What are your recommendations for cheap reliable disk brakes (about £150).

Not shimano as there the ones I’m getting rid of them after another leaking caliper seal.

I have elixirs cr on my other bike so for pad buying simplicity are the 3 or 5’s any good?

I like my Juicy 5s enough when they work. However when they don’t they can be a right pain in the arse what with the seals turning to crumbly cheese after a while. I suppose I have been using them for about 3 years though and for most of that time they’ve been fine.

To be honest I prefer BB7s, very similar performance and for me they’re easier to set up.

I have juicy 3’s on my commuter. 180mm/160mm. Dont like them at all.

Even tried with 3 types of pad, stil seem to lack power.

But then again, they were £100 for the lot.

erm.. you might want to check if Elixers use the same pads as Juicys?

😉

changed that I actually meant the elixir 3’s as they are on offer on a few places

[Edit] Nevermind, I was talking about Juicys.

I’m running Elixir 5’s (had them for nearly a year) on my FS & Elixir R’s (had them for just over a year) on my hardtail. Aside from the bite point adjuster I can’t notice any difference.

I have also taken the 5’s for some more gravity fed work in Italy & they performed well enough. I did try a set of Hope’s while I was there (can’t remember which ones, but they did have a 4 piston caliper), which did perform a little better (but I’d expect a 4 piston brake to perform better than a 2 piston).

My 5’s are setup with a 180mm rear, 203mm front, while my R’s are setup with a 160mm rear and 160mm front (no need for anything more as this is an XC bike).

Avid BB7s

I had some Elixr Rs but a seal went in one of the levers (you can’t get replacements) so they went, I’ve also had a few Juicy 3s, the rear one of which had a leaky piston – you can get new seals, but a new brake was only 29 quid, so I did that instead.

Thus far my hopes haven’t leaked. I do tend to kill brakes…

Can’t go wrong with Juicy 5’s mate 🙂

The complete service-ability of hopes is an appeal but at the minute they are too expensive. They cost per end what I was hoping to spend in total.

Not really interested in cable, seems like a step backwards as I’ve been running hydraulic forever. My old deore 556 were put on muy bike and left without servicing, bleeding, problem for 5 years until they died.

check the comments on mtbr if you think cable is necessarily a step backwards.

Had HFX 9s and Avid Juicy ultimates before giving up on them (constant sticky pistons on HFX 9s and difficulty of servicing the Juicy Ultimates).

It is a step forwards in winter when I can run a bigger gap between rotor and pad than most hydro users 🙂

Formula Oro K24s are £159 from CRC.
I had K18s on an old Cube and they were magic. Just pure and simple pull the lever and stop, with no crazy stroke adjusters or other stuff to faff about with and/or fail. I rate them over the Hopes, Avids and XTs I’ve used and possibly over my current TRP Dash Carbons.