I’m after replacement disc brakes for my Chameleon. I have old Hope’s and compared to the Saints and Juicy’s I have on my other bikes they feel poor, despite braided hoses and faffing with pads.

I’m after brakes which have adjustable bite points and reach adjustment (small hands, and I like the brake to come on near the bars).

Any ideas?

People highly rate the new xt’s, pick em up from rose/bike24 for £66 an end

Shimano brakes are great – my original Saints really were fir and forget.

I’m a fan of Hayes brakes as well; just bought some Stroker Ace brakes for my SX Trail which seem pretty good on the limited tests to date.

Like my Shimano XTR’s , trouble free for good few years now. With the ‘trickle down’ effect of Shimano products I guess todays XT prolly same as mine now, so that Roses deal is unbeatable.
As for best of the best, mate of mine swears by Magura’s – its all they do so they know their stuff.

Hope X2’s are my current favorite, they also won the recent STW brake test/review thing in issue 71 (well the X2 race did)

Im running formula the ones, really great feel to them,loads of control and super light too.

I’m not sure if Shimano have changed their ways, they never used to make spare parts available, so if something went wrong, you were buggered and it was new calliper/master cylinder time.

For that reason I went to Formula who were selling off K24s cheaply from their Italian website. I think they’re much better brakes than the SLX ones I had previously too.

People seem to be anti-formula as they’re apparently hard to bleed, but I’ve never had a problem, and I’m fairly cack-handed.

As for best of the best, mate of mine swears by Magura’s – its all they do so they know their stuff.

except forks, clutches, and handle bars.

that rose deal is exceptional…. good find. think i might splash out.

how do they compare to old SLX?

Formula The Ones are hands down the best Ive tried. Everyone who has a go on my bike is shocked by how powerful they are. You can get adjusters on them I think. Spendy though.

The new XTs have dinky little levers with loads of adjustment, could be just right for your tiny paws.

Seem pretty good brakes, but have not been as faff-free as I’d hoped.

IMO brakes are a bit like saddles in that they are very much a personnal preference, in that, one mans bite point is another mans snatchiness and one mans modulation is anothers sponginess. Obviously some are easier to live with on a long term basis than others but after reading many many similar threads I don’t think theres an awful lot in it. Formula, Shimano, Hope, Avid, Magura, Hayes etc all make decent brakes some you’ll like some you’ll hate and all will wear through a set of pads on wet loop round afan.

Klunk, you are spoiling what could have been a 10 page thread with your ‘this is the truth ‘ approach 😛