Brake Upgrade

Grovsie29

Had my Giant Trance X4 a while now, and id like to upgrade the brakes. The rear is a bit rubbish and has been for some time, bleeding the system made it a bit better, but id like more stopping power.

I don't want to break the bank. Im leaning towards the Shimano XT set here: http://www.merlincycles.com/shimano-xt- ... 55284.html im just a bit confused what you actually get in the kit. Is it the whole system i.e front lever and front caliper and back? and they come pre built with pads and hoses bled? so you literally just have to fit them and away you go?

Also what discs to go with these brakes if I go for these.

Thank you.

The Rookie

What do you have now?

Could it just be contaminated pads? Most rears will lock up without an issue.

Grovsie29

Standard brakes on the X4 2011 model, some low end shimano. Ive only ridden it twice with the new pads and it was bled and the brake lever takes ages to get any bite, the rear has always died quickly on me. I ride pretty quick, although im not the heaviest, 11 stone.

I just fancy an upgrade. I can probably leave the discs. Standard 180mm front, 160mm rear.

The Rookie

Shimano to budget then....Deore upwards

Man Of Lard

Grovsie29 wrote:

im just a bit confused what you actually get in the kit. Is it the whole system i.e front lever and front caliper and back? and they come pre built with pads and hoses bled? so you literally just have to fit them and away you go?

Yep - but be aware that they'll probably come with a standard (read massive) length of hose - it doesn't affect operation at all but I found the front to be a good 200mm long and the rear nearly 300mm long before I shortened and bled them both.

The Rookie

I would hope the hoses are a lot longer than 200 and 300mm!

allthegearnoidea

i looked into the xt vs slx brakes for a while, only difference i could really find is the freestroke adjuster, all other specs appearerd the same, i was bout to get the slx's when i managed to get another set of brakes cheap! ;-)
unless it sais differently, its just the brake unit with pads,

.blitz

Grovsie29 wrote:

im just a bit confused what you actually get in the kit

Front and rear levers + calipers that bolt onto your existing adaptors and use your existing rotors

They work straight out of the box but the front hose is 1000 mm and rear is 1700 mm - seriously long but shortening them is not too much of a problem if you're careful

The Rookie

You'll need new olives and pins though.

JBA

Shimano brakes come with a spare olive and barb.
Follow the hose shortening instructions on Epic's website and you'll be fine.

kajjal

My wife's bike came wth SLX brakes and I upgraded mine from elixir 1 to XT including new rotors. Much better braking and they are just fit and forget.

Caveman_Chris

.blitz wrote:

Grovsie29 wrote:

im just a bit confused what you actually get in the kit

Front and rear levers + calipers that bolt onto your existing adaptors and use your existing rotors

They work straight out of the box but the front hose is 1000 mm and rear is 1700 mm - seriously long but shortening them is not too much of a problem if you're careful

I needed a new shimano 160-180mm adapter for the front of mine. Upgrading from elxir 5s and the mount didn't quite have the xt caliper sitting right, could have been me though. Only a couple quid.......even from evans.

Grovsie29

Sweet, thanks guys, ill order myself the kit.

Man Of Lard

The Rookie wrote:

I would hope the hoses are a lot longer than 200 and 300mm!

OK - my unclarity - 200mm & 300mm too long respectively

swod1

yeah they are definitely too long but once fitted are excellent brakes and only just got used to the 1 finger braking with them having short levers.

I had mine shortened by local bike shop but from videos I've seen on youtube it doesn't seem that difficult to do.

You should get the bleed blocks, the red pad spacer blocks and spare olives included.

don't bother buying new rotors unless they are damaged by worn pads scraping in to them, could just need a clean with some isopropyl alcohol and away you go.

The Rookie

JBA wrote:

Shimano brakes come with a spare olive and barb.
Follow the hose shortening instructions on Epic's website and you'll be fine.

Aftermarket ones, yes, OE fit ones no.