Hi,

I currently have Deore brakes on my lapierre zesty. They don’t seem to have the stopping power my SLX brakes on my previous bike did,

are there any ways to boost the performance of my Deore brakes, such as bigger rotors, or new callipers to avoid shelling out on completely new set. Or is a complete break upgrade to SLX or XT the way to really notice a difference in stopping power?

Tom

Surprised alway been impressed by deore brakes..
What size rotors do you currently have? I’d go up from 160’s, but if there 180’s I’d wonder if it was worth it. Zee’s are supposedly the most powerful of the shimano brakes, with 4 pots per brake instead of 2 ala deore, slx and xt – if you do decide to upgrade

Bigger discs is the obvious answer, standard non-fancy Shimano discs and mounts are inexpensive and work well. Might me worth checking what pads you have, if you’ve got sintered you might try some organic for a bit more power with the usual associated downsides. Again non-finned Shimano pads are cheap.

If you do upgrade I’d go for SLX, above that just adds features that don’t always work and complexity that hurts reliability.

If they have the same size disks I’m surprised there’s much difference between the Deore and SLX you had previously. In view of that, checking your pads and rotors are clean would be the first thing I’d recommend before spending money on adapters and rotors.

Something is wrong there, I had SLX then went to Deore when they starting leaking, the power is as far as I can tell identical.

Power should be as near as dammit identical across deore, slx, xt etc…

have you tried new pads and discs in case your current ones are contaminated?

I’ve had them all and really struggled to tell any increase in power between Deore and SLX/XT, although I thought SLX were a little grabby even by Shimano standards. However, Zee is a big step up in terms of feel and power.

My Fatboy came with Deore brakes. I put bigger rotor’s on and still wasn’t satisfied; it takes some stopping.

I went for Zee’s, and the performance is now good enough.

You could try some different pads; Uberbike do some good ones which might give a bit more bite.

Despite the levers seeming identical save the decals, I doubt it would be financially viable to just change the calipers; I’d look for a second hand set and bung them on.

Do SLX levers have the extra adjustment as the XT’s do? Maybe that makes some difference?

Doesn’t sound right – my Deores were immense (especially when you think they cost £60 a pair. The power was up there with my XT’s and XTR’s and way more reliable.

Try some bigger rotors and new pads.

^as above, the stopping power from my Deore brakes is immense.

I’ve got a 210mm disc on the front and 180mm on the rear + standard Shimano resin pads.
100kg rider as well.

I can’t imagine when I’d want anything better.

I’d say you should clean everything, fit bigger discs, new Shimano pads and bed everything in.