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153 members have voted

  1. 1. Which brakes are best? In your opinion....

    • Shimano
      67
    • Avid
      19
    • Magura
      15
    • Hope
      27
    • Other
      24


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Posted

'Best' needs a bit of further defining maybe?

 

weight

performance

price (local or import)

ease of maintenance

rigidity

adjustability

last but not least, looks :blink:

 

Hope meets most of the above for me (bar the price and weight). Thing I really like about them is all the parts are machined and not die-cast, and the finish is amazing. Design is great as well. All parts are reusable (like the olives) and you can get parts from CRC which for me is NB in the long term. There is a local agent but I got mine in from CRC and UkBikeStore

 

I've had Hope Moni Mini's almost 10 years now on hardtail mtb now pavement warrior, overhauled them once, still happy with them. Been through one set of rotors. Had the more beefy M4's on my vintage Scalpel 2000 over the last year, they have performed very well, on the likes of the long and exciting downhills of Barberton, Sabie, Giants Castle. Today just got in a 'limited edition' set of M4's plus some big rotors for my full travel am Prophet I am building. Their floating rotors are a good idea I think.

 

http://www.hopetech.com/webtop/modules/_repository/images/HOPE-TECH-Black-Series-028726(1).jpg

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Posted

I have Hope Race X2s on my one Epic, have also used Shimano XTR and Magura Martas, and have XTs on my other Epic.

My opinion? the Shimano XTs are best.

The Hopes are much lighter, yes. The Hopes are also WAY more expensive. For their purpose on my 'race bike' (nothing, I promise, to do with my comments on another forum...and yeah right, I haven't raced in ages) they are fantastic. And I do love them well.

They have a very short lever, though, and don't have the stopping power of the Shimanos.

The Magura Martas I really liked but found that the lever would not return too readily, esp in dirty conditions (are there any others?)

The XTs deliver better modulation, more adjustability and far lower cost. For an everyday brake, they get my vote.

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted

Got juicy 5's on my XC and Codes on my DH rig's, good reliable brakes, no problems, but my vote goes to Formula's...a mate of mine is running them on his freeride rig and they are the business!

  • 2 weeks later...
Posted (edited)

Formula was great until the new XTR was launched. Can't beat the new silver stuff for stopping your bike, and looks the part as well.

 

Errr nope - Have moved to new XTR and the brakes even after bedding in are nowhere near as good as my R1's.

Edited by Mackem
Posted

Latest, greatest XTR is 15% heavier than The One! 359g vs 407g. R1 is around 340g.

 

You can have ultimate stopping power AND save weight. Plus Formula is flip flop design, you'll be able to use any rotors and won't be locked into centre lock only which means more hub options. Or run smaller rotors than you would with XTR and save even more weight! Slightly ridiculous.

  • 1 year later...
  • 1 year later...
Posted

Avids are actually very good breaks but they need SOOOOO much maintenance to keep them good. On top of that, they are tricky to work with, and the cheaper versions arn't worth considering.

 

Shimanos are very good all round, definitly rate them best. If you can afford them, and it says SLX, XT, XTR, ZEE, SAINT. You're winning

 

Bottom of the range brakes, Tektro are pretty dam good. Also Clarks but maintenance is iffy.

Posted

Can you use hope rotors with Formula R1's? And is it unusual to have different brands of rotors front and back?

 

If its the right sizes(exactly), Run it. Shimano rotors have the best feel by far tho.

Just watch the Pad and disk compatibility, some disks are resin only.

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