Hello everyone, Just about to buy some new diskbrakes for my s.s. What type of disk brakes do you recommend? At the moment i have Avid Juicy 3's How do they compare to the 5's or the elixa CR.
Didnt get on with hopes when i had them, my good bike has XTR which are awesome.
Thanks

Wouldn't waste the cash upgrading to 5's (have both 3's & 5's and they just aren't that fantastic IMO)

Lately a big thread on brake seemed to come down on the side of Hopes (I did see your comment), as though they may not be trouble free, they can be rebuilt from scratch unlike Shimano/Magura (no spare available at all) or other than are just hard to locate spares for….
Other recommendation for Magura were forthcoming, though as I just paid though the nose so a service to one brake (I could have bought a brand new AVID 3 brake for the cost & still had change), unless you buy them new with the 5y ear warrenty, I wouldn't buy them 2nd hand again… I have two shimano front brakes that are useless due to seal failures and again the cost of a new lever is the price of a complete new brake.

Hopes for me all the way in future…

if you want cheap and reliable go for shimano every time – saints are great.

£150 new wont get you much tbh, you need to be looking at £100-150 per brake imho.. I tend to buy 2nd hand so they are bedded in and guaranteed working, I have used a lot and always come back to hopes, The 2007 mini's and M4's are good (better than the older black & gold ones) the new tech ones are great, for £150 2nd hand you could get some Juicy 7's, Mini's, M4's etc. that said Formula Oro K18's are well worth a look!

hayes nines. you can pick up a new set (F&R) for less than a hundred quid. work well, plenty of power. spares readily available and they can be fully rebuilt and are easy to bleed/maintain.

Nines have no modulation though and for a SS they are way too heavy.

SLX, from Merlin only a bit over your budget, great brakes

Hayes 9s reliable! you must have got a different brake set from the other 3 sets I have had. I have some Avid BB7 cable discs on my single speed and with 180mm rotors on, they are as good as any hydro brake I have ever had, including Hopes, Shimano, Avid, and Hayes. Also very reliable and have lots of mudulation and can be adjusted very easy for total drag free riding. Had a few other sets on other bikes and have always been way more reliable than my other brakes.

If you mustnhave hydros for some reason. then I have found Shimano hydros to be very good, I like the older ones before the latest Servo wave ones. The SLX ones from Merlin look like a good bet. Spares are harder to get thiougn for Shimano and expensive if you can get them. That said all the Shimano brakes I have had never required any! Last Hope brakes I had were easy to get spares for, but I needed them!

Another vote for SLX here.

Much better than Juicies of any description IMO, very pleased with mine.

Nines have no modulation though and for a SS they are way too heavy.

Modulation – Usually incorrectly referred to as a characteristic of a brake system. Modulation actually refers to the process of a rider accurately controlling the amount of brake power required without locking the wheel. Typically modulation is best with a brake system that has a “firm” or “hard” lever. The amount of lever stroke required to increase the amount of brake power generated is minimal. Soft levers require stroke to go towards caliper and hose expansion instead of brake power. This type of soft lever is inherently more difficult to control. Levers can feel soft due to mechanical/hydraulic advantage or hose and caliper stiffness properties.

from the hayes website. as for being too heavy for a SS – well that's just a silly comment isn't it.

How about shimano 575's

slx here also, very good indeed

from the hayes website. as for being too heavy for a SS – well that's just a silly comment isn't it.

Hayes are not likely to say anything to the contrary, they are pretty much all or nothing, they don’t tend to grip in stages, yes they are very powerful but not great unless your into DH, as for the weight comment why is that daft? A single speed with hayes nines… oh dear, Personally I would choose any brake over a nine and yes I have had 2 sets of them, for a SS I would choose some K18's for their performance to weight ratio.

That is utter shite from hayes – the opposite is true – the more movement you get between "brake just on" and "full white knuckle braking" the easier it is to control – that is modulation.

A soft lever gives more modulation. Might give less initial bite

they are pretty much all or nothing, they don’t tend to grip in stages

well i guess you must have been doing something wrong if you found they were either on or off. i have no problems whatsoever controlling my speed without locking the wheel.

yes they are very powerful but not great unless your into DH

not sure what you mean with this comment.

as for the weight comment why is that daft?

because saying a brake is too heavy for a SS bike makes no sense. so if you have a SS that has juicy 5's and rides perfectly well but then you decided to put nines on there the bike will just not work?

decided to put nines on there the bike will just not work?

I did not say it wont work, yes it will, of course it will work at the end of the day a brake is a brake, but im kind of relating it to putting Moto V2’s onto a SS or a HT, it would work just OTT imho, why put heavy brakes that are powerful onto a SS? Nines usually come on stock bikes like a stinky, Big hit etc to name a few! Heavy full sussers… if you use them on a lighter SS and get on with them good for you, I was just trying to say there are better suited, lighter brakes with better adjustment available. I dont have K18's so I am not pushing my own kit but they are great, powerful, have modulation and are light.

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/mountain-bike-disc-brakes/formula-disc-brakes/formula-oro-k18.html

I personally love hope and yes they need to be set up very well then they are great, but the K18's at that price. Well worth a look.

Juicy 3s are £75 a set from merlin at the moment aren;t they? or5 was it CRC? One of them anyway. If you;re happy with the Juicy 3s, go for that and save yourself some money

Hydrolic brakes have no place on an SS.

BB7 or Vs is what you need.

Love that from Hayes – 'our brakes aren't rubbish, you just aren't using them properly'

Err, right then…

For that sort of money I'd only be looking at XTs, bought from Euroland

XTs for £158 from http://www.Bike24.com