An improvement in braking power that is?
I have a set of M525 brakes on a bike and a spare set of the M775 brake levers hanging around, if I put the XT levers on will I notice an improvement in braking power, will the servowave be noticable ... I'd like to get a bit more power without having to squeeze harder like I have to with the old levers, anyone put these levers onto some older brakes and seen an improvement??
I did , swapped lx levers for m775 and noticed ..........that it takes less effort and gave more feel and not just because of the fresh oil, as I keep my brakes as sweet as I can
Ah, ok, might as well dig the levers out the loft and give em a go?
Well, I've got one of each (an '06 XTR on the left and an '09 XT on the right) and I can quite honestly say there is no noticable difference between the two. Calipers are '06 XTRs.
It depends on how you set them up. The free stroke adjuster makes a big differance to the way they work.
Look at the pair of 775's you have, and get your head around the way the cam works at the begining of the stroke, effectivly moving the piston away from the lever fulcrum in order to shift larger volumes of oil per increment of lever travel, and how that changes to low volume/high pressure when the cam shifts towards the pivot at the bite point. The free stroke adjuster normally comes screwed all the way in, almost nulling the above action and making the levers feel very similar to other non servo wave brakes. Adjust the free stroke screw a couple of turns anti clockwise, and have another look at whats happening with the pivot. You will quite clearly feel the cam lock over and a huge increase in braking force.
Regardless of what caliper you use, the effect will be very noticable.
I'm not sure that it will give any more power, but what it should do is give more pad clearance at rest, and possibly give more modulation under mild braking.
I did.
Changed from some M765 XT levers to M775 XT levers with M965 XTR calipers (and goodridge hoses) and noticed a fair size difference in stopping power.
Same pads, same rotors, same bike, but went from needing 2 fingers to really stop hard from speed to being able to single finger brake all the time no matter what.
I will agree with what's been said previously though, setup of the freestroke adjuster seems to make quite a difference. You'll need to mess about with it and see what suits you, I ignored it to start and wondered why the brakes didn't feel so great, then adjusted to suit and was rewarded with very powerful brakes!
you should if they're set up right. servo-wave XT's are awesome brakes.
