TRP Slate Evo Disc Brake review

The TRP Slate Evo brakes are superlative, wallet-happy anchors. Not be as elegant as pricier brakes but they’re superb, reliable stoppers.

• Brand: TRP
• Product: Slate Evo Disc Brake
• Price: £105 per end
• From: upgradebikes.co.uk
• Tested by: Barney for 6 months

Pros

• Straighforward to set up 
• Terrific performance
• Stealthy black looks

Cons

• No bleed valves included
• Not bite point adjustment, only throw (if that’s a problem for you)
• Erm… 

There is a case for saying that brakes are the most important components on a mountain bike, full stop. Sure, the frame, fork, wheels and drivetrain all have vital parts to play, but they’re all involved in bringing you up to speed. If they’re all working perfectly, they will excel at it. But none of them, working perfectly, will bring you to a standstill again unless you point them towards the nearest wall. Only brakes will do that. Or, if you’re really desperate, a shoe jammed in the back wheel. But, if you’ve got that far, I suspect you’re looking around for a wall to ride into.

Brakes, in short, can save you from the certain imperilment that the rest of the bike can get you into. Important, see?

Evo = SLX?

These Slate Evo brakes, then, are TRPs ‘budget trail’ offering – less swanky than the more machined Trail brakes (which fall into a sort of XT range bracket), these might be said to be the SLX brakes of TRP’s lineup.

All of these Shimano comparisons aren’t coincidental either – the Slate Evo brakes definitely have a whiff of The Big S about them, and it’s not all cosmetic, as we shall see. In case you’re wondering, this is emphatically not a bad thing.

Installation

In the box, the brakes come in two parts – the lever, and the caliper and hose. Each part already has fluid installed, with some neat plastic plugs keeping it all in, the idea being that you can thread your hose through whatever internal shenanigans your bike frame demands, and then whip the plugs off and install the brakes with the minimum of faffage, and hopefully minimal bleeding required.

Of course, when it came to installing the calipers on my bike, the hose was far too long, which of course necessitated a substantial trim and subsequent rebleed. The front brake also needed trimming. All the ferrules and olives you require to effect the bleed are present and correct in the box, and cutting the brakes down and rebleeding them was extremely straightforward.

Bleed ‘n’ pads

Well, apart from the caliper bleed valve. On most brakes (in fact, every other brake I’ve used) this comes already fitted to the caliper, and there it remains. Here, though, it seems it’s part of the TRP bleed kit and not the caliper itself. Not having a proprietary TRP bleed kit to hand, I pinched a couple of bleed valves from some dead Shimano brakes, which were (surprise surprise) a perfect fit on the calliper, and there, if I’m honest, they have remained. Bleeding was therefore a cinch. I used a Shimano bleed kit. And Shimano mineral oil.

The TRP pads are, I’m informed, resin ones made by Galfer. Thanks to a substantial cockup by yours truly, I managed to liberally spray one pair of mine with brake fluid before they’d even been used. No matter; I had some sintered TRP ones standing by, so I popped those in instead. Yes, you can also use Shimano pads (but the TRP/Galfer ones are better, in my opinion).

No 2.3mm rotors were supplied – the extra width is purportedly better for heat distribution and preventing warping – so I sourced some from those brilliant bike-bit-builders from Barnoldswick, Hope. Rumour has it, though, that 1.8mm rotors will work too, but don’t quote me – I’ve not tried it, and it any case I’d happily trade better performance and longevity for a few extra grams.

The thick rotors, while adding a paltry amount of extra mass, are impressively immune to ham-fisted bike-care regimes and heavy-handed braking, even if it’s been frankly too epically soggy to test any heat-buildup or warping claims.

In use

After a short bedding in period, the brakes have been extremely impressive.

The single adjustment on the lever is for throw – while the adjustment knob can get in the way a little if you run your shifters somewhat inboard, it wasn’t a problem for me. The alloy levers are comfy and seem pretty durned rugged, shrugging off all of the shrubbery and most of the dry stone wall-type abrasions that West Yorkshire has to offer.

There isn’t much lever movement before the brakes start to bite – in fact, substantially less than other brakes I‘ve recently used, both Shimano and SRAM – but this was in no way a problem: the caliper clears the rotor well, and engagement is consistent and smooth.

There’s no yowling with either the sintered or the resin pads, even in the outstanding clart we’ve been subjected to recently, and there’s plenty of modulation and more than enough power at both ends at the 203/180mm sizes I’m running, even for a hefty fellow like me.

Overall

No, these TRP Slate Evo disc brakes might not be as elegantly machined as their pricier brethren, but they’re superb, reliable stoppers, with loads of handy cross compatibility with Shimano, and I really, really like’em. Recommended.

Review Info

Barney Marsh

Barney Marsh takes the word ‘career’ literally, veering wildly across the road of his life, as thoroughly in control as a goldfish on the dashboard of a motorhome. He’s been, with varying degrees of success, a scientist, teacher, shop assistant, binman and, for one memorable day, a hospital laundry worker. These days, he’s a dad, husband, guitarist, and writer, also with varying degrees of success. He sometimes takes photographs. Some of them are acceptable. Occasionally he rides bikes to cast the rest of his life into sharp relief. Or just to ride through puddles. Sometimes he writes about them. Bikes, not puddles. He is a writer of rongs, a stealer of souls and a polisher of turds. He isn’t nearly as clever or as funny as he thinks he is.

More posts from Barney