Looking to upgrade the brakes for next years XC race season from the M770 XT’s…..

Current faves are the hope race x2’s not cheap at over £300 quid though, anything else you peeps would recommend?

cheers

No real consensus. Personal preference:

XTR
Avid XX
Marta SL
Hope X2
Formula R1

And so on. Ive had XXs this year, tonnes of power and superb feel, but poor reliability.

My Deore discs work fine!

xtr for me.

Wot Njee said.

Personal favs are Martas (Silly light and used them in the alps no bother) and X2’s for servicabilityization

R1’s-silly light,loads of power,super expensive and seemingly unavailable if the rumour that propel have stopped importing them is true.
Hope mini pro’s-stupid light,not too expensive,could’nt pull the skin offa rice pudding,fairly expensive and great spares/back up.
XTR-Not too heavy,not too cheap,plenty of power and no chance of servicing as there are no spares.Funny short (1 finger)lever tho.
Avid xx-obscenley expensive,made by sram.
Still unsure (apart from xx’s!)

R1’s-silly light,loads of power,super expensive and seemingly unavailable if the rumour that propel have stopped importing them is true.

Only unavailable if you’re unwilling to import them yourself – I got some from a chap in Italy on ebay, with the bonus that I got carbon levers (and a custom all black look) for the price of normal ones. That’s after I gave up waiting for them to be in stock in this country.

Whilst I’m rather shorter of money than I used to be, I decided it was worth spending lots of money (though not actually that much more than the alternatives) for the best performance.

I’m selling a rather spangley complete set of red 2009 Marta SLs in the next week or so which have just had the rear leaver etc replaced under warrantee. Let me know if that sounds of interest?

R1`s…….job done!!

You can get Formula RX for under £200

Not quite as light as R1 but as much stopping power

Try some before you buy. I#d always planned on Martas for my race bike because of the warrenty but discovered that I really don’t like the feel of the lever, much too soft for my liking, not just a dodgy set either, tried a couple and they all felt like that.
Got a set of R1s in the end and they’ve been great, had them 18months now. Using EBC redstuff pads for even more power. Floating rotors are starting to get a bit rattly though.

And if ‘best’ means lightest, which in xc-world it usually does, try FRM DBR250, quite common in Eurpoe but a rarity over here.

Just out of interest, what was wrong with the XT’s? I’ve just bought a set yesterday which I chose over the RX’s and Avid CR carbons. Hope I made the right cjoice

thanks for all your input guys, still confused tho……..theres a surprise!

BTW, never heard of R1’s whois the manufacturer?

Bol -YHM re Martas

more input welcomed……

cheers 😉

You could stick your foot on the rear tyre like the kids on BMX’s at Cwmcarn last week…

I have XT on 2 bikes, no issue here!

R1 = Formula brakes

Shimanos. There is no other sensible choice.

I particularly like the post up there that says “hopes couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding”- very true!

If not Shimano, Avid Elixirs are (dare I say it) not half bad, if a touch unreliable.

hopes couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding

Don’t really understand this myself, I’m 83kg and they have all the power I need and then some. I prefer the feel of the lever compared to most also. Mate of mine had XX this year, I had a spin on them and didn’t like at all, Shimano’s that I’ve had a go on always seemed a bit on/off for my liking.

everyone says hayes are no good, but I think thats on the reputation of the old hfx models

I’ve had strokers for about 3 years and they have been brilliant

I’d try these for cross country

I bought a set of XT M775 levers and swapped them for the 770 levers on my Racer X.

Easy job if you can bleed brakes and a much better lever design. The calipers are pretty much identical anyway and the power comes from the lever. 775 look and feel better.

Inexpensive, effective upgrade for an hour’s work.

254/365 by stuartie_c, on Flickr

I had Hope Tech M4s and they were awful. Underpowered, uncomfortable and unreliable. Were back and forth with Hope for a while until i eventually sold them for a set of Avid Elixirs and i’m much happier.

I’ve found most of the Avids are within a few grams of each other. Unless you got loads of $$$ to spare, get the cheap ones and change the rotors for lightweight ones.

Bit tongue in cheek about hopes.I’ve run nothing else for the last 10 years-there are more powerful brakes out there but I’ve never seen the point tbh.

Nowt really wrong with the XT’s just they are either on or off if you get my meaning? Probably the most powerful brakes i’ve used but for more technical/steep stuff they lock up very easily – lack of modulation (or shit rider) may be the technical term…..

Liking my Magura Louise BAT’s actually.

Marta SLs here (but if a new pair need to come my way next year, I’ll hope they haven’t sold out of Racelines!).

I’ve used Hope since they were the only brake out there. I’m tempted by some Tech V2 brakes but my old ones just really have nothing wrong with them so I’m struggling to justify replacing them.