Going From Sram Level To Shimano Brakes

[Dexter-morgan]

Just now, love2fly said:

I'm leaning towards something like XT or similar. Are Hope and Magura any good?

 

There are also many levels of them, the higher classes get very good reviews but I heard maintenance are expensive on the Magura Calipers, Like R2k each on the 4 piston calipers

[love2fly]

8 minutes ago, Dexter-morgan said:

There are also many levels of them, the higher classes get very good reviews but I heard maintenance are expensive on the Magura Calipers, Like R2k each on the 4 piston calipers

2k is nuts. I once recon'd my VW Golf racing car calipers.....very easy and probably didn't cost me R500 to do both....

[Schnavel]

Have had several bikes with Shimano XT brakes and cannot fault them - they are reliable and easy to maintain. 

Mineral oil is also much better and easier to work with in comparison with dot fluid.

[quintonb]

Took my Level TL's off my Anthem to put on a bike for my son and replaced them with Shimano SLX.

Totally different feel, but I feel so much more confident in them, good initial grab and then you can modulate accordingly. Don't miss the Level's at all.

Mineral oil also means you don't get that terrible brake fluid eating way at the lever components.

 

[Headshot]

SRAM brakes are Rand for Rand not nearly was powerful as Shimano. Yes, you may like the modulation but that becomes irrelevant when you need to apply some extra pressure to haul your speed down on a long descent. If you want the stopping power of Deore or better 4 piston brakes you probably have to shell out nearly R10k for Code Ultimate in SRAM.

In my biased opinion of course (based on some really rubbish Guide R brakes and many years of Shimano brakes) 🙂 

[Jewbacca]

I have a set of Shimano Zee and a set of Guide TR.

Both stop me. I actually prefer the feel of the Guides but weirdly trust the Zees more.

If I had to buy brakes now I would buy another set of Zee or the Deore or SLX 4 pots. 

Honestly though, we are in a golden age of bike parts. All of the above options work. It's not like 10 years ago when we had AVID CR and massive wandering bite points with Shimano.

There are very few lemons these days.

Formula Cura are also a chicken dinner

[NickGM]

It has been said that SRAM "Level" brakes are named as such because that is the only gradient where they provide effective stopping power.

 

[love2fly]

25 minutes ago, NickGM said:

It has been said that SRAM "Level" brakes are named as such because that is the only gradient where they provide effective stopping power.

 

That made my Friday....and TLM stands for "Too Little Modulation!"

[droo]

1 hour ago, love2fly said:

They're Level Ultimate (think TL or TLM), I'm not near my bike to double check. Latest set were replaced by CS less than a year ago.

Odd, we've never had issues with the Ultimates. The T are a bit agricultural, but also not many issues.

 

Magura are great but expensive when they break, Hope are bombproof but a bit underpowered for the weight, and Shimano are the 1980s Hilux of brakes - not exactly refined, but just get on with the job.

 

For my money though, Formula Cura. They do everything that Shimano do, only better, and you can get spares if you break them.

[MudLark]

3 hours ago, love2fly said:

Im considering swapping my Sram Level brakes for Shimano.

1. Which would be a fair comparison/upgrade without breaking the bank?

2. Would I need an adaptor for my Eagle GX shifter?

 

Thanks in advance....

I put on M8000 (or 8something) when I walked into CycleLab and they were on special. I hated those SRAM Levels with a purple passion. But I got most of my M8000 money back when I sold them. No regrets at all. Swap was easy enough. Right brake lever and SRAM shifter on different clamps but works perfectly. An adaptor is available but not necessary. 

Edited May 13, 2022 by MudLark

[Murrob]

I’ve run shimano XT m8000 and the m8100 on my bikes for the last few years, faultless in my opinion, with the m8100 being even better, easy to bleed yourself, with less consequences if you mess due to mineral oil. Have been sniffing around for XTR m9100 the last while, but also got lots of reports that it’s very different performance. I’ve now fitted some Hope’s and will see how they go, the Hope’s are gonna need to be very good to beat how happy I was with XT’s though.

[love2fly]

26 minutes ago, MudLark said:

I put on M8000 (or 8something) when I walked into CycleLab and they were on special. I hated those SRAM Levels with a purple passion. But I got most of my M8000 money back when I sold them. No regrets at all. Swap was easy enough. Right brake lever and SRAM shifter on different clamps but works perfectly. An adaptor is available but not necessary. 

Thanks for the feedback

[Rolf Hansen]

I have SRAM Level T on my bike and I very much like them. They have great modulation.

Perhaps I just don't ride fast enough.

[love2fly]

15 hours ago, Rolf Hansen said:

I have SRAM Level T on my bike and I very much like them. They have great modulation.

Perhaps I just don't ride fast enough.

I weigh 100kg and like to go fairly fast (by my mediocre maybe standards) the Shimanos I had were like a button initially and even down the very steep lower Table Mountain trails one finger was enough ..

[tinmug]

I can't add much to this discussion but my experience of going from Deore to SLX was chalk and cheese: significantly better feel/control with SLX. 

[Rolf Hansen]

52 minutes ago, love2fly said:

I weigh 100kg and like to go fairly fast (by my mediocre maybe standards) the Shimanos I had were like a button initially and even down the very steep lower Table Mountain trails one finger was enough ..

I only have 3 fingers on my right hand and 4 on my left so I cannot ever use more than one finger to brake. I am not a big guy though so that definitely helps.