[Closed] Can anyone help please. Best budget brake set.

Shimano according to depth of pocket.

4-pot for cheaper than next level of groupset upgrade.

Better pads for similar performance gain for not too much.

(Best value budget brake has to be Deore, ideally in 4-pot guise, running UberBike Kevlar pads)

I generally find second hand 'posh'stuff to be better than new 'budget' stuff, not just brakes but most things.
Pick the brakes he likes the feel of regardless of cost and then keep an eye on classifieds, ebay, etc. I got a pair of Hope Tech 2s for £150 not that long ago

Deore 4pot makes most sense, finding stock in UK may he an issue
European sites seem to be better stocked, but not all shipping to UK Post brexit

I've got some deore m6100 on the hardtail. I don't feel underbraked (2 pot)

Awesome brakes for the money.

I run Deore 2-pots on a couple of bikes with 200 mm rotors up front and semi-metallic pads. They are decent brakes, not as powerful as 4-pots, but perfectly adequate unless you're racing DH.

+1 Deore

Or Sram Level TL or TLM, if you can find a good price.

If you want very cheap then Clarks M2 are good. I'm 15st and they are pretty good for my XC HT mincing about

I was going to suggest the Shimano MT501/MT520 4 pots, but just seen how much these are now!

Bought mine for £140 just before covid but looks like they're £200 for a set now!

Awesome brakes, but looks like you can get guide t or r for less than that now which are also good budget brakes, well not 'budget' but you know what I mean.

Deore 2 pots will be fine for a 10st lad.

180mm rotors rather than 160mm.

I'd swerve the cheaper Sram offerings, much lower on power.

Clarks M2 £100 fitted.

At 10 stone, even two pot Deore brakes with decent pads and 200mm rotors will work well. It doesn't really matter what weight the bike is on its own as you really need to think of total system weight. Clearly the four pot Deore will be better but it depends how much of a budget you're on

Clarke M2 is a good shout actually. I have a pair on an all round commuter/dad bike and they're more than adequate at stopping my fat arse in general use and trail riding.

Clarks do a 4 pot set (M4) that are cheap and supposedly good. Can't find any in stock though

Depends if he wants a bit of adjustment or not, as others say, shimano are good for that, be it the deores or even the 400s below them, but if you want adjustment, then SLX is the one to go for, you can pick up cheap 2 pots these days, everyone going to 4 pots, but at 10 stone it might do the job and at a cheaper price.

In VFM/function terms I don't think you can beat Clarks M2, 180F/160R would definitely stop a 10st lad...

I just bought a set of M2 off eBay direct from Clarks for £50. Im sure they be more than fine for a 10st boy.

Agree about deore 2 pots. Have ran them on various kids bikes and they have never lacked power and rarely need touching. Also have a lightly used set of Level T brakes available v.soon if that's any use?

Or go closer to the source £45 delivered in ten days for "meroca" M4 (clarks)

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002685985093.html

As above, Deore 4 pot is good - I've fitted on my ebike and thus far they seem powerful enough to stop a 52lb bike, though ive yet to emergency stop them.
I'm using a set of hope mono minis on my cove and theyre excellent, though only a 2 pot they are as powerful a brake as i need, and i know they will stop me without any problems
If however opting for a 2nd hand Hope, I'd avoid the Tech 2 lever*. I've bought a few 2nd hand and found for some reason the underside master cylinder cover screws to often be stripped. Possibly due to leakage and people trying to clamp the underside cover down harder, but either way or whatever reason i've found more than my fair share and for that reason wouldnt rate them. Plus Hope dropped that lever pretty quick in favour of a more standard design. Might be something in that

*Im sure yours are fine. Just my personal opinion you understand 🙂

I’m about 100kg at the mo and have never found Shimano brakes lacking in power when I was riding steep, fast stuff. Deore, SLX, XT, Zee and Saint have all been on our bikes (basically whichever was the cheapest at the time) in various mix-match combinations of lever, calliper and hose. As long as you don’t mind the ‘wandering bite point’ that I’ve experienced with all but the original generation of SLX.

I ordered a set of those Meroca M4 brakes off AliExpress, which showed up today.

Look totally spot on, are set up UK style and cost £41 delivered, no customs charges and were here in 7 days.

Is your son going to stay 10st for long?

My 15-yr old is 6ft, 85kg of solid muscle and rides bonkers fast.
He runs Shimano Deore 4-pot at the front and 2-pot at the rear.
Anything less would result in tree hugging.

Deore 2-pot is perfectly adequate for most. You can always put bigger rotors on