As title really.
Im looking for some new brakes and at the moment I cant see past either a slx or xt set up !!
Is there anything else around the same price as these to consider?
I noticed a Sram guide R disc brake on merlin?
is this any good?
Magura MT5. Both the cheaper MT5 and MT7 have been getting great reviews. The MT5's are lighter than XT/SLX, they produce as much power as a set of Saints and they modulate better. You're just tied into their brake pads as they use a split design, to give them more braking ages - which makes sense to me as if you take a look look at motorbike pads you'd notice they also have more braking edges.
Hi, always had Shimano brakes, including the latest much raved about XT, however just got a new bike with Guide R brakes, very impressive, more powerful than my XT and the modulation is good. Hope this helps!
Supposedly the Guides have finally got rid of SRAM/Avid's reputation for making temperamental brakes....I'm yet to be convinced and went for second hand Saints on my FS the other day.
If I was buying new (and I will be shortly) then it'll be XT on my hardtail next.
cheers !!
nope it hasnt helped at all lol !!
I've just switched to Zee on the new bike, I've been on Shimano brakes since the original XT 4 pots, mainly XT/Deore over the last 7 or 8 years.
I never had a particular problem with the modulation on the previous 2 piston Shimano brakes, but having ridden the Zee I wouldn't go back, excellent power, good modulation. Brilliant.
http://enduro-mtb.com/en/preview-issue-015-enduro-magazine-disc-brake-group-test/
The Maguras won this shootout.
Same position re brakes, looked at magura (old Louise FR still going) Formula Mega(own the one and they are something else, positively until as all the nay sayers tell me they die) Hope (own and feel they were underpowered x2 with 180 rotors) Sram and choose xt after owning deores,
XT it was, they are good and for the price pretty unbeatable and I still hanker for my original 4 pot shimano xts.....
What've you got at the moment Renton? Why are you changing? Depends whether you are looking for more power, more modulation, easier serviceability, lighter weight?
Not saying you don't need new brakes but depends what you are after. I love shimano brakes but haven't used the Guides. They review well but long term reliability would worry me.
currently running a set of formula oro k18 and whilst they are good Ive had better on previous bikes and I feel as though these are holding me back a bit if that makes sense!
XT it was, they are good and for the price pretty unbeatable and I still hanker for my original 4 pot shimano xts.....
As do/did I. Get the Zee's!
Get MT5's 😛 Best mix of power/weight/price.
Oros have great modulation but not much power for big guys. Shimano are good, Zee are ver good.
Love my Maguras, used to love my XTs, won't be getting SLXs again.
where is cheapest for the mt5's?
Germany, probably. Seeing as they are German.
Google.de is your friend.
I think rose bikes had some going for 70 odd quid an end.
Edit: 85 from the German rose bikes site, 88 from the UK one. 32 quid total difference over front/rear zee, but well over 150g weight saving over zee and a bit lighter (80g than xt). Still....have a look around on google.de
If low price is your main decider, go SLX. No point buying XT.
Merlin have XT brake set at £104.95. Rotors and mount extra. That is silly cheap.
I know !!
magura are £88 each !
Again, it depends what your priorities are. Zee power, better modulation and fade resistance with less weight than XT, or price.
In which case, skip XT and go for SLX as the weight difference is negligible and the XT bite point adjuster is worthless.
The only thing worth buying XT is shifters and the new 11 speed rear mech, until the 11 speed SLX mech comes out.
I'm slumming it at the mo with SLX on one bike, they really are good performers and stupidly good value. Outclassed by my The Ones to be honest, but then the entire brakeset would cost about the same as a replacement caliper for my The Ones, so they bloody ought to outclass them.
Not sure I'd even pay the extra for XT, the SLX are so good. Mid-class brakes at entry level prices, don't know why anyone else bothers.
IMO a totally fresh, top condition Oro is actually a better brake... But it's a 10 year old design and I think last made in 2009 so they're all pretty tired. And just not economic to fix up. My set used to be on my dh bike, now they're on my commuter 😆
Emphasis on fresh, oros shit themselves to death. At least when Shimano's do, they're cheap enough to throw in the bin.
The new Formulas are probably great, had k18's, K24s and the old style The Ones and they all died. Where as all my Hopes (who have a bad rep for some reason) have lived for decades.
mmmm ok xt's from merlin with rotors etc is coming out at £166.85
maguras from rose bikes are £181
slx with rotors 124, @ merlin
If you're looking at SLX and wanna save some cash what about Deore?
Edit: £88 with rotors from CRC.
Again depends what kind of rising the OP is doing, they don't have the ceramic piston do they?
Deore are great, until you point them down long alpine length downhills.
It all comes down to need vs want I guess.
are the deore as good as slx?
Pretty much, except for heat resistance. Again, I wouldn't want to take my pair out to the alps.
My next set for alpine excursions/UK downhill tracks will be Mt5's for sure.
Im only doing trails really with the occasional downhill bit if I feel brave enough. the thing is the bike builds up quite a bit of speed so I need something reliable and also something I am confident in knowing it will stop me.
Yeah they don't have the ceramic pistons of SLX so conduct heat into the fluid more readily. As you say depends what type of riding you do.
For a direct comparison....
I borrowed some Guide CRsomething when my XT's poo'd themselves in Nepal. I was running XT on the front, Guide on the rear.
