See a few reviews on their brakes, brittle pistons etc however from my experience (a few years ago mind)- they struck me as being very powerful.

Are they really THAT bad or is it a case of those that do have QC issues tend to shout the loudest?

I owned Hayes Mags for years and only changed them as my dog chewed through both hoses and when refitting a new hose I destroyed a fitting.

Which of the Strokers is best?

Just get the saints! 😀

i had a set on my giant vt and i thought they were fine, actually more than that, they were good.
think mine were the nines ?

I used to have some hayes hfx 9 brakes, they were pretty good. Very powerful.

I honestly can’t afford £260 though 🙁 The house needs some repointing doing!

I have Stroker Trails on my TranceX and they have been strong and relatively trouble free for 3 years, with only 2 bleedings. The feel is less well-modulated than Shimano, but much much better than the wooden feeling 9’s that I tried.

“brittle pistons” One of my pistons has broken up at the edge due to clumsy maintenance (by me). But they still work OK. You have to watch out for the central “pinhead” when pushing the pistons back to fit new pads. Because of this, and the flaky pistons, it’s best to push them back with the old pads in place by wedging a screwdriver between them; rather than removing the pads and using a tyre-lever to push them back.

What is your budget? If I were you I would get some code r’s, can be had new for £95 each end all in.

got hayes stroker trails on my enduro, they’ve been totally trouble free for the past 2 years. They havent needed any maintenance except for changing the pads.

Power and general feel is way better than the shimano XT’s that they replaced.

I still use nines, have don for the last 4 or so years now on two bikes. they’re powerful enough, simple to bleed and relatively maintenance free. I don’t understand why they get so much flack.

Thinking about getting some new brakes soon & tempted to get some of the new Primes. Only changing really because they are all loose and rattle about the place, which is a bit annoying.

I’ve got a set of very lightweight Hayes brakes (can’t remember what model exactly but they’ve got carbon levers) but they’re pretty much the only ones that always get left in the spares bin.

Hayes 9’s here, powerful as ****, though little feel. They tended to like to corrode a bit and become sticky, but with a bit of love would be recoverable. All the parts are available, a major requirement for me when buying brakes.

All the parts are available, a major requirement for me when buying brakes.

Alternatively you could buy Shimano and never need parts (in my experience anyway).

Replaced my Avid carbon Juicy’s with Stoker Ace brakes for the Alps this year and will keep them on i think. The Avids fade out at speed but the Hayes stay true and solid. I had the original hayes nines with the plastic bar clamp and they worked really well for many years.

That’s not the case IME steve.
Needing to buying a new lever or caliper as a 50p seal has broken is stupid & extremely wasteful, IMHO of course.

Only had one set from ooh, 2005 ish, and the cheap plastic hose burst. So after that I replaced with Goodridge hoses and they were very grabby indeed, no modulation. And nothing like as powerful as the Hope V2s that replaced them. I don’t remember what model they were tho, low end big bike version I think.

Full set of Stroker Trails for £135? with rotors… worth a punt!

Merlin strikes again!

Opposite experience from molgrips. Had the carbon 9s for 5 and a bit years. Mate offered me his Hope m4 set up, wish I had`nt bothered, really do not like them at all. New Shimano or other Hayes when I can afford or just repair the worn bits on old 9s asap

Based on my 2004 Hfx 9s I will never buy another Hayes product…

I think mine were HFX 9s actually, now you mention it.

Hope issues always are pad contamination ime. I wonder if their seals leak traces of fluid when hot or something? Or something in their pad compound?

On our family bikes, how good the brakes are seems proportional to how much use the bike gets, and presumably how much exposure to dirt and grime.

I bent one of the pins that hold the pad in place and (stupidly) try to bend it back…Snap, new piston required. Not a problem – CRC had replacement pistons and seals for £6 IIRC. They are easy to fix if you brake them (see what I did there!) and very easy to bleed. They take a bit of fiddling to get them set up but I love mine. they’re very powerful (I have V8 disc on the front V6 on the back) and you can get pads quite cheap off ebay if you buy a few at once!

