intend Trinity - tr...
 

intend Trinity - trick stuff alternative ?

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Intend have released their brake set, could be an alternative to those with deep pockets and don't want to wait 18months + for a set of Trick Stuff...? Currently three sets left in stock so I'm sure that they'll sell out today, even at €900+


 
Posted : 24/03/2023 12:38 pm
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They do look good, interested to see how they perform/if any get sent out for review.


 
Posted : 24/03/2023 1:01 pm
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So far out of my reach that they may well not exist.


 
Posted : 24/03/2023 1:16 pm
tall_martin, dc1988, seriousrikk and 5 people reacted
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Intend do seem to eschew the usual process of sending stuff out for review.

Very few reviews of the forks or shock either.


 
Posted : 20/05/2023 10:44 pm
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It's pretty hard for a small company to send out stuff for review, but if they needed the exposure I'm sure they could. But If your entire product line is selling out regularly why would you need to send it out for review?

The secretive marketing technique works well for boutique brands who are already performing well.


 
Posted : 21/05/2023 7:01 am
zerocool reacted
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If it did review really well then they would likely struggle to keep up with demand and end up in a situation like Trickstuff.


 
Posted : 21/05/2023 10:46 am
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It’s pretty hard for a small company to send out stuff for review

He used to but then got the hump when his stuff didn’t review quite as well as the mainstream alternatives, so stopped.


 
Posted : 21/05/2023 11:14 am
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Are these one of those components which you’ll only ever find user reviews of online, all of which will be positive, as no one will want to admit that they’ve spent the best part of £1k on a set of brakes that are not much better than some £150 SLX ones?


 
Posted : 21/05/2023 12:45 pm
davros reacted
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How are Intend supposed to do this then?
Reviews come from real users rather than journos who spend half a day with the kit. Yes, the owners might be biased but right now, if they don't like them, they can sell them for what they paid, if not more.

But if you think there's too much bias from owners, how would you ever find out if they were better than SLX or not?


 
Posted : 21/05/2023 5:32 pm
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No brake is worth that amount, it's a specific type of clientele, make of that what you will.


 
Posted : 21/05/2023 6:14 pm
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The user reviewers/YouTubers/IGers seem to buy stuff at a discount, on the basis of them giving a review. I take them with a pinch of salt.

No brake is worth that amount

Based on what metric? Objectively, I agree with you, there are brakes that are 90% as good (possibly even closer now, with the T4V4) for half the money, with a lead time of days, rather than weeks/months/years. Subjectively though, they stop a bit better, feel nicer and look better than anything else. To some that’s worth the extra. (IME of Trickstuff)

So, this ‘specific type of clientele’ care to expand on that? What with it being so specific and that…


 
Posted : 21/05/2023 6:29 pm
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Atgnfi.


 
Posted : 21/05/2023 6:38 pm
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And what’s the problem with that? Had Trickstuff not released the Maxima, would Hope have bothered to develop the T4V4?


 
Posted : 21/05/2023 6:43 pm
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Had Trickstuff not released the Maxima, would Hope have bothered to develop the T4V4?

I’m not sure a brake so far off the cost scale and with limited availability would have had much influence. Repeated group tests where Hope were praised for lovely machining but fell short on the power comparison probably niggled them more


 
Posted : 21/05/2023 7:16 pm
davros and jameso reacted
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The brake at the top of the power charts would have given them something to aim for though.


 
Posted : 21/05/2023 7:19 pm
dc1988 reacted
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old thread resurrection:

recent review.


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 11:07 am
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That review popped up on my YouTube suggestions yesterday.... I stopped watching after 2min as I found the guy incredible annoying.


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 11:35 am
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Not sure that there's a need for them when we can fit 200 or 220mm discs?


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 11:38 am
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The point isn’t so much that you have all the power, it’s that it’s less fatiguing/easier to access the required amount of power.


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 11:53 am
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Had a set from batch 3 in my basket but couldn't process the payment quickly enough. I reckon 50 sets went in under a minute.


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 12:59 pm
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Not sure that there’s a need for them when we can fit 200 or 220mm discs?

Always find this argument amusing, moto discs are what, 270mm? But the bike must weigh almost 10x that of MTB?

Unless your on a dh bike 200+ size rotors just compensation for bad brakes imo.


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 1:16 pm
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Always find this argument amusing, moto discs are what, 270mm? But the bike must weigh almost 10x that of MTB?

Unless your on a dh bike 200+ size rotors just compensation for bad brakes imo.

Their calipers and pads are a bit more meaty though, eh?

Nowt wrong with a 200mm rotor on a trail bike, with a good 4-pot brake. It just works.


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 1:21 pm
zerocool reacted
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Unless your on a dh bike 200+ size rotors just compensation for bad brakes imo.

