Currently got Zees but not fully happy with them for reasons. New pads and full bleed but no real improvement.

Next step I guess is fresh rotors and another new set of pads?

But if that doesn’t work, what’s the go to mid-range option these days? The idiot non-conformist part me says try a Shigura setup but is that still a thing?

More interested in stopping power than modulation.

I’m very happy with guide re’s. Running them on all of my bikes.

Why aren’t you happy with Zee’s? Assuming they don’t have micro leaks or variable bite point they should be really powerful. If they’re squealing / lacking power and you have a decent bleed then you might have contaminated pads from micro leaks at the caliper. My road 105 rear caliper did that and a pair of deore mtb brakes also did it. No new Shimano brake stuff for me if I can help it.

Magura MT5 or MT7 are really powerful by all accounts but you really want the 1 finger lever option rather than 2 finger.

If you want to play Shimano roulette again then just something like SLX 4 pots are worth a go – XT and XTR don’t get you anything better – just shinier / maybe a minuscule amount lighter.

If you’re after outright power and not bothered about modulation I’d give Sram a swerve probably. I really like my Code R’s on 220mm / 180mm rotors but a lot of the lads I rode with always say codes are a bit weak (although I like my brakes to feel the same everytime I pull them and with a lot of Shimano brakes it seems this isn’t always the case) 🤷‍♂️

I thought the Zees were OK but recently I’ve been struggling to get a decent rear bleed that lasts and they do squeal a bit. Had leakage issues with XTs in the past so it might be the Shimano syndrome again… Front is better feeling but just doesn’t seem to stop hard enough.

MT5 for sub £140 pair

MT7 for around £240 pair

Both from R2 bike.

Sounds like your rear is micro leaking tbh.

If you could get some Magura 4 pot calipers from the MT5/MT7 you could pair them with your levers as Shiguras. But often caliper are just as expensive as the whole system with a lever.

I have guide REs on one bike and Deore 4 pots on amother. The REs are way more powerful and this is from a serial SRAM hater.

Am in exact same boat and exploring the Magura path with possible Shigura as an end point. From research it seems you need to buy the complete Magura set up as you will need the hoses as well as the calipers and you won’t buy the Magura calipers and hoses cheaper than buying the whole lot.

I’ll do you a new pair of Hope tech 3 V4’s for £280

Front has a hose fitted, rear doesn’t, but ill chuck in a pair of used hope braided. Had a change of heart. Opting for tech 4 V4’s instead for the ebike.

+1 for Magura MT5s. But i’d give it a go with the Magura levers. Now i’m used to them I can’t stand the tiny shimano ones anymore.
And I don’t bother with the single finger levers, just run the standard ones inboard and adjust reach to suit.

Both of the shimano issues are due to the caliper, the wandering bite point and obviously the micro leaks go when you change to a shigura setup.

As suggested above, I’d go with magura MT5 and swap the levers over if you feel you need to (or when you break them). Shugura works really well

Mt5 with stock levers on 2/3 of bikes, love them and you don’t “really want the 1 finger levers” until you’ve tried the stock levers

Not Zees, but I’ve just gone from SLX 4 pots to Magura. I wanted some 2 pots and some 4 pots, so bought 2 sets of MT Trail Sport and swapped calipers. So my 4 pot set is effectively MT5 with the 1 finger levers.

My SLXs don’t actually have the classic shimano issues so far but I wanted to swap some wandery old shimano too. Even vs the SLXs they feel more solid and consistent to me, and the bit of improved modulation I like a lot too. Plus they’re more powerful. Overall a bigger difference than I expected. Not fitted the 2pot leftovers yet.

Mine stand me about £123 a set following a bit of brexit luck. And I guess I could sell the SLXs for >£100.

The Shimano BR-MT520 brakes have a lot of bang for their buck.

Basic levers, but have great stopping power.

Zee user here. I find I’m replacing my levers due to master piston leakage about ever 2-3 years. This was the same for my previous m785 XTs.

Calipers seem to run to double that. I’ve just stripped and clean one since dirt slowly works past and under the piston seals.

Best bang for buck will surely be the ones that you keep/that work for the longest amount of time with minimal fuss

Personally id go Hope, expensive to start with but they will last years, spares readily avaible and fully rebuidable and they have good resale value if you do decide to change brakes later on

Makes sure you like the feel of them beforehand as some peopl prefer the Shimano feel

I only run Hopes now, got fed up of Shimano micro leaks on 5 different brakes over the years, had a few issue with Srams but no way near as bad as the Shimano’s

The Hope’s (V4 & E4) have been faultless, have only needed minimal maintaince and the brake pads have been great (Purple pads made by Galfer for Hope)

Thanks everyone.

Head probably says otherwise but heart wins – my curiosity and the positive vibes here have led to the purchase of some MT5s to hack around a bit.

Formula Cura 2 pots:

-Easy to bleed, can be a bit messy when you pull the syringe off. Unlike Sram, they don’t need bleeding all that often, mineral oil is nicer to work with too.

-No noisier than other brakes in the wet

-Plenty of power, run 200mm rotors front and back on the big bikes, 180s on the trail bike. ABout the same as an XT 4 pot, except with modulation and no random bite point.

-Weight, on par with everything else.

I’ve got 3.5 pairs, never needed anything more than a bleed in the 3 years I’ve been on them

I’m yet to find a 4 pot brake that doesn’t have a lazy piston, random bite points, noisy and other stuff that just doesn’t happen with a 2pot brake.

Unlike Sram, they don’t need bleeding all that often, mineral oil is nicer to work with too.

Erm, I’ve had 2 sets of guide r, 1 set of guide rs, 1 guide RE and 2 sets of Codes. Barely had to bleed any of them and they’re all seen quite a lot of use and multiple sets of pads each. No dramas with any of them.

Had Shimano deores that microleaked in short order and one of my road bike Shimano calipers has failed – replaced with a Hope RX4. Replacing that caliper was a bit of a fiddle and took a few efforts to get the Hope bled right but it’s just worked since I got it done.

I recently bought some MT5s from r2 I think they worked out at £110 including postage (no import duty). Not tried them yet though

Not useful to the OP but ..

Zee user here. I find I’m replacing my levers due to master piston leakage about ever 2-3 years. This was the same for my previous m785 XTs.

Calipers seem to run to double that. I’ve just stripped and clean one since dirt slowly works past and under the piston seals.

How often do you do a full bleed on the levers?
I’ve found the levers pretty much always fail due to dirt behind the master piston… which if your time is free or you just hate chucking stuff is fixable. I’m still running a load of M675/785 levers that must be getting on 7yrs old now but after the first ones failing after a year or so I now do a full bleed way more often.

hayes A4 dominion is what I’m going to replace my saints with when they finally get to old. No issue with Zee either.