Is this all because we were taking the **** out of your minuscule brakes on Friday night? They’re probably fine. They just look a bit odd because the rest of your bike is so GGGGGGGGNNNNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR 😉

Hora turned up at the pub on a 7inch full susser. It looked great nestled amongst the fixie’s like a beached supertanker

Anyway… There’s nowt up with Hayes brakes. I’ve had Stroker Trails and they were ferocious. I’ve upgraded Debs bike with a set. At that price on Merlin, you won’t get more power for the money

My 9’s were ace, both the normal and the mag versions. On a par with C2’s for outright whiplash induceing power. Kareoke favoiurite – S.O.A.D – Chop Suey, lots of stoping and starting.

Since then I’ve used:
Shimano XTR/XT/goodrich, power was OK, not spectacular and TBH probably worse than i’d admit to them being as the cost so much! Mushy lever feel doesn’t inspire confidence. Song: Oasis-(anythign towards the end), you know theyre good, but really should be capable of better.

Juicy 3, didn’t keep them long, but long enough to convince me I was barking up the wrong tree with the shimano’s. Song : avril lavigne- sk8r boy, good, but you wouldnt admit liking it to your mates.

Mono Mini Pro, not as powerfull or as wooden as the 9’s, not as mushy as the shimano. Possibly the most ‘average’* brake ever? Song Coldplay-yellow, everyone will get allong with it and not be offended.

*in a good, everyone should like them, way, not an MBR 5/10 way.

Avid Elixir: Like the juicy’s, only better in every single way.
Music: Paramore, great, but middle aged people wont like them as they’re not shiny enough for a mid life crisis.

Binners there is no way I’m drinking ale then riding on my singlespeed commuter home. Slack and low is best suited to beer

We really should have roasted that old Spanish-bird…..Premier footballer style 8)

I suppose,in a way, your new bikes actually very like you. Its a massive Tool!

EDIT: You’ve just ruined my week now! With a vision so unbearably horrible I know want to burn out my own retina’s

Still running my 2005 HFX 9s. The front lever’s a little slow to release, the pads release instantly it’s just the lever that’s a bit slow.

But they’ve done 000’s of miles, in all conditions so I’ve no complaints.

We use 9s and Stroker Trails. Have used them in the Alps with no problems.

Hora, got some mags in the back of the garage that may need servicing, wouldnt want much for them

Just had a set of white Stroker Trails delivered which I bought from the classifieds last week

Stroker Trails – wooden, poor modulation – very on/off

Tinas, my Shimano are the least squishy I’ve used after the Hayes ones.

I’m coming to the conclusion that small changes in setup, pad/rotor condition and bleed effectiveness make far more difference than the design of the brake, since they are all basically the same.

That’s the only explanation for people’s experiences varying so massively.

hora – Member
We really should have roasted that old Spanish-bird…..Premier footballer style

Jeepers, it’s only jsut after 12, steady lads! 🙂

hp_source – Member
Full set of Stroker Trails for £135? with rotors… worth a punt!

Merlin strikes again!

I am transferring my M4s to a bigger bike, so this was too good a deal to pass. 112 to switzerland (-VAT), with 2x 203 rotors.. BARGAIN! only issue is that it is IS front, but I’ve got a spare post mount anyway. Thanks hp_source!

Kev

Hora,

IME Hayes Nines lacked any form of modulation, but were powerful and and reliable. Hayes Strokers had both power and modulation, but not needed constant fettling before/after every ride to prefent rub.

The higher end ones (Gram) also seemed to have noticable flex in the lever/clamp assembly over my Mags and Hopes.

These are based on actual first hand use/experience/ownership of Nines, Ace and Gram.

ATB,

M.

I’ve got a set of Stroker Trails, I’m quite impressed with them. In terms of outright stopping power, they’re amazing however smoothly modulating that power is another matter.

The lever is a reasonable shape, if a little too dainty for my big hands. It’s a good job that one finger only braking is all they need.

I haven’t got anything to report yet reliability wise, except that these have been going quite happily for a year now.