[Closed] Disc brake change - Should I?

Wouldn't bother, my Elixirs are fine, as are my mates.

I have an Italian car.... which broke several times this week. i'd get some Hopes.

Shimano or Magura.

This weekends passportes and alpine fun braking run down:

Shimano XTs on sintered pads - terrible fade after steep runs
Avid Juicy 7 and 5s (both on sintered)- terrible fade, squeal, ****ing nightmare pad change, sticky piston on both
Avid elixir CR - fade after long runs, horrible horrible vibration and squeal on normal riding which would not go away no matter how much jiggering about
Hope tech M4s (on organic) - no issues at all, absolutely no fade, just went through organic pads every 40km or so! 😯

My vote goes to hopes also,
Kev

Sounds like that's more down to the pad type.

*awaits arrival of usual stw dh gods to blame it on excessive braking*

sillyoldman - Member
Sounds like that's more down to the pad type.

yeah, but where's the fun in buying new pads? 😉

Why let logic interfere with aquisition of questionably valuable shiny things?

Kev

Are you ham-fisted?

Why would some one elses brakes working fine mean that you don't need to replace your set that don't work?

No disrespect to b_s_n, but all that does is show that most brakes are crap in the alps when you were there.
Have they all been recently serviced with a full bleed with new fluid? If you can't answer that then your statement is meaningless.

Just to balance that out a bit. Hope Tech M4 front with Tech X2 rear, Hope organic pads. Front brake fade whilst riding down a fairly short but very steep road section in the Peaks.

My choice would be the new XTR trail from what owners have said. I still like the Hopes though.

Besides the OP has already said his brakes are a PITA, so why would he stick with them??

I've just given my original Hope Minis their 10th birthday present - a new set of lever and caliper seals. Should keep them sweet for another 5 years or so.

The only problem I had was down to the warm weather. I took a glass of water out into the back yard yesterday while doing the rebuild. And mistook it for the jamjar full of dot5.1. Just stopped short of swallowing (as they say).

bigyinn - Member
No disrespect to b_s_n, but all that does is show that most brakes are crap in the alps when you were there.
Have they all been recently serviced with a full bleed with new fluid? If you can't answer that then your statement is meaningless.

Oof! I'll take that one straight in the nuts. I must have got this internet thing all wrong. 😀

now, I know your not supposed to ever, and I mean EVER start any sentence with the words 'no, actually...' or 'I think you'll find that...' (and I refer to myself here)

however.....

I think you'll find that.. 😀 the juicy 5s, elixirs and XTs had all indeed just been freshly bled just for the trip. I also used to have Avids and they were a PITA (fade, pads, fiddles, singing etc etc)

I will also chuck in for balance that my self same hopes, with sintered pads, were w4nk with a capital W last time i was on long descents. (faaaAAADDDE!)

but overall, to the OP, if you are indeed suffering from these brakes then got shot of them. Life's to shot to faff about with kit that ain't working, rather spend time out using it for it's intended purpose.

Kev

furry muff b_s_n. Having never ridden my XTs in the Alps, I will concur that those brakes were poo. I suspect mine would cook trying to haul my lardy carcass to a stop!

Be interested to know what peoples real life experience is of the new XTs that ST just added an article about.

Shimano XTs on sintered pads - terrible fade after steep runs
Avid Juicy 7 and 5s (both on sintered)- terrible fade, squeal, ****ing nightmare pad change, sticky piston on both
Avid elixir CR - fade after long runs, horrible horrible vibration and squeal on normal riding which would not go away no matter how much jiggering about
Hope tech M4s (on organic) - no issues at all, absolutely no fade, just went through organic pads every 40km or so!

My vote goes to hopes also,

So you had the wrong pads in for the other brakes! 😯

"Shimano XTs on sintered pads - terrible fade after steep runs"

I've had absolutely the opposite experience in the Alps - rode steep, fast and brake-draggy stuff around morzine, chatel and let gets for 2 weeks solid and the only 2 fautless parts of my bike were the XT 775 brakes and the Revelation forks. They never faded, howled, overheated or were thought about apart from checking the pads and listening to them clicking as they cooled at the bottom of trails.
I'm 12st and not a downhiller but can get down the hills pretty quick on a 140mm trail bike and I've overheated other brakes out there.

I rate the recent XT brakes more highly than pretty much anything i've used on my bikes in recent years. I have 3 sets on different bikes and apart from that 'sticky piston in the cold' issue with the very first production sets (fixed now) they have been problem-free.

Credit where it's due, they're ace. If the new ones are anything like the 775s and the new XTR, they'll be brilliant VFM.