avid/Formula's - syringes make bleeding idiot proof.

The Hayes have great power, the Avid's and Formula have great power and feel.

To be totally unbiased i'd have to ride the GF's Meta with the Oro's on a bit more, but my favourites are the Avids. Not let me down so far after 1000 miles or so.

Never used Hopes, but not read much good about them. Only had shimano XT's briefly, they were good, I liked the incresed pad clearance but they were a bit of a pain to bleed 100% right.

Surf-Matt

Yep - I think Avids easy bleeding (even I can do it!) are a real bonus for most riders. Sponginess can so often be sorted with a 20 minute brake bleed. And sticking pistons are easy to free on Juicys - another problem not often spotted.

Crankmeister

hope mini mono pro and they are great like most of hope,s equipment

nicklouse

Crankmeister wrote:

hope mini mono pro and they are great like most of hope,s equipment

LOL

DV1

Shimano M485 Hydraulic disc , not a bad brake , although i have had them 6 weeks and already gone through a set of pads

dunker

dv1, get sintered pads they last alot longer

shimano lx m585 hydros, 4100 miles on them, needed a re-bleed at about 3700miles, work fine though i'd like the new xt's or maybe some oro's. always something better

DV1

Thanks for the advice dunker

Crankmeister

nicklouse wrote:

Crankmeister wrote:

hope mini mono pro and they are great like most of hope,s equipment

LOL

are you going to let me in on the joke then ?

Bighead

B4SL on the Scale Ltd:





Oro Puro on the Fire Trail:




Looking forward to the Formula R1s coming out.

Anonymous

I use Hope Mono Minis with floating rotor and braided hoses, fantastic brakes. Have used Juicy 5s and Formula Oro Biancos before now, no problems with any but the Hopes are grand

hondafanatic

I run XT calipers and XTR levers and to be honest they are what I would consider near enough maintainence (sp?) free and powerful enough for off-road work. I'm not light at 14 stone, but I tend to find that I can lock up wheels even at the end of a grueling 30 miles off-road stint but my set up has a lot of modulation that allows a lot of feel.

I don' think you can go too wrong with anything high up in the spec tables.

Just my 2 pence worth.

cheers
david

Tank-slapper

Hope Mono Minis with 180/160 floating rotors and braided hoses - brilliant, the perfect brake for XC (imho). I tried Juicy 7s but they were too grabby and THE NOISE WAS HORRENDOUS! Both brakes are easy to set up and maintain.

tombate911

hayes stroker ryde, 180/160 lots of power with plenty of modulation,