Hi there,

I’m thinking about replacing my Avid Juicy 3s as they are already around 5 years old and lately I’m just having problems with them. I never really had any other brakes only biked with another bike with juicy 7s for a couple of times. So I don’t really know what kind to get.

– I don’t consider myself a hard rider however the bike will be used for downhill runs in places like inners
– I weigh 61kg
– And I’m not the most confident rider yet so I do tend to use my brakes quite a bit on downhill runs
– I will be using them with 180/160 rotor
– My budget is around £150 and happy to buy second hand

Any recommendations?

Ta, Henni

shimano SLX or XT

Was going to say Hope V2’s as they are utterly brilliant but I then read your budget.

Second hand – hope minis can be got for that sort of money with a bit left over. I bough my hopes econdn had at £35 – £60 an end Or you could get new basic shimanos.

I would have the hopes for the repairability and as a happy owner of half a dozen sets. I would not have shimanos as no spares are available. a seal blows its scrap. Other opinions are available.

Bought some formula bianco K24’s on classifieds here and once I learned to set them up properly been really happy with them…loads of well balanced mod and power. As hope products, apparently rebuildable…hth

Go into some bike shops and have a feel of some of the brakes on the bikes.

I personally hate the lever feel of Shimano brakes, the levers them selves are tiny too. I like Avids (the only person in the known universe who does). Hopes are nice and Formulas. Some people rate Hayes, so worth a look maybe

Formula… Go to their factory store and pick up a set of Oros. It’s an old design but still very good, and £125 gets you both brakes, plus rotors and mounts, and hose shortening kit etc. Or you could buy a used set for a fair bit less, they’re cheap as chips used but I’d sooner go new personally. Also fully repairable- the parts are available through CRC.

If it said Hope on it some folks would happily pay twice as much and declare them a bargain 😉

TandemJeremy – Member

a seal blows its scrap.

You know fine well that’s not true. It’s not ideal replacing a large part- lever or more likely caliper- but that’s a long way from scrapping the whole brake.

i have a set of Formula rx in white i will be selling next week, being removed from new bike as soon as it arrives. E-mail in profile if your intrested.

Northwinfd – ok – the part that has the blown seal is scrap. half the system

Shimano Deore, good power, great price. I’ve got a set that have run flawlessly for 4 years, only maintenance has been an occasional top-up with oil.

Another vote for Formulas from the Formula store, got a pair of K24s with adaptors/discs/etc for about £120 before Christmas.

That’s more like it. So, for SLX, you replace the £27 lever or £32 caliper (and get a set of pads with it) rather than spending £5 for a set of seals. Not ideal but not the end of the world, considering the difference in initial bang-for-buck- with SLX you’ll get a brand new brake with 2 years warranty for £150 or so, compared to an inferior, used Hope brake at that price.

Hope’s warranty is excellent but there’s no chance of getting new Hope at this price.

God this comes up so often : “and in the blue corner is ….”

In reality the fact that out of all the manufacturers on here that get recommended time after time we have – Hope, Shimano, Formula. Avid also have their lovers – but once problems start …. (though I think a big bit of the problem is that is that they are fitted as standard to entry level bikes).

Anyway – Pick one of the 3. They are all good.

Personally I went Formula initially – but back then spares were a real pita to get (that problem seems to have disappeared now).

Then went shimano – 6 SLX in the garage just now – one caliper leaked in the first winter and that was replaced foc by Madison – 2 year warranty too. I bought a spare new caliper for £25 – not needed it yet.

I’d love to have the cash to try Hope. I dont.

New Shimano SLX are superb, and you could get the Ice-Tech rotors too for that budget. No real difference between SLX and XT apart from colour and bite-point adjust, if you feel you need that.

northwind – I swapped a brand new set of shimanos for a far superior used set of hopes 🙂

Value for money its hard to argue with shimano tho if you can cope with the feel and the lack of spares Hence I did say that in my original post.

Have you used the current Shimano models TJ? My old XTs were miles better than the Shimanos that went before and the latest SLXs are a good bit better than my XTs.

If it wasn’t for the parts availability and price advantage I’d be hard pressed to choose between my Oros and a set of SLXs. But as it is, I don’t know of anything that can compete until Formula run out of their old discounted stock.

slx, one of the best bike bits ive ever bought.

Hope, three of the best bike bits i’ve ever bought. Mini’s, M4’s & X2’s.

Formula.
I have two pairs of R1s and they are fantastic, weight, performance, reliability. Not really suitable for your application, or budget, though.
However, I like them so much that I have upgraded my other two MTBs, a set of RXs for £90 and a set of The Ones for £165, both second-hand, off German Ebay, either of these would be ideal for you, The Ones more so. ebay.de is the place to be for getting hold of good bike bits (just bought a dropper post from there too)

New SLX or XT. I’ve tried maguras, formulas, hope, hayes, avid etc and the new shimano stuff is just miles better. They feel eye-wateringly lovely and are only beaten by saints or formula’s ‘the ones’ for power (maybe hope v2s too but they’re about 64kgs an end)
(I was a massive formula fanboi before I tried teh new shimanos btw)

Pair of new XT’s from rose bikes £135 delivered,no contest. 🙂

6th+ to say second hand Formulas from classified. Fab brakes. You can get a complete set for about £75.

I’ll second that, just got my xt’s from rose. Brakes, ice tec rotors, mounts and spare olives (and a free bag) for under 200 delivered….. If your not too bothered about the posh rotors, check out merlin’s deals too as they are pretty good atm.
Cheers

SLX or XT for my money, the newest ones feel great IMO.