Rolls

iTrader: (2)

As title guys- what brakes, and what size rotors....
And most importantly have you ever had any fade / pump-up / failure - if so, where (woundering if there is anywhere in the UK I can get to to give some test bikes with diff brakes a proper test..)? - trying to get some opinions / ideas as i've just got back from a weeks riding in Verbier on my 575

Cheers

rapidcossie

AP's

Rolls

iTrader: (2)

Believe me, at times, I wish that i had my AP's with me


EDIT TO ADD:
Can I use castrol SRF brake fluid in Avids, and would it prove to be better than boggo avid fluid (the brakes were only ridding in Wales prior to Verbier, so the fluid would have been ok, as would the bleeding)

pollocks

right mate i have a wee bit of experience on this and my advice to you is

avid juicy 5's simlar to 7's but no lever feel knob to faff with they work exactly the same though and these are the brake for using with no arm pump/brake fade the top boys run these also like rennie,peaty,hill.......... if you don't know who they are then i'll ust say they are the quickest top boys in mtb downhill

i have tried out hope moto6's and think that they are shite

and have used hope m4's the older 4 indivdual pad type calipers with mini levers and they were better believe it or not

and then i have tried hayes mag hfx-9's and these are better than all the multi pot brakes i have tried

i have a set of avid juicy 7's on order from ebay as i got em for Ł170 from america but the guy takes 3 weeks to deliver but he will do express postage for Ł10 now which he didn't when i ordered mine

i go to morzine on satday mate 28th with my santa cruz vp free i just hope that my avids are before then but i did order and pay for em on the 4th of july so i should hope there here this week

just to give you a clue to how reliable the juicys are my mate lee who is over in france at the moment and is doing a month out there has the juicys and he about 16 stone and rides abit poofy at times so drags his brakes alot and he has only had lever pump once over there and he says if we had seen the track we would all see why lol

HTH Ben

pollocks

i would just use the avids as they came mate and if you want advice on any thing like the fluid try boXXer off here as he runs a bike shop mate

Charlie Chalk

iTrader: (1)

As said, Speak to Boxxer



Not far off , My Hopes are ace...Hydraulic 4 pots, front and rear

Rolls

iTrader: (2)

Ok - thats the sort of reply I was after!
I was on juicy 7's , with 185 rotors - Was hoping that they would be ok, and for the most part they were.. - but at times they did pump up, leaving me with no brakes at all... Although I heard the same of old hopes in Verbier, hence me not going for them either..
Most people would say don't drag the brakes, but there is no way at all that you can ride Verbier and not drag the brakes!

I've got M4's on my hardtail, and didn't go for them simply because they do my head in with 3 days of riding in Wales with the "hope squeal" - at least the 7's were quiet

I'm guessing it will be a case of going for the 203 rotors as I suspected
...

Not, about the brake fluid - anyone?
Cheers

Nick.

Front - Hope 4 pot, braided hoses & 200mm floating disc


Rear - Hope 4 pot, braided hoses & 160mm floating disc

pollocks

yeah radders has the first type of 4 pot which did have problems hence the lever been rethought and the lever was kept for few years as its real good

the newer type with the gold pistons can be abit hit or miss in verbier as i have heard of alot of ppl having them fail out there but then a mate of mine whos yses them said his were fine in les gets lol

the good thing about the avids is you can get lots of spares for then in france unlike the hopes ............



thats my vp that am taking with us to morzine i've just to change the tyres have changed the cranks since the pics were taken just need my brakes to turn up now

Charlie Chalk

iTrader: (1)

pollocks

Whats wrong with them?! I've never had problems with them! And I had them for about 6 years!

wide ka

i use mono 6 ti front and rear on my santa cruz bullet and find them awsome, they were from one of the first batch made, the later ones now seem to come with craper brake pads as the changed them slighltly, never had any probs at all with them exept the lever feel is not as solid as my m4 before, i also use a mono trials on my trials bike and that is mental the amount of power it has!never liked the hayes brakes at all, just started using the avid brakes feel o.k but i find the levers come back fair bit and arnt adjustable unless they are juicy 7 or above