200mm on all my bikes. Consistent feel regardless of what I’m riding.

My brakes get called a lot of things (see above). Bad is not one of them.


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 1:43 pm
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I've always liked a larger disc up front. Newest frame will be 200mm native at the rear. Guess that's going to force me onto a 220 up front.

Nothing to do with bad brakes, just preferred feel.


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 1:48 pm
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That review popped up on my YouTube suggestions yesterday….

I enjoyed the video and was impressed by the brakes*, not impressed enough to spend £900+, well not after trying Magura MT7's and some TRP DH-R Evo. All that said my apparently crap SRAM Code R's are still doing the same job quite well.

I'd never even heard of the brand previously, but they won't sell him spare parts? A dealer network might be nice to idea to distribute parts, but if you've no retailers in a country... that sounds like a deal breaker to me

* apparently they sell forks too?


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 1:50 pm
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apparently they sell forks too?

And shocks. And stems. And cranks. And seatpost clamps. And headsets.

They were brilliant for spares when I was refurbing a set of, second hand, forks 18-24 months ago. (Stanchion, damper, axle, brake mount)

Distributed by TF tuned here (for forks anyway)


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 1:54 pm
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I'd be surprised if they won't sell you spare, unless they simply don't have any. With such small production runs, I imagine they're pretty tight for parts.

Only (minor) critique from the video (except he say they need a tool for reach adjust, then say their tool less later), is they caliper look fairly chunky.


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 2:00 pm
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Unless your on a dh bike 200+ size rotors just compensation for bad brakes imo.

Or 2k vertical descents.


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 2:01 pm
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The point isn’t so much that you have all the power, it’s that it’s less fatiguing/easier to access the required amount of power.

I agree, bigger rotors give that too IMV.

Code RSCs with HS2 rotors 200 and 220mm have been absolutely bomb proof for my heavy, unskilled, brake riding, steep, long vert alpine descents.


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 2:05 pm
zerocool reacted
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What do they do better than TRP or Magura ones don't


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 2:51 pm
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What do they do better than TRP or Magura ones don’t

Nobody knows, because as Tom suggested above - Mr Intend never sends stuff out for proper review.


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 3:07 pm
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Mr Intend never sends stuff out for proper review.

this returns to this point...

Reviews come from real users rather than journos who spend half a day with the kit

That video is from someone who bought it with his own money, and his comments suggest he's had them for a while, but maybe not long enough to suggest a long term review. Still not convincing me to spend the money, but it's a better review than any of the Lewis brake video's.


 
Posted : 14/02/2024 3:20 pm
zerocool reacted
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Well, having tried for pretty much every 50 piece release from day one, I finally managed to bag a set.


 
Posted : 13/12/2024 7:43 am
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I see they do spares for forks and shock, but what about spares for these brakes.

Having super powerful brakes is one thing, but if you cannot easily get the spares, then theres little point in shelling out that much.

Happy to stick with Hope, pretty much guaranteed spares for the next ten years at least.


 
Posted : 13/12/2024 9:59 am
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There are enough bikes (with Hope brakes) in the house that it's never going to be rude stopping. I've seen on other forums that Intend have been really good with small parts. Just because they don't list them, doesn't mean they don't have them.

I think I'm just curious about these brakes as much as anything else.


 
Posted : 13/12/2024 11:00 am
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Nice work @Onzadog, I've got a set of their Samurai TR forks ready for my Starling Beady Little Eye when it arrives and nearly went for the brakes too, but had my heart set on some Trickstuff Maxima's which are now in a very expensive pile of parts waiting to be dropped up to Starling HQ for the build when the frame's ready in the New Year.


 
Posted : 13/12/2024 11:03 am
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@abingham cheers. That's sounding like a nice build and would love to hear your thoughts on the fork when it's all up and running.


 
Posted : 13/12/2024 11:09 am
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I would have thought that being a fairly small manufacturer, they could quite easily make spare parts to order and not need to keep a large inventory on the shelf.


 
Posted : 13/12/2024 12:00 pm
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I get the impression that the parts are out sourced locally and then assembled in batches. I think they've just made a point of keeping spares in stock.


 
Posted : 13/12/2024 12:26 pm
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Well, having tried for pretty much every 50 piece release from day one, I finally managed to bag a set.

I got some DH ones in the one before (not the black Ti). Just waiting for a the destination frame to be built now 🙂

They do feel lovely to use in hand though. Enjoy the bog roll.


 
Posted : 13/12/2024 1:25 pm
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The TriniTi was very pretty


 
Posted : 13/12/2024 2:53 pm
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Another batch of 50 pairs gone in under 5 minutes again.


