Best Buy Trail Brakes - have your vote!

KonaKurt

I having a few brake problems at the moment, and so considering a change.

What brakes (hydraulic only!) get your vote, for both value and performance???
And what brakes don't??

KK

stevet1992

My Elixir 5's have never missed a beat, £135 brand new when i bought them !

lawman

i perosnally use an 08 set of hope minis which are superb, although ive ridden formula brakes and they rock too. never been keen on the newer shimano brakes tho

Torres

From my own experience:
Shimano Deore - Great value for money - Cope perfectly - Easy to bleed

Hope Mono Minis - Good stoppers - Expernsive for what you get - Squeal like a motherb!tch in the wet - So easy to bleed

Hayes Stroker Ryde - Brilliant value for money - Less feel but more power than the shimano's

Avid Jucies - Pain in the arse to set up - Pain in the arse to bleed - Pain in the arse to maintain - pain in the arse to replace pads - Work well, when they work

Oro k18's - Pricey - Bleed kit needed - leavers felt a touch short.

However, this is just my experience, i'm sre others could tell you the complete opposite.

jay12

another vote for avid elixir 5s. no problems at all and they are amazing for £135 for the pair from merlin cycles

Northwind

My Oros were very cheap, but used, great though. New I'd say SLX personally, Deore are great too but a wee bit less subtle.

bike-a-swan

old xt's, never die!

dan45a

I have had quite a few sets of brakes in the past which include:-

Formula oro k18
Juicy 3
Juciy 5
Elixir CR
Code 7

but my best brake so far is the Formual R1 they feel very powerful with great control, they even look the dogs.....

next best would be the Elixir CR's.

Good luck...

P-Jay

Hmmm, had Juicy 7's for 3 years now and I'd agree with the above, when they work they're great, when they work.......... They're old tech now anyway.

Me, for my next trail bike build.

Hope M4's or X2's depending on the type of bike, or SLX's, or maybe Elixers depending on the budget, if you can carry over your rotors SLX's will be a bargain.

Clear as mud!

MacAndCheese

only had real long-term experience of 2 -
Hope Mono Minis (more XC than hard trail) they're good, but not great, easy to maintain and loads of coloured bits available if your're a tart like me - can't help thinking there are probably better performance brakes for the money though. Oh and they scream in the wet.

Hayes Stroker trails -Awesome stopping power, but not that much modulation so it can be easy to bite if you're not careful. Not bled them yet but pads are a doddle to change. Make a peculiar noise when bedding in that someone on here described as "a gobbling turkey" which is fairly accurate - to do with the cuts in the edge of the rotor I think. Mine have just recently got a problem where the levers don't spring back properly though despite no loss of performance which is odd.

ride_whenever

hmmmmm, brakes i've used:

Hope mono minis, bit low on power but lovely modulation and easy to live with except the occasional squeal.

Elixir cr carbons: white 8) carbon levers are lovely to use. Brutally powerful when new which calms down to eyeball bleedingly powerful after bedding in, but with less initial brick-wall-esque bite which improves modulation.

Various juicy's: horrible, bugger to bleed, underpowered and poor modulation

Shimano deore: underpowered, very wooden

elixir 5's: very basic but the same feel as the cr carbon minus the lovely carbon lever.

Tektro augira comps (i think): basic and feel it, but pretty easy to live with, nice power and modulation

Formula oros (very brief) great bite and modulation, didn't like the lever very much

Strokers: powerful but wooden, quite a nice brake to actually use though, cannot quite put my finger on why i like them, but superceeded by better other brakes now.



How budget?

I'd say the elixirs are my favourite, closely followed by the hopes, want to try some V2 to see if the extra power is worth the weight trade-off. if you've got £135 then the elixir 5 are very hard to beat. Less than that, the tektros are worth a serious look.

weeksy59

Shimano XT's on my mates CUBE

clodhoppa74

another vote for the hayes strokers. thought they were 'just ok' till last month, when i nearly went over the bars that they have only just bedded in

Northwind

ride_whenever wrote:

Shimano deore: underpowered, very wooden

That'd be the old ones? The new ones are pretty damn strong, I had to readjust my head to them because I kept overbraking.

