does decent entry level brakes render more expensive ones

poah

obsolete.

Recently I've set up my brother in law and my wife's bike with deore M595 brakes. The set up is easy, the hose is easy to shorten and the new levers are very ergonomic. For the everyday MTBer these brakes are pretty dam good and more than enough for what most bikes need.

So I am building a new bike (ghost ASX plus) and I have hope mono M4's (uberbike racematrix pads) with tech lever upfront and since the new frame is disc only (my orange X2 had the original V brakes on it) I'm getting a new rear brake. My initial thought was to put another hope tech lever and M4 on the back but since I can get a dam good brake system for very little money there seems to be no real need to splash out except for the bling factor.

Is this just my mature head talking?

rhext

I have a sneaky suspicion that might be true across a whole range of components...at least when used by ordinary people.

If you look closely at the detailed specs for a lot of brakes you tend to find that the entry level one is more or less identical to the top of the range one in terms of function...you tend to get little 'extras' with the higher spec ones though (like carbon levers instead of alloy - which must save you all of a couple of grams per brake). Maybe a bit more adjustment. But tbe core engineering (and hence the 'stopping' function) looks exactly the same.

stubs

In my experience Deore 596s are better than Hope M4s for power and the feel is pretty similar. The main advantage of Hopes is that you can get spares for them and the Hope service is brilliant. You takes your choice and pays your money

poah

rhext wrote:

I have a sneaky suspicion that might be true across a whole range of components...at least when used by ordinary people.

I bought the SLX crank rather than the XT for this basic reason. more money for a tiny bit of less weight that I'd not notice if I rode with or without taking a dump.

The Northern Monkey

You pay more for lower weight or strength or both imo. Performance difference is negligible. .

The Rookie

Sell the Hope and it will probably pay for Deores both ends - sorted!

poah

The Beginner wrote:

Sell the Hope and it will probably pay for Deores both ends - sorted!

money is not the issue - I can put a hope on if I want

supersonic

The Deore is still a better brake.

lawman

Hope are massively overrated. Yes they look nice, but they aren't the most powerful and they are expensive compared to shimano for absolutely no benefit. Deores are great brakes.

ride_whenever

POAH wrote:

The Beginner wrote:

Sell the Hope and it will probably pay for Deores both ends - sorted!

money is not the issue - I can put a hope on if I want

Get the slx with finned pads and the icetech rotors then.

twonks

I've had a multitude of brakes over the years, and if I'm honest the best in terms of functional power (if you like) were the original Hope C2 closed system.

The trouble is they used to get rather hot and rub / lock on very long descents. Still, good brakes in there day compared to what else was out.

Since then I've used Avid, Formula, Clarkes and finally settled on Shimano. XT on my main bike (with icetech rotors) and Deore on my hard tail (with normal rotors). They perform very well indeed - much like the old C2 in terms of power and bite, but don't overheat.

Some don't like the almost instant biting point, but I personally have no faults with them.

They just work and work well with no fettling needed.

As to which is better, I'd struggle to feel the difference and don't think one is better / worse than the other when I ride the bikes back to back. So as said the Deore is probably the one to go for, unless you have the money / feel the need to have XT / are a weight weenie.

rockmonkeysc

ride_whenever wrote:

POAH wrote:

The Beginner wrote:

Sell the Hope and it will probably pay for Deores both ends - sorted!

money is not the issue - I can put a hope on if I want

Get the slx with finned pads and the icetech rotors then.

icetech rotors and finned pads are pointless. I have just fitted them to my Zee brakes. Even on long, fast DH tracks like Cwmcarn they make bugger all difference. Im still getting just a little fade by the end of a run, exactly the same as before with standard pads and rotors.
I have also got Deores and they really are excellent.

paul.skibum

RockmonkeySC wrote:

icetech rotors and finned pads are pointless. I have just fitted them to my Zee brakes. Even on long, fast DH tracks like Cwmcarn they make bugger all difference. Im still getting just a little fade by the end of a run, exactly the same as before with standard pads and rotors.
I have also got Deores and they really are excellent.

Really? I have ridden all over and not experienced fade on any brake even in the alps aside from my front boiling out on my old Magura Julie's on a trail coming down the Plenney. Cwm can hardly be called a long descent compared to the alps surely. I have top to bottomed bike park runs in Canada with no issues.

rockmonkeysc

Cwmcarn DH isnt that long, around 3 minutes but its flat out with lots of very heavy breaking. Its only a little fade (need a little extra squeeze to get speed down) but enough to tell that the ice tech bits make bugger all difference