The guides were great. Modulation, sqush, outright power, all comparable with the XTs.
The lever consistency was better with the Guides but you'd expect that being a fresh out of the box brake vs. some that have had a [b]massive [/b]hammering since their last bleed.
The Guides are flop-flop. No messing around with hoses and levers if you buy cheap abroad. This means you can take a single brake away with you as a spare.
Either matchmakers or i-Spec to suit your shifters & dropper/reverb make a difference?
I prefer the XT lever shape & length but honestly, the Guide lever is fine and you just get on with it when you're hooning it down a 45 dergree scree face or a dusty, rocky trail with massive drop off the side. You forget about the minutiae or lever shape in those moments.
So either way, I don't have anything bad to say about the Guides and they even have some improvements over the XTs.
But... y'know.... they're Avids really aren't they?
😆
HTH
p.s. in 2 years of hard riding, me and the Mrs have each cracked a piston in XT brakes....
What the heck is a flop flop brake? By the way my SRAM Guides are awesome brakes, best I've ever had, and I hated earlier Avid offerings.
Flip flop means the lever doesn't have a top or bottom so can be run on either side of the bars by flipping it over.
I've got the latest Deores (615??) which came with my bike, the older SLX (666???) and a set of Hope X2s.
Delores are the best of the 3 and I've used them on some very long descents. They can fade if you're on them for several minutes a pop in 30ºC heat, but I'd guess any brake would. I think you can fit finned pads to them.
The Hopes fade much more rapidly.
Oh... This is ever so slightly cheeky but, those SLXs I mention will be spare as soon as I get my finger out and fit these Formulas. TBH, I'd probably buy new considering how cheap they are, but if you're interested give me a shout!
After having a set of super expensive mt 8 brakes I'll never touch Magura again. Utter rubbish when it comes to bleeding them, UK distro is more than unhelpful and trying to get parts is nearly impossible. Shimano all the way for me
Had hope, deore and xt now on Zee which are without doubt the best brakes i've ever had. Stopping power is incredible.
Although the Magura's come out better in that review a friend has some and they have had to be sent back twice in a year.
My Louise BAT's were highly rated, but I still can't get the front one to bite.
Just a little hijack to northwind
Hi
I would be interested in your slx ones, what model and how much please.
Email in profile
The plastic master cylinder on the mt5 brakes is very delicate.
Saints or Zees are very powerful and good reports on these. Only 15g heavier than XT, but a worthy tradeoff especially for bears on bikes
Always liked Avids and if they were kept in good nic (ridiculously easy when you know how) they've always crapped on shimano for me. Guides are no different - bags more power then any shimano I've used (tho never used Saints or Zees).
The plastic master cylinder on the mt5 brakes is very delicate.
It's the same material that BMW are speccing on their motorbikes, for durability reasons. I've had a handle of them and didn't find them to be delicate.
As for bleeding, in what way were they hard? All the user reports seem to say that the new Next line, as opposed to the old MT line are easy to bleed.
After two sets of XTs I switched to Zee.
Won't be going back...
Right these might have to take a back burner for a month or so as I'm buying a dropper post.
Would a pad swap help. What pads are best for the k18
To what extent are your K18s borked? If they are anything like mine (despite lots of love and care), I'd go with some new brakes first.
Brakes stop you from impacting trees at high speed, dropper posts just make life a bit easier.
I don't think even I'd piss about trying to fix up tired Oros these days. New pads might help but they might not. Giving them a really good clean and a quick rub on some 80 grit wet and dry (to remove any glaze and smooth the surface) is free and might help, maybe a bleed if you have the kit and it's not been done lately or is questionable, but past that probably not worth it. There's not many brakes of that age still in use at all tbh!
If I'm honest with myself there isn't actually anything wrong with them.
They are very clean and don't leak at all.
However its slightly disconcerting seeing the front caliper flex when you squeeze the lever. I guess that is normal with two piece calipers.
They stop me right enough but it's always nice to have a bit of extra power for that "oh shot" moment.
Will save for some zee's I think.
Have a look at my for same thread for them to see the condition.
One thing I forgot about is that I need to disconnect the rear hose to remove it from the single arm. How much of a pain will it be and would they need a bleed afterwards?
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No chance that it won't need bled after imo- you [i]might[/i] get away with undoing the lever bolt and reattaching, if you don't disturb it but removing the hose will cause too much leakage. They're easy brakes to bleed but you do need the kit (or an avid kit)
What if I remove the lever from the bars and out it lower than the caliper and then undo the hose from the caliper would that work ?
I'd be amazed tbh. It's not like shortening a hose, with minimal disturbance. Hmmm. Just maybe you could undo it and block off the ends but I'd be surprised if that worked out.
I've just got to unthread it from the swing arm.
Definitely do it at the lever end- gravity'll cause it all to leak out if you do it at the caliper. Or turn it upside down! But I think it'll leak too much when you remove the banjo regardless.
I have a DH bike arriving in the next day or 2 with Hope brakes on. Was going to swap them for SLX but all this talk of ZEE is making me reconsider!
How well to the SLX cope with long Alpine descents? Never had any issues in the UK with them or my XTs but not tried them out on a big bike on a really long descent!
Currently Rose Are doing SLX for something like £31 and £38 so its very tempting....