 
Posted : 28/01/2025 9:02 am
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it very impressive, how quick they sell out!


 
Posted : 28/01/2025 9:28 am
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*smug face*

@onzadog, parts arrived, seemingly via most of Europe 😀

On the access to spares front, the parts I’m referring to above is a small bag of spare bolts, barbs etc that came in the box, which I’ve somehow now lost. I emailed Intend to ask about buying a replacement. They had one in the post the next day, no charge.


 
Posted : 28/01/2025 1:03 pm
kelvin and kelvin reacted
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That's good news. I'm liking that level of customer service.

Hearing on other forums that some people have ripped hoses out in crashes. Hope it's just user error


 
Posted : 28/01/2025 1:15 pm
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So, it's going to take me longer to get back in the bike than I'd originally intended (if you'll pardon the pun) so I'm wondering if I might move my brakes on for what they cost me, not looking to make a profit. They're just sitting in a box mocking me.


 
Posted : 06/02/2025 3:57 pm
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Dale Stone has an interesting review on the Hope T4V4 with some comments at the end comparing them to the Trinity 


 
Posted : 22/03/2025 5:49 pm
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Posted by: dartdude

What do they do better than TRP or Magura ones don't

Similar to spending a couple of grand taking your family on holiday somewhere In Spain its perfectly fine everyone has a good time weathers good foods good all good ....then you spend tripple the amount the following year and go to lake garda and its fantastic, weather's fantastic foods fantastic everyone has a fantastic time ......see its the same just better. 

People spend thousands on holidays cars jewellery garden renovation fancy kitchens but absolutely loose there mind whe someone wants to spend a grand on brakes .

 

 


 
Posted : 22/03/2025 10:24 pm
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Posted by: Onzadog

Dale Stone has an interesting review on the Hope T4V4 with some comments at the end comparing them to the Trinity 

And yet last month the hayes dominion a4 was the bees knees........in his opinion 

Take his reviews with a pinch of salt .

Yes he talks very well and says a lot of nice things but it's only his opinion 

 


 
Posted : 22/03/2025 10:31 pm
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Take his reviews with a pinch of salt

Yeah, like all reviews. He does have a comprehensive scoring system and the T4V4 only came out above the Trinity by a couple of points.


 
Posted : 22/03/2025 10:42 pm
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Next batch of Trinity brakes on sale at 2pm UK time this afternoon. Now available in silver as well with a few tweaks to call them 2.0


 
Posted : 04/04/2025 7:47 am
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Similar to spending a couple of grand taking your family on holiday somewhere In Spain its perfectly fine everyone has a good time weathers good foods good all good ....then you spend tripple the amount the following year and go to lake garda and its fantastic, weather's fantastic foods fantastic everyone has a fantastic time ......see its the same just better. 

Strange analogy because we spent a few days on Garda last year and my impression was it's a bit like <del>Malaga </del> Shimano Deore. 

And yet last month the hayes dominion a4 was the bees knees........in his opinion 

Take his reviews with a pinch of salt .

Or we're just discussing some components on which there is little you could actually do to improve them past a point.  It's a lever,  fulcrum, hydraulic ratio and how stiff/light/frictionless you can make the individual parts.  The margin between average and best is going to be relatively slim.  Otherwise we'd just be in an arms race of cylinder diameters because motorcycle brakes operate at roughly double the pressure so there's plenty of scope to make some silly brakes if anyone really wanted to.  

 

 

 

 


 
Posted : 04/04/2025 9:23 am
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I have a pair of the latest all  black 2.0 for sale in the classifieds if anyone wants a pair that has never managed too.

🙂    HNY


 
Posted : 01/01/2026 5:42 pm
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Posted by: Big-Bud

And yet last month the hayes dominion a4 was the bees knees........in his opinion 

His review of the Hayes was pretty negative. 

 


 
Posted : 01/01/2026 10:02 pm
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Posted by: honourablegeorge

His review of the Hayes was pretty negative. 

I think it was fair.  They are very good brakes but I'm not convinced their QC is the best.  The set that came on my Privateer had a leaky bleed screw I had to sort.

I'd love a set of Trinitys because I bet they are good brakes and I love the simplicity of the bleed procedure and the hose connections that can swivel.  Little things but make life a pleasure not a chore 😀. No way am I paying the price though


 
Posted : 01/01/2026 11:11 pm
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Posted by: Rubber_Buccaneer

Posted by: honourablegeorge

His review of the Hayes was pretty negative. 

I think it was fair.  They are very good brakes but I'm not convinced their QC is the best.  The set that came on my Privateer had a leaky bleed screw I had to sort.

