Top best brakes of 2018

[NINJА]

It would be nice to have some info about budget and expensive brakes, suitable for trials/street-trials.

Avid? Magura? Hope? Shimano?

I need a pair of brakes I can rely on.

And as far as I know - I would be forced to change pads for trialsy use?

 

Form my experience I love Hopes for build quality and bombproof design, but I was never able to achieve saint 810-like braking power with them...

[LEON]

I think Saint M810 gave the best power/feel etc, but the seals weren't very good so they're almost extinct. I'm not into the newer Shimanos because the levers are too stubby, I hear the seals are much better but the calipers are weaker.

I've got a Hope tech trial and it's surprisingly good, not as firm as a Shimano and you can't line the pads up to perfection like a Shimano because one piston is always more keen than the other.

I went off Avid years ago, ugly levers, weird unnecessairly complicated bleeding prodedures and lever blades rattling loose, so I gave up.

The MT7 is definitely powerful but you couldn't pay me to use a brake with an entirely plastic lever, so that goes for all Magura's modern disc brakes. Calipers seem good, but that's only half the brake, for what they cost they're not good enough and I've seen too many fail in front of me. Tarty write this warning on their own website....

"Please note: We have consistently found these brakes (MT7) to not be as durable as we would like when used for trials. This includes worn out lever travel adjusters and pivot pins, especially if the lever is hit or crashed on. If you would like a durable and reliable brake for trials use, we do not recommend this product."

 

Edited September 12, 2018 by LEON

[NINJА]

21 hours ago, LEON said:

I think Saint M810 gave the best power/feel etc, but the seals weren't very good so they're almost extinct. I'm not into the newer Shimanos because the levers are too stubby, I hear the seals are much better but the calipers are weaker.

I've got a Hope tech trial and it's surprisingly good, not as firm as a Shimano and you can't line the pads up to perfection like a Shimano because one piston is always more keen than the other.

I went off Avid years ago, ugly levers, weird unnecessarily complicated bleeding procedures and lever blades rattling loose, so I gave up.

The MT7 is definitely powerful but you couldn't pay me to use a brake with an entirely plastic lever, so that goes for all Magura's modern disc brakes. Calipers seem good, but that's only half the brake, for what they cost they're not good enough and I've seen too many fail in front of me. Tarty write this warning on their own website....

"Please note: We have consistently found these brakes (MT7) to not be as durable as we would like when used for trials. This includes worn out lever travel adjusters and pivot pins, especially if the lever is hit or crashed on. If you would like a durable and reliable brake for trials use, we do not recommend this product."

 

Thanks a lot!

What can you say about braided hoses? Overkill or necessity in trials? I never broke any kind of hoses, but at the same time I don't care about weight, so I can't decide..

And should I change pads in trialzones right after buying it?

 

Also is there any difference between V2 and TRIALZONE?

And what difference between TRIALZONE and Tech3 levers?

Edited September 13, 2018 by NINJА

[HippY]

just a note:

if you are on a budget (or anyone) and wants a good and cheap brake, you cannot go wrong with shimano.

I had a Deore (not sure about model number) at the back and SLX at the front on a street trials set up with 180mm discs, and they worked perfectly for a beginner, especially for the price of around £50 each

[LEON]

19 minutes ago, NINJА said:

Thanks a lot!

What can you say about braided hoses? Overkill or necessity in trials? I never broke any kind of hoses, but at the same time I don't care about weight, so I can't decide..

And should I change pads in trialzones right after buying it?

 

Also is there any difference between V2 and TRIALZONE?

And what difference between TRIALZONE and Tech3 levers?

I've never used aftermarket braided hoses, I don't think many people consider them essential.

I think I put Trialtech or Jitsie pads in mine but the standard ones are good too.

I've never used a V2, but the Tech 3 lever is miles better than the Trialzone, makes it feel cheap and has much more adjustment, well worth the extra £20 odd.

11 minutes ago, HippY said:

just a note:

if you are on a budget (or anyone) and wants a good and cheap brake, you cannot go wrong with shimano.

