Are Saint M820 203s overkill brakes for an AM/Enduro bike?

I’m looking to replace the brakes on my Zesty, which currently runs with Formula The Ones, which i like, except they are a bit fragile, squeal like pigs in the wet and have ridiculously expensive spares (small bolt falls out of lever pivot, have to buy complete lever kit for £40 etc).

So, i was thinking about some Saint M820s. Anyone run these on their AM/Enduro bike? I’m pretty light on brakes and have had no issues with the current Formulas once i moved up to 203mm dia, even after throwing myself off the odd Alp or two.

Also, does anyone mix and match different brake types front to rear? Even say XT M785s on the back, with the twin pot saints on the front?

No harm but they’re not needed. Deore m615 will stop you dead all day long in the alps with 203s and they’re a lot lighter than 820s.

I run Zees front and Deores rear.

I run 820’s with 180/160 rotors on my Nukeproof Mega TR. I’m 13 stone and have yet to feel under braked on any descent I’ve ridden. They are better the the Formula T1s that they replaced.

If you’re light on brakes, it seems a bit pointless. Both the brakes, and the rotor size.

Formula brakes are cack – you will definitely see an improvement if you replace them.

I run Zee 203mm fr/180mm rr – there’s a lot to be said for the ability to brake hard and late.

I run Zee front and rear on mine with 203s both ends.

I find the 4 pot actually modulates better than the 2 pot Shimanos with less grab, and having the extra power on tap for when your arms are getting tired helps reduce arm pump build up.

Do it 🙂

XT’s on my Mega. Plenty, plenty powerful.

If you’re looking for spares though, Shimano isn’t for you. You still have to replace whole levers and calipers etc. Mind you, an XT lever recently only cost me £23 so not too bad…

I’m going to get some Zees in the next couple of months I think and run them (hopefully) on my existing 203/180mm rotors.

Ok, sounds like it might be a goer 😉

One of the issues with the formulas is also the easy availability, or lack of, for spares and not just their cost.

tbh, i know people slag the Formula’s off, but for lightweight me (70kg + 12kg of bike) i’ve found them really nice to use (powerful, easy to modulate etc) but they are just not really robust enough for what i am now riding.

Think i’ll try a set of M820s on the front, leave the Formulas on the back for now, and just try it, and eventually replace the rears as well when i know how the fronts perform 😉

Not taking anyone’s advice then!? 🙂 820 is a downhillers brake where weight doesn’t matter. A 12kg bike doesn’t deserve cannonballs bolted onto it! Really, buy a pair of standard 615, or xt. You’ll be amazed hiw powerful they are and great feel/modulation (despite the fashionable comments such as ‘grabby’ etc). You will get both brakes for less dosh than a single Saint. Seems an easy decision to make.

I’ve got a pair of m820’s that I’ve used on different bikes over the last six months. They are hanging up now but I found them excellent brakes regardless of rotor size from a carbon ht to a fat bike.

Thing is, how much “heavier” is a set of M820s vs a set of XT’s? Is it more than 100g? tbh, my bike collects probably 100g of mud and i don’t notice that…….

I know weight weenie-ing is fun, but it’s also fairly irrelevant in the real world.

I’m 115kg and XTs 203/180 stop me plenty quick enough.

Serious question on this, I’m a semi big boy at 14 stone thinking to drop down from 203/180 to 180/180 on a new set of zees (coming from old old xt)

Bike gets all round use and needs strong braking as I like going fast but would you not get better performance from a 180 disk in more riding scenarios as it’s running hotter more of the time?

I always felt my aztek 203 only got cooking hot after dropping off a mountain etc rather than more ‘average’ riding conditions.

The zee/saint four pots seem to be right up there for modulation so has anyone upgraded performance by downgrading rotor size (in the welterclyde weight category) ?

dunno about 820’s, i have 810’s and love em, 203 front, and 203 rear, though i wish the rear was 180 or 160 – too much grabbiness.

I’d stick with your 203mm. Not a lot of weight penalty for extra braking performance.

I have been contemplating getting 4 pots but it depends if youre racing. Think the small weight penalty will be worth having for later braking.

I know Graves uses Saint calipers with XTR levers.

They’re over kill for most downhill bikes.

Hope M4 solves your parts issue, great back up and plenty powerful enough with super modulation. Solved!

rephlexer – Member
Serious question on this, I’m a semi big boy at 14 stone thinking to drop down from 203/180 to 180/180 on a new set of zees (coming from old old xt)

Bike gets all round use and needs strong braking as I like going fast but would you not get better performance from a 180 disk in more riding scenarios as it’s running hotter more of the time?

I always felt my aztek 203 only got cooking hot after dropping off a mountain etc rather than more ‘average’ riding conditions.

The zee/saint four pots seem to be right up there for modulation so has anyone upgraded performance by downgrading rotor size (in the welterclyde weight category) ?

POSTED 1 HOUR AGO # REPORT-POST

Are you suggesting brakes need to be cooking hot to work properly? I’ve never found that; as soon as any dampness has evaporated off them they’re 100%. Once they get cooking hot performance drops significantly.

Are you suggesting brakes need to be cooking hot to work properly? I’ve never found that; as soon as any dampness has evaporated off them they’re 100%. Once they get cooking hot performance drops significantly.

I found my pads lasted longer if the brakes were hotter (by using smaller rotors). IME/IMO the increace in power between cold and hot is noticeable if you get the brakes hot enough, I’m 15stone and had 160/140mm brakes for quite a while. You could feel an improvement after the first big pull on the brakes on a decent. They were hope mini’s though, so evey bit of power was needed, better brakes proabbly had enough power from cold!

