Hayes HFX-9 brakes

anyone have any of these? are they any good for £35 each?

I don't own them, but I have read plenty of reviews and to put is simply they are powerful but burtal and wooden.

Apparently a lot of the guides in the Alps use them.

Running them on 8 of our bikes with no problems, used them in the Alps for the last 4 years. Bought ours as full sets, at £35 do they include rotors and adaptors, if not then its going to bump up the price

Tracey

they are AWESOME.
(impo)
REALLLY basic, but they work
i got some on my XtC 4 yrs ago to replace crap OE brakes, and have never had to touch them once.

they have a very unique feel, quite a lot of people dont like it, either on or off braking, harder to modulate apparently(if your a muppet with binary finger muscles)

never overheated mine on 160mm rotors, they get damn hot but never fade or boil.
(including hammering down snowdon, not just pootling around the lanes)

reccomended.

if i could find the money to build a big bike, i would put nines on it, due to the heatproofness

also, very smooth lines, and two part master cylinder, so look very clean on my SS (where they are these days)

I had some, very powerful and very on off so took a bit of getting used to for manualling etc but i liked them. Apparently there a pain to bleed but i never had too

I had some on my DH bike – powerful brakes but ON and OFF and the big discs rattled like crazy. Good value for money though IMO.

yep solid – basic – powerful – reliable

i use them and think they're great. no heat issues, even while dragging brakes around verbier, oem pads last a long time, and i actually found them easy to bleed. i have heard one or two reports of them pushing the bleed plug out of the resevoir, but never experienced this myself. put some gaffa tape over that if you're worried about it.
i've run one set for three years without having to touch them aside from pad changes. only issue is getting pistons to stay back after you change to new pads IME. causes them to rub a bit, but not that big a deal.
if you need rotors or adaptors you're not restricted to hayes – mtb-direct.com have rotors that are fine and cheap, and shimano or avid adpators are fine.

Great brakes, as Kingtut says – I'm a guide in the Alps and it's what I run on my bike.

Easy to work on (easy to bleed too, don't know where this idea that it's difficult comes from), fully re-buildable, easy to get spares.

They're very good for heat in the Alps but not invulnerable. A heavy rider on small rotors will definitely boil them (seen it many times) but that goes for almost any brake. I'm 14st+ and running 8" rotors, never boiled them.

i got the hayes 9 carbons, solid brakes, easy to bleed and cheap unlike aavids.., think i've only done one bleed in a few years..
hayes pads excellent
they are a bit on/off but isnt a problem and you adjust to the feel, i also got xt's which have more control and nice levers but possibly less bite, happy with both

Another vote for the Hayes HFX-9 brakes.

another vote from me i don't find them on off just means you have to work out what those pointy things on the end of your plam are and how to use them and iam a big bugger and never boiled mine.

They are great as long as you keep the pistons clean. Typically I was cleaning them after 6 rides to avoid the dreaded piston lock. But all in very basic but super strong. Only get a 203mm front disc if you are planning downhilling. I had one on my XC bike and it bent my xc hub!

i haave rotors 160 x 2 180×1 and 203×1 if you need them

FWIW, never cleaned the pistons, never had "the dreaded piston lock"!

Thanks guys mind made up i might have that 180 off you John.

stevomcd, where one piston stays in place and does not really move thus causing the rubbing. It's a well known Hayes problem. But simple servicing/cleaning clears it all up.