I had a Deore (not sure about model number) at the back and SLX at the front on a street trials set up with 180mm discs, and they worked perfectly for a beginner, especially for the price of around £50 each

They are, Shimano are by far the best value for money, the short blades just aren't for me, but a lot of people like them, I just think the M810 blade was better.

[dk2]

I run the shimano zee (almost the same as saint) works great with zee/slx/xt levers..

[Swoofty]

I don't know why the MT7s get all the press; I've had so much better luck with MT5s. The MT5 lever is metal and the caliper is identical to the 7. I've got one MT5 that hasn't even been bled in about 3 years now and still feels perfect. The MT5 can be found for pretty cheap if you look around too.

 

[NINJА]

4 hours ago, Swoofty said:

The MT5 lever is metal and the caliper is identical to the 7

Wow, didn't know that. It seems then that MT5>MT7 .

[LEON]

I just bought a used SLX brake for £25...

Shimano are unbeatable for the money, I'd prefer full length lever blades but otherwise I can't fault it, especially for the money. Shimano brakes seem to age better than Hope too, but Hope will always have the customer service and every part is available to replace.

[Greetings]

On 14.09.2018 at 6:20 AM, Swoofty said:

I don't know why the MT7s get all the press; I've had so much better luck with MT5s. The MT5 lever is metal and the caliper is identical to the 7. I've got one MT5 that hasn't even been bled in about 3 years now and still feels perfect. The MT5 can be found for pretty cheap if you look around too.

 

There has never been an aluminium MT5 lever. The body is made from Carbotecture, the lever blade is aluminium.

The lever body in the MT7 is made from Carbotecture SL, the lever blade is aluminium. 

It's a pretty good "plastic" too.

[LEON]

Those stats, even if true mean nothing in the real world when they're using it to make brake levers that get knocked about and hit the floor, I've seen more breakages and accidents caused by Magura's plastic levers than just about every other brake combined in the last 20 years, who even buys modern HS33s? They're shit, all their products went downhill since they replaced aluminium with plastic (it's plastic with a fancy name) like their turbo pad wear adjuster (a screw).

Edited September 17, 2018 by LEON

[Ross McArthur]

Shimano man myself. ZEE on the front with EBC red pads. Saint M810 on the back (fingers crossed it lasts a while longer!) with the same pads (or are they TrialTech, cant remember)

The one thing I like about the Shimanos is the pad clearance. They run a "servo wave" arrangement where the lever pull ratio "ramps up" as you pull, supposedly delivering more power the more you pull it. #1 Essentially this means the pads are able to sit further away from the disc...Unlike the Maguras, where, I've been told, that any slight bend in the rotor creates pad rub. #2 Essentially this means, if you side hop to the left, yer f**ked. Especially if you're @Rory Semple

Edited September 18, 2018 by Ross McArthur

[aener]

8 hours ago, LEON said:

plastic plastic plastic

Whether you dislike them for objective reasons or a personal prejudice, that's totally fine.
However:

It is not plastic.

It's fine to not like them, but please stop spreading misinformation.
'04 HS11s were plastic. I'd be impressed (and a little worried) if you can't tell the difference in feel/performance between them and the newer brakes.

[LEON]

It really doesn't matter if it's plastic or not. The point is their products have gone massively downhill since they started using it, I've felt them/seen them flex, I've seen lever blades snap from a little knock, I've seen lever blades come loose and fall out of the body, Matty Turner uses and elastic band to stop his £200 brake falling apart, I've seen several others pick up stones and smash theirs back in after they've fallen out. I never said they weren't powerful, but I don't think anyone can deny the levers are built like crap. I've never heard a single caliper complaint, funnily enough they don't feature this revolutionary new material.

[aener]

I've not even alluded to commenting on their performance, let alone defended it.

It does matter what you call it.

You can use the proper identifier to say "this material is even worse than plastic".

[Rory Semple]

2 hours ago, Ross McArthur said:

. #1 Essentially this means the pads are able to sit further away from the disc...Unlike the Maguras, where, I've been told, that any slight bend in the rotor creates pad rub. #2 Essentially this means, if you side hop to the left, yer f**ked. Especially if you're @Rory Semple

I would definitely agree about there being an issue with pad clearance (although it wouldn’t be if I was better at sidehops)

They have some pretty impressive stopping power although the lever feel took a few rides to get fully used to. The lever may be metal but there is still a slight amount of flex in the lever body.

