Thinking of replacing the Elixir 5’s which came as stock on my Trance. I’m not up on the current offerings – what would be good options? Reliability with minimum maintenance and good modulation key. Ability to set bite point at the lever a bonus (I don’t like much travel before it starts living in.) Not overly bothered about grammage.

Hope X2 or M4 adjustable, fitted my m4’s in July nothing other than a pad change. Modular and reliable. If they have a problem easy to rebuild. Was replacing 8 year old m4’s as an example of longevity.

And for some reason hated on here….

What sort of budget? Formula’s Oro is cheap now- old design but very effective, and pretty damn cheap. Just a wee bit heavy is all.. I’ve just replaced a set of mine with a pair of The Ones, which are the best brakes I’ve ever used, but they don’t make the Oros look bad.

Did I mention that Formula The Ones are the best brakes I’ve ever used? Light enough for XC racey bikes, powerful enough for DH bikes… Bags of feel and progression too. Not entirely sure I’d consider them good value, considering that there are brakes that work extremely well for a fraction of the price, but if you’ve got money to spend then I’d spend it here. Or possible the R1s but they’re a less all-round useful brake, more XC/trail oriented IMO.

All fully servicable, parts available from CRC, excellent support IME from Formula…

I have just gone from Avid Elixer 5’s to the pre 2012 xt brakes and to be honest I prefer my old elixers. They have a no nonsense character to them and I found the level of power / modulation to be spot on. The XT’s have plenty of power but they don’t have the same feel and the looks are a bit over bling.

Reliability with minimum maintenance and good modulation key. Ability to set bite point at the lever a bonus (I don’t like much travel before it starts living in.) Not overly bothered about grammage.

BB7s are the brake you’re looking for, young Jedi.

i changed from hope v2 to 2012 xt brakes- loving them 🙂

Sticking with Formula, I would consider the RX’s. Loads of power, good modulation and seem to be fairly maintenance free.

You can get an inline bite point adjuster (Formula FCS) for them but frankly I’ve never felt the need.

Decide how much you want to spend, order the corresponding (latest generation) Shimano brake and go ride – simples!

Latest XT are the best brakes I’ve ever used. Check out Rose Bikes for the best prices on these.

I have BB7’s on my Karate Monkey, to be fair, they’re way better than I ever expected. You can set the bite point of each pad too, without tools. When I bought the bike they were one of the things targeted or a eventual upgrade but I’m that impressed, I’ll be keeping them on.

They stop me just fine and I ain’t light and only running 160mm rotors.

If you simply must have hydraulics then my money would go towards some Magura’s. Louise FR (2006 models) on the “Alps bike” never had an issue with them and some Louise BAT’s on my other hard tail. So reliable it’s untrue.

I’ve only bled he Louise FR’s once when I needed longer hoses. That was 2 years ago. The Louise BAT’s have never been bled! Now 4 years old?

Just get some of the new shimano offerings, SLX, XT, whatever. Pretty much everything you ask for and a better price than the Hope, Formula suggestions (and probably cheaper than BB7 by the time youve bought levers and cables).

I’ll always use the simple Hayes Stroker Trails. Easiest brakes i have ever had to bleed and setup, and a nice powerfull, solid feel.

XT from Rose…

£135 a pair.

Bargin.

Clicky thingy

I love my Formula RX’s but probably better suited to XC.

What Mountain Bike mag ran a test on brakes some time ago – seem to remember Shimano SLX coming out well. Not particularly light but tough and strong.

What Mountain Bike mag ran a test on brakes some time ago – seem to remember Shimano SLX coming out well. Not particularly light but tough and strong.

Unless you catch the lever then it bends like a shimano chain ring chese

I am getting disappointed with Avid. Seems like they are constantly needing sorting

so, these shimano brakes, is it easy to get cheap pads for them or will I be locked into expensive shimano ones with silly fins all over them ?

Cheap pads – yep, SSC, Disco… whatever you like. Fins are not a requirement.

Just changed from 2012 XT’s to elixir 5, XT’s are very powerful but I did not find they have the modulation

2012 SLX’s are like the XT’s, except in stock, less bling, and cheaper. But for the same amount of money as a pair of XT’s you could have SLX’s and an ice-tech rotor.

The pad contact adjust is useless.

SLX. From Rose and swap the levers over..£110 quid delivered, every bit as good as XT .

Scapegoat – Member
SLX. From Rose and swap the levers over..£110 quid delivered, every bit as good as XT .

