[Closed] alps brakes for heavy users (203mm)- Saint, M4 or... ol SLX?

If you drag your brakes all the way down big mountains you'll cook any brakes.

I ride in the rockies and my old m4's with 180 rotors do ok for xc, I have saints on the downhill bike with 203 and have to be careful I don't get thrown from the bike at first

I love my (single pot) 2006 Magura Free Ride brakes in the Alps, been thee times with me, never gone through a set of pads (organic all the way), always had plenty of power and feel. 203 front, 185 rear. at Morzine then the White room and trail addiction this year.

also used old XT (765?) no issues with them either really, sintered, 1/2 a set of pads in a week at Les gets / Morzine.

Power first (so I feel confident that they are there). My old hayes mags were awesome for this.

My Formula Mega's can stop a 20+ stone idiot doing 30mph in next to no time.

Might be too much power for you!

I'm taking 2008 M4's with 203 rotors to the alps this year and hoping they'll do well. superstar kevlar pads in there too.
I'm about 75kg with kit.
Going for proper gnar DH too.

What about Tech V2's on 203mm floating rotors? Or even vented rotors if your a real brake dragger and the alpine descents are long ones.

I weigh 112kg and have fitted Saints with 203 rotors to my spicy, I tend to brake as late as possible too and they always stop me very quickly too quickly if I am not careful.

They are expensive but well worth it.

The new xtr with the ice rotors, if not then the saints.

IMO, as nice as the hopes are they just don't stand up too well to the heat, also they are not overly powerfull

I'm running Hope Tech V2's this year, on 203mm floating rotors. I'm 90kg just-out-the-shower, probably over 100kg in full guide's kit.

Brakes have been fantastic, really impressed by them. Great feel, loads of power, phenomenal pad life. No issues with heat whatsoever.

hora, you can try my (throw you over the bars) 200mm saints tomorrow.
they are pretty powerfull.

I have used avid codes and recent twin pot saints with 203 s without issue. 14 stone fat git

Ok its a date

FWIW, recent alp trips all completed with tech M4s, floating 203s back and front and organic pads.

Went through a few pads, terrible brake dragger, zero fade. They were faultless.

Would like a set of saints, they are a good price at the mo on CRC as well. Might get them for the new build. Hmmm.

Sell me the m4 setup then?

sorry sir, it's a new build, keeping current also, so am looking for another set of M4s also! 🙂

I also had a swizz at Merlin, as I am sure I got a cracking price on fancy braided M4s, rotors etc from wiggle but they seem awfully expensive now!

Kev

Saint's all the way for me, super reliable, easy to work on and so much power.

hope v2 for the win.. always 🙂

SLX with 203mm rotors were very powerful, even on my old 45lb bike.

Stock pads were great too.

Nobody picked up on his comment about sintered pads yet? 😕

Sintered pads are a BIG no no for the Alps. You'll cook your brakes much quicker.

You want some Kevlar or organic pads, they are softer yes so won't last as long, but don't transfer anywhere near as much heat into the brake itself, meaning less likelihood of boiling the brakes.

Dunno how heavy you are, but a 203 up front and 180 rear is fine even for DH I found, as long as your brakes are well bled, you use decent Kevlar pads, and they're not some superlight XC number, then you'll be fine.

Though for ultimate stopping power, Formula The One's are ridiculous!

Kev you are rich! I can only afford one bike!!!

Jedi I listen to your opinion. Bikeradars review didn't rate them. How do they perform for you? They look like bigger diameter single calipers?

i used them since they came out. i have vented front. i tried others on my botlerocket but the control i have with them is faultless.
they could stop the demo9 on a sixpense 🙂

Crcs price is 240 EX rotors 😮

mono 6 ti's with floating have been treating me well for the past 4 years in the alps, no fade and I've usually come home with enough pads left for the rest of the season.

I'm 14.5 Stone, been the Alpes a few times and drag my bakes. From what I've used (203 front, 180 rear)

Magura Marta but with Venti rotors, very impressed

Avid Codes also excellent.

Guy's I've rode with

Hope's, V2's, M4's and M6's, seem to have enough power but difficult to get consistance in setup and eat pads. I'm not a hope brake fan.

Hayes 9's - excellent for the money

Avids (7 9 ultimates etc), okay but do fade on longer downs

Formula's R1's - very good.

IMO

mboy, sintered pads shouldn't be an issue if you have decent brakes and a sensible rotor/rider-weight combination.

From what we've seen over the last 4 years, you can boil any brake with a 20-stone rider on a 160mm rotor.

On a sensible setup, the only brakes we see with consistent heat issues are Avid Juicies.

[url= http://www.whiteroomchalet.com/sum_mountain_bike_equipment_reviews.htm ]My full opinion on the V2's here.[/url]

On the v2's ok to use existing disco's adaptor (post fitting to post fitting calipers and disco's 203 rotors?

Anyone done this? My k24 formulas work fine with them

Just done a week out there with Saint 203 (front) and SLX 183mm (rear), on Hope floaters and they were spot on. One finger pretty much everywhere, even the steep stuff. Very impressed with the Saint in fact.