There was though a very fine line between working temperature and fadeing and eventualy the fuild overheating/boiling. So I swapped back to bigger rotors, the added power of that is far more than added by hot brakes and no need to wory if they’re still going to work by the end of the trail! Great for learning how to carry speed/brake less, essentialy I was limited in how many pulls of the lever I had!

As for the original question, my shimano XT’s aren’t more powerfull than anything else, they just require much less effort at the lever, and it all comes in a very short while, pulling it right back to the bars doesn’t add much more stopping power. I proved that to myself on the 1in3 slope past my house, you could hold the front brake to the bars and the wheel would still roll rather than lock up, whereas my avids would hold it dead (but that’s several times more braking force than you’d ever use, even stopping hard on the road).

Theres no such thing as being overbraked, at the end of a 10-15 braking bump filled run in the alps then you want a brake that will stop you with the least amount of physical effort possible.

This is even more acute on shorter travel bikes as opposed to full on downhill bikes.

I’m putting Zee brakes on my new hardtail build for this reason, even though it wont be ridden in the alps, it will still knock me around in the Peaks/Scotland. 180f/160r still produces more power than 203/180 rear using SLX/XT brakes – at a lower rotating weight.

Zee’s are about 40 percent more powerful than a set of XT’s, dropping down a rotor size knocks off about 20 percent of that power. So at 180mm you still have a brake that’s 20 percent more powerful than an XT with a 203mm rotor.

Not taking anyone’s advice then!? 820 is a downhillers brake where weight doesn’t matter. A 12kg bike doesn’t deserve cannonballs bolted onto it! Really, buy a pair of standard 615, or xt.

Errr, you do realize that those are about as heavy as Saints but you need bigger rotors to get near (ish) to the same power? Right?

The Deore and SLX brakes are actually heavier than Zees. Why anyone buys anything but Zees (save for price) is beyond me.

I’ve had all three and Zee are heavier than Deore and SLX.

Bikeradar claim differently, however, I’ve looked at some forum shots and Zee appear to be 5g havier than Deore.

Wow.

Considering you can then save weight by running a 160mm rotor to still get a greater level of power than SLX/XT at 180mm, it’s kind of a no brainer. And if you need a 180mm disk on the back for heat fade reasons, you should probably be buying Zee anyway.

Tom_W1987 – Member

The Deore and SLX brakes are actually heavier than Zees. Why anyone buys anything but Zees (save for price) is beyond me.

Because you’re wrong?

Length of cables please? That still only 13g, which is only 8g more than what I’ve just seen.

Again, a 160mm rotor is going to save you more weight and it’s going to be rotating weight.

PS. It’s also been weighed on a different **** scale.

CRC have XT on offer ATM and they are plenty powerful. Saint are more powerful and look nice but whether you will benefit from the power remains to be seen.

13g! just let a couple of psi outta your tyres and you’re back to par! 😉

btw, whats the difference between Zee & Saint? I’m a bit confused?

Oh, and second question, do modern twin pots wear pads evenly and will they stand up to a UK winter well?

The saint has toolless reach and bit adjusters, the zee only as reach adjustment.

The Zee is supposedly a little bit more powerful as well, at the expense of about 2g in weight.

Oh, and second question, do modern twin pots wear pads evenly and will they stand up to a UK winter well?

No, I don’t believe so. The point of four parts is partly to get more modulation by having part of the pad come in contact with the disk before the other part/or apply more force.

I have Saint M820s on my Tracer, they’re properly properly powerful when you need it but nicely modulated too. I like them, they’re probably too good, but if you turn your brain off and grab a handful they’ll stop you, quite literally, Dead.

If I was buying again i’d probably get XTs given the price Merlin have them.

Tom_W1987 – Member
Length of cables please? That still only 13g, which is only 8g more than what I’ve just seen.

Again, a 160mm rotor is going to save you more weight and it’s going to be rotating weight.

PS. It’s also been weighed on a different **** scale.

Cables are about the same length, as you can see in the pics.

Zee and SLX are the same lever, but Zee calipers are four pot versus the SLX’s 2, so Zee are obviously heavier – it’s 23g as pictured which sounds about right.

People who feel they don’t need the power choose the cheaper SLX. WHich is fair enough. I’d have the four pots myself every time – have Saints on the DH bike, and XTR Lever/810 caliper combination on the trail bike.

arghhh stupid brain, yes 23g.

Yeah, people should choose SLX for price but nothing else.

Going from a 180 rear to 160 rear will shave you 20+g of rotating weight. 203f to 180f will save a bit more, so about 45+g combined.

I got a set of Zees front and back at 45g more than Deore 615M.

Back to the OP, I swapped form SLX to Zee due to the better modulation rather than needing more power.

Zee levers have dimples on them, I presume for more grip, which I don’t recall SLX having 😀

Why anyone buys anything but Zees (save for price) is beyond me.

XTR Trails are nearly 100g lighter, and if you believe the BR test, more powerful than a Saint.

Yep.

XTR Trails are nearly 100g lighter

A pre-ride dump probably gains more weight saving than that. Mine certainly would.

Bikeradar power value for XTR trail brakes with 180mm rotors = 112nm

Bikeradar power level for Zee with 180mm rotors = 145nm

If you want good modulation like your Formula brakes but good spares availability and prices then why are you looking at Shimano? Hope is the obvious answer – Tech 3 E4 if you want a really good highly adjustable lever and a powerful four pot caliper.