Picture attached is an example of my questionable sidehop technique.

[Lucky124]

I’ve made the experience, that the hope mountain bike brakes (e4) feel not as strong as the trial zone, mt5 or shimano xt.

I know that the mt7 has around 8 per cent more power than the mt5, but I don’t know with which lever option (Hc3, two-finger, ...). But I think it’s cheaper to use better pads or a bigger disk.

In our local trial club some kids broke their magura levers. The hope race lever is very solid and we have no big issues with them until now. But I have to clean and grease the lever with link regularly to avoid creaking noises.

I really like magura disks, because they are thicker than disks from other manufacturers.

In Germany its actually very popular among mountainbikers to combine the magura calipers with levers from shimano or formula. And if you don’t care about money, you can use a trickstuff lever. That combination is the strongest brake you could actually have (keyword: shigura, trigura).

[Ross McArthur]

5 hours ago, Lucky124 said:

 

I really like magura disks, because they are thicker than disks from other manufacturers.

 

I was going to mention this too. I tend to go for the known thicker discs to get faster pad contact and less lever travel. I like my levers to bite quick and at the same distance away from the bar, so as to not contact the back of my middle finger. Obviously there's tool assisted lever adjusters there to fine tune too.

SHIMANO.

[NINJА]

If we are talking about cheap shimano setup, what's better ZEE(used) or SLX/XT/XTR (used)?

Because I see them for same price from time to time.

[Ross McArthur]

Used or not, the ZEE has two extra pots over the others you have listed. So on paper the ZEE would be the obvious choice.

Did someone Hiiiiiiiiiya!! your common sense?

[Dman]

Been using mt5 since April 2016. Not broken once, they have taken some knocks but not many, pad clearance is shit, modulation is shit, but they just seem to work. And the power is really good. I wouldn't run mt7 they literally fall apart.

[Greetings]

The clearance problems are often caused by brake mount misalignment on frames. It seems no manufacturer no matter how "premium" gets this 100% right. This is where PM brakes come in handy as you can file down the adaptor or brake mount on the frame so that the pads hit square on the rotor. 

[John Shrewsbury]

Shimano zee’s front and rear with EBC red pads and shimano icetech rotors 203mm. Not had any problems with them for the last 2 years almost now. Couple of crashes and marks on them, other then that there good brakes for around £80 each new. Would like to try the new Shimano deore XT M8020’s which come in 4piston as well. They Cost a little bit more,  but I’m guessing the weight difference and with a lever adjustment added. Zee’s just have an Allen key to adjust them.

 

 

 

Edited September 24, 2018 by John Shrewsbury

[Archie H]

MAGURA - A while ago I bought MT Trails which are basically MT5 and MT4's. These with ice tech 203mm rotors (4 pot rear, 2 pot front) give pretty decent power, especially with some jitsie/trialtehc pads on the rear.  Personally I haven't had any problems with them, and I quite like them at the moment, so much so that I bought another pair. For about £140 for a set I think they are some of the best. Also they have the HC lever stock which is nice feeling and I think more powerful? 

HOPE- Before the maguras I had hope trial zone with both 180mm v1 rotors and 200mm v2 rotors. These brakes were very good, lasted well and were solid. However at about twice the price of the maguras  wasn't convinced. Also I didn't like how the lever hit against my handlebars as they were chunky as. Also DOT fluid is (supposedly) nasty stuff. Mabey with the trials levers instead of tech 3 I might have got on better with them.

Shimano - On my enduro which I recently purchased, I've got saint m820's. These feel very nice on the lever and have a LOT of power. However they have the 'long lever' problem like the hopes so I don't think they would suit me on the trialsy. Also I've heard of people snapping the callipers on the newer saint.

 

So, personally, ill stick with magura at the moment, but if I do break one I might go to shimano and try to find an M810.

 

[Coaster]

I had once Magura Mt5. On the second day the lever broke while doing a sidehop. Maybe my hands pull to hard.... I use now Hope Tech 3 with Jitsie pads. Anyone ever tested the clean pads in the Hope brake?