The time has come to leave my BB7s behind and move to hydraulics.

Can anyone recommend an easy maintainence, reliable brake; I ride single speed xc so don’t need ridiculous power.

Thanks

i’ve had my hope mono mini’s for 5 years now with no problems at all. Yearly bleed. running 180 F/160 R rotors and power is spot on for xc. Girlfriends shimano’s not bad but i find them trickier to bleed. I hate Avids – can never get them set up properly – might just be me. Hope thats helpful

Anything Hope

In my experience, Shimano are best if you just want something to run and then in a couple of years, if it goes wrong, bin and replace.

Personally, I prefer Hope. They’ve been very reliable for me for well over ten years but they’re easier to fettle and tweak if they need it and back up/spares is second to none.

Shimano: mineral oil not needing changing due to moisture.
Shimano: pads available nearly everywere at sensible prices (excluding new Icetech….just wait to see those replacement prices).
Shimano: easy to bleed the old-type from the calliper up to the reservoir, then seal and forget.

Not Hayes Nine’s – we were up until around 3am trying to bleed them last night. What a crap design.

Endeded up doing top down, and it was ok until this morning, when it leaked out the master cylinder.

I was going to suggest BB7s. What’s the reason to change?

Stick with bb7’s.

Any new shimano offering from rosebikes?

Got the 2012 xt’s and they’re fantastic, but I do wonder if there’s any great difference between them, the slx or even the deore version. Deore looks like the same design except without reach adjust. Apart from the lettering SLX looks exactly the same to me.

My Hayes Stroker Trails have been totally maintenance and trouble free. They are a somewhat ugly brake when compared to the myriad of pretty options now available, but they have been great brakes. Though the bleed can be a little messy. In the end I attached the Hayes fittings to the Juicy bleed kit I have. I swap between fittings to bleed either the Juicy or Hayes with the same kit.

The Magura Julies I put on the Millenium Falcon are big, functional and bomb proof. They were also about half the price of the cheapest Hope brakes. I don’t know whether they still make them, but I would buy them again.

For fit and forget, go Shimano (my bike mechanic friend backs this up). My Deore discs were great.

Shimano or Magura as they both use mineral oil not regular brake fluid.

Deore M595 or M596
Magura Julie HP (old model)

I’ve had both and the Shimanos have superior modulation but the build quality of the Maguras is slightly better with neat design touches like magnetic pistons. The Deores will be cheaper to buy and pads/spares easier to find and more affordable.

You could easily get the Deores for less than the price of a complete BB7 set up so it’s a no brainer really.

I thought the BB7s were average at best. Modulation was pretty much zero with a very ‘grabby’ feel. This could have been the pad compound but all in all I wasn’t exactly blown away. I don’t blame you for changing..

My reason for changing is the bb7s got destroyed at Kielder yesterday; the rotating adjusters are jammed with grit and having taken them apart before in an attempt to clean them I know this will end with an epic fail. I like them in action but my experience is a full winter or a rainy day at Kielder can destroy them, but given the cost of the replacement some riders are talking about a pair of brakes isn’t bad going

Hope’s had some m4’s that have just been retired after 7 years with only fluid & pad changes

If you want to do nothing to them buy something cheap and bin them ever year!!

I just swapped my deore hydralics for BB7s. I find them loads better. So I have a set of Deores if you are interested. £50 posted.

I like my Race x2s on my ss – pretty similar to the bb7 imho – not on off like my old mono minis and not as terrifyingly deathgrip required as my xt servowaves on my geared bike

shimano, shimano, shimano, the new deores are meant to be excellent and are cheap, but i havent ridden them… avoid avid hydros like the plague

I’ve tried a few over the past few years, but came back to Shimano and won’t be changing again. Other than replacing pads, nothing else has been needed

These

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2011-MAGURA-LOUISE-BAT-DISC-BRAKES-160MM-COMPLETE-SET-/150657255032?pt=Cycling_Parts_Accessories&hash=item2313df4678#ht_500wt_1156

My reason for changing is the bb7s got destroyed at Kielder yesterday; the rotating adjusters are jammed with grit

Mine were the same. Quick flush out with a hose, and a bit of GT85 (pads removed, obviously), and they’re fine again.

For 99.9% of the riding I do, BB7s are ideal. Let’s face it, yesterday wasn’t really representative of your average ride (well, not my average ride anyway – if it was I’d be giving up and taking up knitting 🙂 ).

I actually took Hopes off to put BB7s on…

Hayes nines. two pairs, they have been on 3 bikes each, neither have every been touched.

having said that, neither have my old style XTs.

i would go for a set of Magura Louise for fit and forget.

Have been using a set on my commuter and fs for years and so far have had no issues.

Anything but Hope

FTFY 🙂

New Shimano all the way, awesome.

Another vote for Magura Louise Carbons. About a hundred gazillion times more reliable than the avid juicy carbons that eventually imploded. Even more reliable than the Shimano Deores on the commuter.