I have used black and gold m4 s with 180 rotors in the Alps and Whistler on a Gemini and then a Big Hit. I weigh 11 stone. They were not enough, either in terms of power nor resistance to overheating. I warped the rotors and glazed the pads. The same brakes with 200mm rotors were do-able but still had a tendency to overheat in the Alps but not in Whistler, presumably bc at Whistelr the trails features are designed to control some of your speed. If you weigh much more than 11st then M4 s are not going to be enough.

Can't comment on the other brakes.

mboy, sintered pads shouldn't be an issue if you have decent brakes and a sensible rotor/rider-weight combination.

Errr, if you had a 9 stone guy on a bike with 203mm Saints both ends, it wouldn't be an issue granted. But for more normally proportioned people, sintered pads are going to be disadvantageous in the Alps. I've done quite a number of weeks of riding in the Alps over the years, ridden with people of all shapes and sizes, on XC bikes to full on DH rigs. The few silly enough to run sintered pads all boiled their brakes soon enough!

Sintered pads are sold for wet/winter riding, hence they sell well in the UK. They're designed to last a lot longer and be more tolerant of harsh conditions, but they provide less friction and stopping power, as well as transferring more heat into the brake fluid of the brake than non metallic pads do.

Right tool for the job. Of course you can bodge it and get by, but if you're planning on doing something correctly in the first place you buy the right equipment before hand. Organic or Kevlar based pads are a much better option for Alpine riding, so seeing as pads aren't that expensive anyhow, why compromise?

Well I weigh probably 100kgs so its looking like Saints and organic.

I had the same question a few years back, got Saints - couldn't fault them. Rode the Megaavalanche with them, numerous Alps trips, never faded, never a problem. Can't recommend them enough.

Hora,

The hope tech v2s have their own rotor, this is because the piston is 25mm which is wider then tech m4 formula r1 etc.

On my dh bike, I run the tech v2 with vented rotors, they are rediculously powerfull and i have no issues with brake fade, and I'm 50% heavier then you. They are heavy though and the xtr brakes on my tranny stop me just as quick and are about 50% of the weight.

Saying that, the tech v2s are 3 years old, (whenever they bought out the tech levers) I've spent 3 weeks in the alps on them and many many uplift and push up dh day on them. THey have never been bled, and the feel has always been consistant. I'm also still on the same set of pads.

If you don't mind the weight then get the v2 over the saints, if you do mind the weight get the xtrs.

hora, existing adapters should be fine on the V2's, I used my old Hayes ones. I've also used the old Hayes / Superstar rotors from time to time (on my spare/lightweight wheels) without any issues, although as ianpinder says, they do have a pretty wide pad.

mboy, I guide full time in the Alps, never had any issues with sintered pads! They last a lot longer than organics, hence why I use them. On organic Hope pads now though, as they last a ridiculously long time anyway.

V2's for the win. Awesome power, fantastic modulation. Makes tight DH switchbacks in Cham and Finale an absolute joy.

Moto V2 vented. Never used anything like them ... modulation, stopping power, pad life are all way ahead of anything else I've used.

It's worth remembering that due to the amount Hora uses his brakes, he has them set up so that when you pull them they are off - let go and they are on. Saves him a lot of effort. As such, any brake system needs to be able to be converted to this reverse use.

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Where's the 'W', Odd Bod?

doubleyou?

I can give you first hand experience of the following:

2011 Codes
2011 Code R
2010 Formula The One
2008 Hope M2
2010 Saints

All with 180mm back and 200mm front.

Without a shadow of doubt, I will never go back from using the Saints, you compromise on the weight (I also run them on a Yeti 575 as well as a Demo 8) as they are certainly not the lightest but for my style of riding they are perfect. In that I mean I prefer a very on-off brake.

Although I rode some of the new (XT M785) trail brakes at Sea Otter and they were mustard !!!! Tempted to buy a set for my 575. Would be interested to see any first hand experience of these if anyone has them.

Hora

I'll have a set of Mono M4's for sale soon. Post mount front caliper so you can use whatever rotor you like with the right adapter and a 160 rear caliper, I think I might have a +20 adapter for the rear too. I have 180 and 160 disc's.

Email in profile if interested

b a c o n - how did the Formulas compare to the Saints, out of interest?

Spent my Pila weekend constantly jeypulling the brakes on my DH bike. The rotors are a nice golden syrop colour but never had any issues with fade or had any lack of power.

15-stone without the riding kit.

Cove Shocker DH - around the 40lb mark.

Avid Juicy Ultimate brake levers, Goodridge hoses, DOT 5.1 fluid, Code front calliper, Elixir rear calliper. Started on old sintered pads. These wore out and replaced with organic (Superstar Components). 185mm front rotor, 160mm rear rotor.

Set them up so the bite point was just in front of the grip so that I could 1-finger brake more easily.

I'm sure someone will be along in a minute to say how this set-up couldn't possibly have worked.

You're better off actually thinking about your braking rather than spending money over engineering a solution.