Hayes Stroker- should I?

I liked the Hayes Mags but found the 9's lethal- too grabby.

I quite like my stroker trails, lever went sticky after some rain a while back but it went back to normal after a bit of use. Bit tricky to bleed. Pretty powerful and good modulation.

I had a pair.. one of the levers packed in after 2 months, i found them very messy and a nightmare to bleed .. but that might be more to do with me than the brakes, but in saying that Ive bled a lot of different type of avids with no issues.. I had the 180mm rotors on mine, I could never get them to stop chiming.. got very annoying after a while.. even contacted Hayes for a solution, they said it had to do with a bad batch off pads so they sent me new pads for free.. never made a bit of difference.. as for performance, they weren't to bad but did fade on the longer descends.. a friend of mine has just got a pair from merlin.. he was on is second ride out with them yesterday.. he's already having the same issues as i did.. plus a sticky lever.. I was very glad to get rid.. i stick with avids.. i never have any problems with them and are very easy to bleed..

Have had Strokers on a couple of demo bikes. Worst brakes I've ever used – horribly grabby, no modulation. A mate has them on his Giant and they sound permanently like the backing pads are grinding on the disks

I have them on mine, they are head and shoulders above the 9s but yeah they can be noisy

Not as good as the equivalent priced Shimano, IMHO

Got stroker trails on 2 bikes. slightly grabby i would say but stick in some superstar kevlar pads and they are spot on. pretty good for the money what with the reach adjustment dial.

Yes- thats where Ive seen the Strokers (Merlin) and was thinking of using them with my existing Shimano rotors (I have adaptors on a set of knackered Hayes Mags still).

I've got the Stroker Rydes on one bike, find them a bit wooden, even though they are large rotors they require quite a pull on the lever to get them working, and I get the scraping/grinding noise towards the end of decents if I've been braking hard, thought I'd worn the pads out but they were and are still fine, other than that they're ok.

Strokers don't seem to work with Floating rotors from Shimano or Hope, so beware.

They're powerful, don't fade and not too heavy. Grand

I've had my Stroker Trails for a couple of years now, never bled them, plenty of power although they do sometimes feel a bit grabby. So no real complaints although I'd probably get something else next time.

I had some Rydes, bloody hated them, noisey always start rubbing and generaly felt just crap really, but thats why they are cheap. You would be better getting some shimano for a few pennies more, Much better quality.

They look nice and work quite well for the price, but the build quality is very poor.

Cheap and quite powerful – never need to bleed and with superstar pads they work quite well (sintered ones have lasted me an age). buy some run them till they need a service then sell and get another set…Did this with my last pair and they stood me at £35 for 18 months use.

Yeah fine for general UK trail use. A bit more grabby than Shimano on my other bike, but not desperate. Mine have developed a bit of slop in the lever action – probably need bleeding as I've run them for 2 years. I've only boiled them once – descending the loose upper section of the Llanberis path on Snowdon.

I used some Rydes for the first time last week, and was actually quite impressed. They do feel very different to use than shimanos or avids, but once I got used to them I found them very effective. Whether I'd choose them over Juicy 3s for about the same price though, I doubt.

I like my stroker trails although they are tricky to set up where they don't rub and squeak all the time. lots of stopping power, modualtion is good too.