Trail hardtail build. XT or ZEE brakes?

jon87uk

Hi guys,

built up a hardtail (BFe, PIKE RC, XT, Hope/Stans ARCH EX) over he winter and have upgraded most things except the brakes. Avid elixirs I have have become very tiresome to bleed and need a complete lever rebuild as there is a lot of play.

Currently have some b'day money and am looking at either SLX, XT or ZEE brakes. I'm just wondering for anyone who has used XT vs ZEE especially is there a huge jump in power and modulation or are they just overkill or anything under a 160mm all mountain machine.

Cheers for any advice.

balmybaldwin

Zee will probably be overkill unless you spend more time eating than cycling.

XT brakes are very very good and are certainly up to the job on my 160mm Alps bike (on 203 rotor (front) and 180 (rear)). If you are heavy or doing particularly long downhills, then consider using the ice-tech finned pads for better cooling (they come as standard with XT iirc), but in reality they aren't necessary for most places in the UK

poah

go for the zee - just replaced my SLX with a Zee. Better modulation and stronger braking.

rockmonkeysc

Go for XT. I really like my Zee's but for anything other than downhill they lack modulation.

poah

RockmonkeySC wrote:

Go for XT. I really like my Zee's but for anything other than downhill they lack modulation.

mine don't, I'm really quite pleased with the improvement over the slx.

jon87uk

Cheers guys. Will save the extra pennies and go XT. Zee would be nice but I have a strong feeling that it is overkill. I might not be the smallest guy but I'm also by no means the fastest so think I should be fine.

peter413

I'd go XT or SLX. Actually I'd probably go Deore. I run an XTR Trail on the rear of my Mega and an XTR/Saint hybrid on the front. Even on the front the Saint is overkill but it allows me to run a 180mm rotor happily at over 100kg's instead of a 203mm with another XTR. TBH I could get away with a 180mm with the XTR as well but when that extra power is needed every little helps.

I wouldn't run Saint or Zee on anything but a DH bike if you're a fairly light rider and even at over 100kg on an AM/Enduro bike I wouldn't run one on the back. There's just no need and you're adding extra weight and expense. The XTR with a 160mm rotor is perfect for me, only reason I'd change is for heat reasons and nothing to do with a shortage of power.

They're both pretty similar modulation wise. I own several sets of Deore's, the XTR's I mentioned and did own a set of the Saint's as well as a couple of pairs of older M810 Saint's. They all blow the old Saint's out of the water and the Deore and XTR's are pretty similar, just the XTR is lighter and has a nicer lever blade but the XT still doesn't have the nice lever blade so if you want that you have to buy the XTR.

dusk

I have a BFe with XT's and I find they're plenty of brake with great modulation

benpinnick

FWIW if a bit late, I would be happy on any of them, but my personal choice is Zee. So much more feel and modulation than the Deore/SLX/XT, the extra power is handy too, if a bit unnecessary.