So I’ve decided (well my leaking maguras decided for me) to buy some new brakes for my bike.

I’ve had guides, hope E4 and Shimano xt and Zee in the past.

And I’ve decided I just prefer Shimano the most, the bike is an pretty old specialized epic but I am quite heavy (fat) and will use it for mostly trail riding rather than big xc rides.

After not using any of the most modern Shimano brakes I’m trying to figure out what ones to buy?

I can stretch if needed to around £200 which on some of the German sites can buy me a set of Zees or the the new fangled 4 pot xts.

I’m Just a bit lost as to whether it’s worth paying the extra for xt or just get some deores? Or whether I go 2 pot or 4 pot? Or the new way way of doing things seems to be one of each?

Deore 4 pots are getting a good reception.

I’ve got Zees on my XC bike, so you’re in good company.

😉

For the cash 4 pot deore. Not blibg, but very good value!

Zees were probably my favourite I’ve had in the past so it makes sense to go for 4 pot I guess. Can’t really have too much brake power…

I have a brand new 11speed xt mech and shifter sat in my spares box that will be fitted to the bike eventually, so the inner tart in me wants xt to have a matching groupset but the other part of me knows I’ll probably end up using the saint cranks I have in the spares box so it will never match anyway!

My Deore 4 pots are great, but both have been replaced under warranty due to leaky callipers. Not sure if I’ve just been unlucky…

I love shimanos and currently have slx 4 pots on my bike.

They’re great and i love the lever feel but there’s always a very slight wandering bite point, not as bad as all the reviews say but it’s there. They also need bleeding every few months which is a bit faffy.

I’ve also never had a shimano lever last longer than 2 years before the master cylinder wears and starts leaking. Something to do with it’s made of plastic..

All in, I’ll be very tempted by a pair of serviceable hopes when my currently ones inevitably wear out in a year.

I used to work in a bike shop so I don’t mind bleeding them etc

I tried hopes out of curiosity once, look great and I do like the fact they will last for so long with all the available parts etc but I just didn’t like the way they felt

Have a look at the cable routing on your bike. Deore doesn’t have the banjo fitting, so the hose comes straight out and you’ll have to rely on bends in the hose to get it printed in the right direction for your routing.

Probably no odds on the front, as it’ll be going up along the fork, but it’d be horrible on the back of my bike, and introduce a load of avoidable hose flap. I’d pay for SLX for the banjo alone for my bike.

I’d get another set of Zees. Love mine.  I use Marshy’s gravity bleed when needed,  and stick with Shimano metal pads and they are great!

Another one for the Deore 4 pots, mine have been superb for the last 12 months, thinking of getting a second set for the HT and sell the hopes

Just got a Bird AM160 with six 4 pots on it.

They are amazing, I loved my old XT 2 pot and thought they were powerful. The 4 pot feels even better. The mineral oil over the dot 5.1 in the hopes is a benefit. Its nicer to work with mineral oil (I think)

The Deores have a great write up but if you can get the SLX you get lever reach adjustment but no bite point adjust (that never seemed to make a difference on my old XT!!)

My own ancient (2003) Epic has had a few different brake options on it over the years and I wouldn’t have said it was particularly worthwhile to have anything more than 2 pots on it. I’ve got Deore’s on several bikes and they’re very good for the cash, although my Epic has ancient XTR’s (with the 9-speed dual-control shifters) and they’re a great match to the bike so if mine died I’d be trying to find another set 2nd hand.

I have Zees on one bike and Deores connected to SLX levers on another. All are really good. Crazy good – but I like the feel of them. Note that I tried the supplied Deore levers initially but preferred the shape of the SLX ones.

Anyway – given previous experience with Shimano brakes – be mindful of the 2 year warranty and probably buy from somewhere you trust with returns / warranty issues should they arise.

#Edit: forgot to say that all the above is for 4 pot calipers

I just had to look at the new SLX lever on my HT and it snapped. Doubt that’s going to happen with Hope. That said, the SLX are great value and good stoppers.

Doubt that’s going to happen with Hope.

Just replaced the last set of Hope’s (which have been adequate but uninspired) that were on any of my bikes with Shimano ones. The Hope’s were ok but over the piece I’ve found Shimano to be more reliable.

£185 for Zees Vs £203 for xt 4 pots on bike discount. Deores not available as a set but about £160 for both as a set.