Tom Barton

I'm a formula fan. If you've got a higher end budget go for formula's R1's for super lightweight. TheOne's for ridiculous DH stopping power (still not bad weight wise mind) - Saints are also amazing. All look good too.

Mid monies - Elixer's.

Cheaper, can't really comment as I haven't properly ridden the cheaper offerings in a few years now so my knowledge is out of date there sorry.

Hopes are a funny brand (in a way - stick with me). Possibly the best feeling brakes (and thus control over the avaliable power) going, but not actually as powerful as you might think - as proved by the recent testing. Look good though.

big_scot_nanny

MacAndCheese wrote:

only had real long-term experience of 2 -

Hayes stroker trails: Mine have just recently got a problem where the levers don't spring back properly though despite no loss of performance which is odd.

I had this on a second had pair, a bit of research showed that it can be a sticky lever piston (that pushes into the oil resevoir on the lever, not the piston in the caliper). I did the following repeatedly: depressed the lever, popped off the wee circlip under the lever bade pushrod, took out the pushrod, cleaned the inside of the cylinder with cotton bud soaked in Dot4, retracted pads again to push piston back up... repeat. Worked a treat.

I've got Juicy 5s and Hayes, hayes maybe slightly less powerful but I find them better in most other ways: modulation, ease of set up, pad replacement, bleeding...

kev

passout

For value and relability I'd say Magura Julies.

mkf

hope's all the way for me easy to maintain easy to get spare's top customer support, top company

ScottAspect45

Currently have Hope Tech X2s and really couldnt be happier. They ooze quality, are easy to setup and service, look good and perform brilliantly, not to mention they're british.

From my experience with Formulas, I'd avoid completely in the future. Nightmare trying to get hold of spares, including the bleed kit and they're expensive(overpriced) to boot.

ride_whenever

Northwind wrote:

ride_whenever wrote:

Shimano deore: underpowered, very wooden

That'd be the old ones? The new ones are pretty damn strong, I had to readjust my head to them because I kept overbraking.

'08 one i think

D-Cyph3r

Another vote for Elixir 5's. Came stock on my EX8 and have absolutely no complaints about them. They may be the basic model in the range but it's that simplicity that makes them so reliable imo, great power aswell.

peter413

ride_whenever wrote:

Northwind wrote:

ride_whenever wrote:

Shimano deore: underpowered, very wooden

That'd be the old ones? The new ones are pretty damn strong, I had to readjust my head to them because I kept overbraking.

'08 one i think

You must be using some pretty damn strong brakes then.

The '09 ones (can't be much different) are amazing for the money. Very good modulation and right in the middle of my Stroker Ryde's and Hope M4 for power

RichMTB

Hope Mono Minis: Good feel, not the most powerful, easy to maintain, reliable
Hope M4's: Excellent feel, decent power, easy to maintain, reliable
Avid Juicy 7's: Poor feel, good power, a pig to maintain, unreliable
Avid Elixir's: Average feel, good power, can't comment on reliability
Shimano SLX: Great feel, good power, totally bullet proof and good value
Shimano Saint: Brilliant feel, Unbelievable power, bullet proof, not cheap though

ride_whenever

elixirs 8)

160mm rotors




Braking with two fingers is like hitting a brick wall, you could concuss yourself doing it...

Anonymous

Shimano SLX or XT, great value and reliable and easy to service

Look no more 8)

supersonic

The new Deore - when my fellow writers tested them at WMB, they were the most powerful non DH brake out there.

SCARFACExxx08

I run:

Epic- Hope Tech m4 perfect stopping power for a big guy like me
Kula- Avid Ultimates Good braking but find i need bigger rotors than normal
Klein- XT levers matched with XTR calipers with Avid G2 rotors, Shimano Rotors are a pile of poo, swap them with a set of G2/G3 rotors and you'll realise how good the shimano brakes are!