My son needs new brakes, my shimano m596 are getting a bit tatty so im thinking of passing them on, so whats good at the moment?

Been pretty happy with my shimano tbh but something with a bit more beef would be good.

Newer shimanos are plenty beefy. I bought a set of 615 deores from CRC the other day for less than £60 with a discount code. They’re exceptional for the money.

For beefy shimano go for zee

Go Shimano at whatever budget suits.

What’s “beefy” here- power, crash durability?

I’ve ruined myself with Formula The Ones, not much else feels any good. Modern Shimano lack subtlety imo but they’re silly value.

Sorry beefy as in a bit more stopping power. My ridings got a bit more ‘beefy’ over the last two years so need something to match. AM, enduro etc.

Was looking at the 615s, crc and planet x have them on offer at the mo.

Hayes Stroker Trail. Cheap, powerful and easy to service. Had them 4 years and only had to bleed them once when i replaced the pistons.

I’d recommend the Zees. In fact that’s all I’d buy at the moment. I wish I had them on both bikes instead of just the downhill.

Will check the zees cheers me dears.

Shimano Zee

I’m a Hope fan girl. 🙂

Latest XT for me. Had them on my old bike and my new bike had fornula the one brakes which ruined the bike. Back to XT and all is well

I’m still using Avid Elixir R’s, they’re great!! 😀

Zee….. on all bikes now instead of Hope V2’s. Waaaay cheaper, and just as powerful.
Cant beat ’em IMHO

Been more than happy with my SLX M675 brakes. Plenty powerful.
Some say they lack modulation but I like them that way 🙂

Got Formula T1S on the Fritzz – was going to change them for XTR but now I’ve ridden with them, no chance. Loads of power, great feel and look pretty good too – only downside is rotors are a bit pricey.

I have Shimano SLX too. Great brakes for the price. I bought bigger rotors to give better stopping power too.

Formula RX on my main bike. Inexpensive deores from my LBS on the “pub” bike.

i’ve just taken off my Hayes 9/Formula Extreme FR combo off my main bike and replaced them with a shimano Zee/SLX combo.
there was nothing wrong with the old brakes performance wise but seeing as i’d had them for nearly 10 years it was time for an upgrade.
i’ve had hope brakes in the past on my other bikes and while i cant fault the performance, the price tag nowadays makes me baulk.
the shimano brakes cost me the grand total of £130. if i didnt need to spend and extra £30 on adapters and rotors then i would have got a Zee on the rear too but that is a future upgrade.
at the moment i cant fault the performance of the shimano brakes and i certainly cant fault the price either

Saints on my Canyon downhill bike
XT/XTR on my Nukeproof Mega
XT on my 456 SS

All very reliable and powerful

Hope vented V2s on the alpine. Stupendously good, but also stupendously pricey.
Some Avid things on the fatty and the Wife’s Diva. Total Cak.
Deore on the other thing. Really very good indeed – depsite the weeny rotors.

HOPE fan here, can’t comment on any of the others as I’ve only ever had their Hydraulic brakes, I am impressed by their NO quibble customer care attitude and their brakes suit my kind of riding and the UK weather.

@Darren a few good sales on at the moment and a few sites (inc CRCR) doing an extra 10%. I was about to buy some Shimano Deore’s when I saw the XT’s where discounted too and not much more money so got those. I have Hope’s on other bikes which I like very much but they are much more expensive.

A few more posts and every possible brake will have been named in the tradition of reccomending what you own!

reccomending what you own!

Spelling aside, how else do you recommend something? Are you suggesting people recommend products they have never used?

This statement always gets trotted out on here but it’s the usual STW bs.

Shimano unless you don’t get on with the lever.

Had allsorts, and even Deore have been better than most of the rest in terms of consistency and reliability. XT on the big bike for bling value as I bought in whilst in Germany… else I’d go SLX.

People also seem content to recommend things they don’t own too.

‘usual singletrack bs’ – really was that necessary?

The thread title asks – ‘What are you using?’ not ‘What do you recommend?’.

Oh for christ’s sake…

i’m using avid’s, they came with my new bike.

they are completely crap, and have been since (even before) ride1.

Use the latest Deore on my XC bike and Zee on the big bike. With the latter I’m impressed more with the better modulation over other Shimano offerings, rather than a bit more bite.

they are completely crap, and have been since (even before) ride1

yep, I just don’t get how Sram can get away with making such a woefully inadequate product. I thought I’d try with an open mind and put up with them for a while. But they’re beyond blinking useless. They have plenty of power, just 0 modulation. If you leave the bike in the sun the bite point moves out to the edge of the lever travel. On the wife’s the brakes even started to seize – without having set off anywhere!

faustus – Member

A few more posts and every possible brake will have been named in the tradition of reccomending what you own!

Yeah, funnily enough I used to have brakes I couldn’t recommend, I took them off because they were shit. There’s not a single bit on any of my bikes I wouldn’t recommend for the job they do and if there was, I’d fix that.

Its more a case of recommending the brakes you’ve settled on after some trial and error. For me that is shimano. The deores are plenty good enough for me.

Tried my mates orange 5 today, its got hope e4 or v4..can’t remember really. Didn’t get on with them really, too much modulation for my liking so still thinking shimano zee, read various reviews and all suggest they are ‘the’ brake to have or ever will need.

Hopes for me!. Allways had them and i cant see anything on the market to change my mind. Bought an ex demo Ibis recently with XT 785s, took em straight off. Dissconected the rear hose to get through the swing arm and accidently damaged one of the banjoo` rings, Could i get a replacement???? NO!. found an Avid one that did the job.

At least with Hope you can get every single part, they look ace and IMO work really well, a price worth paying IMO of course! 🙂

Genuine LOL at faustus…

Hope for me, had shimano and avid, hope give the best feel and are well up to stopping duty and you can always get parts if you need them.

Avid = Crap, Shimano seemed to be too off and on for me and they need more attention than hope.

Also, try getting shimano spare parts for brakes…

2 sets of Tech X2’s here, always work great for me. Also got a pair of Elixir R’s on my jump bike which I have been quite impressed with although not had a massive amount of use yet, so that may change. A few friends have various Shimano brakes on their bikes and even the cheaper ones (Deore I think) seem pretty powerful for the money.

Hopes on both MTB’s, ancient M4’s on the HT & X2’s on the FS. Never had any trouble or issues whatsoever with either. Even though the old HT gets used on & off road all year round I’ve never had so much as a sticky piston.
I wouldn’t even consider anything else till Hopes fail me.

Not Formula R1s.

Ragging it down Pila red DH route to Aosta last month they weren’t slowing me down. In parts I was speeding up despite pulling the levers as hard as I could. They didn’t boil, just not powerful enough for my 17 stone body on a DH run.

To be fair they are XC brakes! But it is an XC bike…

Now on Saints.