I'd love a set of Trinitys because I bet they are good brakes and I love the simplicity of the bleed procedure and the hose connections that can swivel.  Little things but make life a pleasure not a chore 😀. No way am I paying the price though

The hose connection that can swivel is maybe beneficial on initial setup but I struggle to see any advantage after that and indeed there are issues of the first batch having hoses come out after a crash and they revised it with a safe sleeve which helped a little but didn't eliminate it and now all models have done away with it and have a save sleeve built into the lever itself despite the imags model still on there website showing the older version 

 


 
Posted : 02/01/2026 7:50 pm
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Agreed, only on initial set up.  But those 30 seconds of not having to mess around making sure the hose sits nicely would be bliss.  (If the connection isn’t reliable that would rather spoil my pleasure though)


 
Posted : 02/01/2026 9:34 pm
 mboy
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Anybody with some actual real world experience of both able to compare the Intend Trinity's to the Trickstuff Maxima's...?


 
Posted : 02/01/2026 9:52 pm
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Posted by: mboy

Anybody with some actual real world experience of both able to compare the Intend Trinity's to the Trickstuff Maxima's..

They feel closer to a Direttissima in terms of lever feel if you have used one of them.

The Maxima has quite a ‘soft’ bite point (almost like a poorly bled Direttissima) but that’s just how they feel, they don’t have that solid feel when you are hauling on them.

The Trinity is comparable to a Direttissima or a Dominion in terms of power IME.

They are a lot easier to bleed than a Trickstuff, which are a messy PITA (although better with the newer C42 calipers, which the downside is seemingly less powerful than the C41 🤦‍♂️)

 

 

 


 
Posted : 03/01/2026 10:07 am
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The lever feel of the Intend is different to either of the trickstuff,the Intend has much less lever throw than either of the trickstuff and are far easier to bleed far easier, I've had a pair of the original Intends and that bite point has never moved either .

The maxima has more top end power but the amount of free stroke before initial bite is far more than you would ever expect but the top end power is fantastic. 

The dirritisma I have are the ltd ice blue versions and have been the most disappointing brakes out of the 3 ,top end power is not as good as the Intends and whilst modulation is fantastic they again have a lot of lever throw ,these have actually been back to saddleback under warranty for a noise in one of the levers and both were bled and the lever throw was identical to my own bleed .

I'm personally not a fan of the softer bite of the ts and prefer a lot more of the solid feel from the Intends. 

My only criticism of the Intends is I like to have my hands further outwards on the bar and this makes the Intends a little unnatural as due to the relatively short lever and master cylinder placement means they are more suited to the 90% of riders who have there hands correctly placed in the centre of the grip, it's a trate I thought would help me reposition my hands but that hasn't happened. 

For eg I bought the latest Intends as a gift for my partner and he has small hands like me and didn't like the placement of the lever being so inboard 

 


 
Posted : 03/01/2026 2:16 pm
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Posted by: HobNob

Posted by: mboy

Anybody with some actual real world experience of both able to compare the Intend Trinity's to the Trickstuff Maxima's..

They feel closer to a Direttissima in terms of lever feel if you have used one of them.

The Maxima has quite a ‘soft’ bite point (almost like a poorly bled Direttissima) but that’s just how they feel, they don’t have that solid feel when you are hauling on them.

The Trinity is comparable to a Direttissima or a Dominion in terms of power IME.

They are a lot easier to bleed than a Trickstuff, which are a messy PITA (although better with the newer C42 calipers, which the downside is seemingly less powerful than the C41 🤦‍♂️)

 

 

 

Still more than happy to do a deal with you or HuckersNeck:) for the Intends 

 


 
Posted : 03/01/2026 2:22 pm
 mboy
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Cheers @HobNob and @sazmtb ... It's the soft bite point and the long lever throw that I love about the Maxima's! I can get a Hope V4 to feel how I like (bite point almost all the way to the bar, long lever throw), but in doing so it has bugger all power...

Trickstuff are a bugger to bleed, I'm not going to disagree with you... I have found that overfilling them, in a similar fashion to overfilling a Shimano brake reservoir, helps somewhat and eliminates the chance of the dreaded wandering bite point... I do this by laying the bike on its side, remove the lever bleed port screw, then simply drip a few drops of fluid into the reservoir before carefully cycling the lever a few times, then repeating until you can no more and refitting the bleed screw... It certainly helps when bleeding if you can have the brake off the bike, though not possible on anything internally routed... Bleeding with the caliper vertically below the lever and having the lever pointed vertically makes a big difference too. Even with a perfect bleed, the Maxima's are far too soft for most people's tastes though, but I love them... I do run my levers miles inboard though, and can only just reach the very end of the lever with my index finger (run my hands quite outboard on the grips too)...


 
Posted : 03/01/2026 7:18 pm