And without the hideous garish fake chrome and bulbous reservoirs of the XT

Just changed from 2012 XT’s to elixir 5, XT’s are very powerful but I did not find they have the modulation

Not what I wanted to hear, it was starting to go so well…

Sorry, forgot the ££ aspect in my specifications. Not overly worried about saving every last tenner, but I don’t see the point in splashing big cash when I’m not after anything out of the ordinary. £150 mark for the pair give or take sounds about right.

And hydraulics are a given. I’ve had it with cable (see minimum maintenance remark).

Thanks all for the suggestions so far.

XT’s, got 2011 and 2012’s. You get used to the modulation very quickly. I really like them. I tend to brake only when I mean it anyway so they work well for me.

I’ve had 1 problem with a lever, where it connects to the piston up there, failing. That was on 8 month old brakes. Not bad going for me. And they’re really non-fiddly, especially after coming from Avids.

I liked my Avid Elixirs until I tried to bleed them!!!!!

I’ve had it with cable (see minimum maintenance remark).

sorry, doesn’t compute…

SLX, love mine, change from Elixr 5’s, so much quieter and seems to be more power there…..

Is there actually anything wrong with your Elixir 5s?

I thought they tended to get fairly good reviews…….

Not sure that there is anything that is actually that bad brake wise these days.Current generation of brakes seem to be distinctly better than before.

Even Deores are good now.

Cheap Megas direct from Formula.it

Shimano Deore voted best brake in one of the bike mags this year – same chassis as the SLX/XT without all the tool less adjustments.

Sold my 2012 (Rose bike bargains) XT’s and bought (twice the price) Hope Evo Race X2’s, and am more than happy with them. YES the XT’s were powerful, BUT too much too soon, then when really going for it, they didn’t have any more to give, just a spongy feeling which turned out to be lever flex. The Hopes are far more linear in their application, more than powerful enough, and let you know when they are about to lock up. To sum it up, the XT’s feel like they were designed by a geek on a PC, whereas the Hope’s feel like they were designed by an engineer who rode bikes. Oh , and the XT’s were heavier than my old Mono M4’s. The Evo X2’s are super light.

Both good brakes, but one is more gooder than tother 8)

Looked around for something that would have the feel and adjustment of my C2’s on another bike, but with more power for a lighter touch.
Went with Magura MT4’s and are everything I was looking for. Tried a mates XT and they were good, but I still felt like I picked the right brake for me.

Don’t get Hopes whatever you do, they’re all crap.
Apart from the X2’s on my FS which have never been touched in 2 years (pads apart) & the old M4’s on my HT which have never been touched in about 5 years (pads apart)
Both can stop me in my tracks but they are crap. Aren’t they?

Scapegoat, how easy is it to swap them over? I’ll be fitting them to my Orange P7 Pro but the Hydraulic cable has to be fed through the cable guide, so one end has to come off!

Hope Race Evo X2. More powerful than the XT brake and have bite point adjusters that actually work… the XT’s have shite modulation. That or Tech M4’s for the bite point adjust, I wouldn’t bother with Tech X2’s as they are not that powerful.

The XT’s are possibly a bit more reliable but the Hopes are so easy to work on, change the seals, bleed, with readily available parts that Hope often give you for free… etc… that it’s kind of cancelled out.

Running Tech Evo V2’s at the moment as I didn’t mind the weight increase (not even 100 grams over the equivalent m4 setup). Best brakes I’ve ever run.

Hope every time, my Mini’s are nearly 4 years old, still going strong.
Easily rebuildable and, more importantly, spare parts are cheap.

Formula – The Ones (from the formula website – Much cheapness)
They are awesome, better than the Oro K24’s I had before, and those are damn good brakes

XTR.. loving mine

Just bought a set of SLX’s good value from Merlin and they do the job, but i wished I had spent the extra and got another set of Hope Techs. Which I have on my other bike.

Why. The Hope’s just feel better. As in Modulation…not entirely sure what that means, but the Hope’s have definitively got it, and I miss it when it’s not there. and also the solidity of the levers, the SLX’s are flimsy by comparison.

I agree with the previous comments about the Shimano’s being designed by computer and the Hope’s by a rider.

Agree re the SLXs, i demoed a bike with them the other day and nearly crashed on the carpark scoot-about as the slx are sooooo on or off. mind bogglingly strong, but with very very little inbetween, they feel as good as my Formula RX1 at full yank but controlling the power was really tricky with the slx. i like the lever and style but wouldnt buy over Hopes or Formulas, or even my old Juicys.