Scope creep makes me think £25 is worth it for the Zees over the deores then it’s only another £20 for the xts…

I might be cursing myself after writing this but I’ve got/had Shimano brakes on mine and the other half’s bikes for years. M785 were the first set some years ago, I’ve had two sets of those, two sets of slx, and a set of deores. I’m about to set the scandal up with Deore 4 pot on the front and deore on the rear.

The only problem I’ve ever had was on a set of the m785 when I used Halfords LHM instead of Shimano mineral oil. The lever seals gave up. Every other set had been perfect.

Deore 4 pot for about 115 delivered. They come boxed without levers attached so just swap the levers.

Mine came in a week during lock down

Front

https://www.bikeinn.com/bike/shimano-mt501-post-mount-resin-hydraulic-disc-brake-front/137407636/p

Rear

https://www.bikeinn.com/bike/shimano-mt501-post-mount-resin-hydraulic-disc-brake-rear/137407637/p

That bike Inn website doesn’t give me any options for Shimano says they are unable to ship to the uk

There seems to be a glitch with that sometimes- try refreshing the page or trying again in an hour or so. I saw that pop up a couple of times when I was pondering them. They sell them to the UK.

Still can’t get the bike Inn website to work but found them elsewhere for a for about £120 for 4 pot deores. Think I will go with that option as realistically they will work fine… Better order them before I convince myself otherwise

Thought I made a decision on deores but they aren’t in stock anywhere that’s doing them cheap. Also forgot my xt shifter I’ll eventually use is ispec ii and Zees are ispec b so they won’t work really either

On bike discount slx 4 pot are £202 and XT 4 pot are £203 or you can get the 4pot front/2 pot rear xt for £175 so really confused myself again now d’oh

So what happened to the Muguras OP? Leaking at lever or calliper? Got rid of all my shimano brakes although nothing wrong with them & gone Magura on my bikes even thinking of trying the MT sport 2 & 4 pot callipers on my gravel bike connected to my ST-R785 di2 Road levers

The maguras (MTS) are the original brakes on the bike that is 7 years old so they haven’t done bad. But one of the lever bleed screws are knackered (luckily you can flip them upside down to bleed) and the other one keeps going soft and getting really noisy so i believe it is leaking at the caliper.

I’m also just not really a fan of the lever design/feel of the magura.

Been looking around and hardly any of the cheaper options are in stock… So I’m torn between spending £150 on some 2 pot xts and then regretting not buying the 4 pots for £50ish more… But I start to get a lot more hesitant pulling the trigger when numbers start with £2xx

4-pot Deore 175 euro

https://www.bike-components.de/en/Shimano/Deore-BR-M6120-Disc-Brake-Set-J-Kit-p77743/

Thanks for the link but made my decision, someone on eBay selling the xt 4 pots for £205 with sintered pads (nearly all the German sites have resin) with only a few days lead time so going for those

EDIT: they have both 1600 and 1450mm listed for the rear hose length on the same advert so going to need to check that first, be really annoying to buy some that won’t fit…

Just measured my brake hose (using a bit of string to make sure it’s accurate without having to remove the brake) and the rear is 1650mm so 50mm longer than the eBay hoses, back to square one!

Large frame with a under BB hose routing means it’s quite a long way evidently

Made a stupid/rash decision and bought a xtr9000 bnib from eBay for £100. Advert says it’s a right lever but rear length hose but the pictures it definitely looks like a left lever in the pictures… I’ll wait until it turns up and decide what I’m going to do for the other brake.

So less than 24 hours after buying it on eBay the XTR is fitted

View post on imgur.com

View post on imgur.com

I know I’m basically talking to myself at this point but I was a little worried about these being the non-servowave “race” version but after a little test ride they feel very very good a bit less off/on than the usual Shimano feel but with lots of power still there.

Not ridden anything worthy of testing the outright power but looks good so far just need to search for a matching front one now. (Which is the magura one that’s actually broken…)

A timely thread, I have the same dilemma, and after some intensive interweb research I am going for the Zees. Actually difficult to find UK stock. I want a Uk supplier in the case of warranty issues, but lots of retailers OOS. Any recommendations?

My other question is about pads, in the past i’ve blindly chosen sintered pads, what are the best pads for zees, as I assume if they come with pads they will be those ones that last 5 mins?

Zee stock pads are great and last very well IME.

Zees are great and I probably would have got some apart from my inner tart not wanting to put downhill brakes on a XC bike. The resin will work good and last a while in this weather, then get some sintered for the winter.

Got another XTR on the way from ebay also brand new. Less than £220 for both all in