Mr S1

iTrader: (2)

I run Shimano XT 4pots...........shite with Shimano pads but change to aftermarket and they're phomomenal

Twellsie

iTrader: (1)

whats wrong with v brakes???? lol

pee vee

hope 4 pots... no fade as

1: i weigh fook all
2: i dont really bother with brakes too much

pollocks

they suffered with fadeing and over heating problems due to boiling i rember about 7 years back when they first came out our mate tez bought a set whilst we all carried on using our hope pro 2's and we all raced at carlton bank and he managed to boil his brakes up there for some reason whilst we all with the older brakes managed to get away with no problems at all ........

Charlie Chalk

iTrader: (1)

ahh ok, I never actually 'raced', but have been to a few tracks etc used them quite hard, but never had problems

tocca

iTrader: (1)

i use Hope Mono M4's. work perfect for downhilling, so should be fine for anything really. Forgot to add, on 203mm Floating Rotors

pollocks

the fact is that alot of you boys are failing to realise that france is ahell of alot diffrent to the uk its steep and decents can be anything from 10 mins to 30 mins depending on the courses

and you can't get hope spares out there and hope know there brakes are not good in any other place than the uk were we think a 3 minute decent is good as theres only a few places with longer decents than that and thats places like fort william and inerleithen (spelt wrong but can't be arsed to look it up )

hope had the 6 pot with ti pistons last year this year the moto 6's have phenolic pistons to try and stop the heat tansfering in to the fluid but it has not helped much at all

multi piston brakes are crap in conparsisent to a 2 pot brake all the most powerful brakes i have ever ridden have been 2 pots hope pro 2's are better than the old enduro 4 pots

avid juicys are better than 6 pot motos etc etc my top 3 brakes would probably be

avid juicy 7's or carbons they are the same brake apart from the carbons having light weight ti bolts and carbon bits

hayes hfx-9 with the mag levers

and finally formula oros those are really good

sorry to sound condescending but if you haven't looked at what ridding morzine,verbier,les gets or the champery are like then think about a uk course and then tilt it even steeper and then lutiple by 4 or 5 times the length ............ you can get the hope floating rotors to ting as they contract back to normal size due to heat soak on a uk course think about what these extreme temperatures would do to them

and also have a wee think about why hope brought the v2 out with the vented disc to try and over come this

Rolls

iTrader: (2)

Pollocks - thats exactly what I was going to say
I've used the new style M4's, and '07 Juicy's in wales, and both performed faultlessly - but you just can't compare them to being used in Verbier - esp when you consider some of the decents are 15km, and you start from 2200m abocve sea level!

pollocks

yeah i know mate when you hear about some of the horror storys ppl come back with its all rather scary brake hoses expldeing or just dumping all the fluid out and the likes

when people i know have rode fort william in this country you get rake pump on some types of brake mainly the 4 pots and the like my mate karl came into one corner whilst in scotland and went for the brakes but they had just gone he had to pump them up to get any real feel and then all of a sudden he was through this bush and down a ditch was a pisser to watch

Dan

2005 Hope Hydraulic Discs mate, can measure rotor size for you if you want it?

I'm upgrading to braided lines soon as I get a slight spongey feel on the lever when they get really hot! These brakes are shit when cold, once warm I love them!

nickfargo

i run hope v2 motos they really are awsome imo the best brakes for moutain bikes

It's Czech Mate

Hope Mono's with sintered bronze pads not the standard ones

For freeriding they are the dogs no squeel and ultra reliable and quite light

Fod more hardcore on big hills i used to use Hope 4 pots, again with sintered bronze pads....they handle the temperature better.

Hope are british and top top quality, why on earth use any foreign shite

pollocks

take the blinkers off mate and check how many of the pro riders use hope and let me know

none of the top 10 downhillers int he world use hopes they are all members of the sram/avid black box team or use formula oro's

i'll post photos up of what we get up to in france when i get back i fly on the 28th and spend a week there and i have 2 sets of brakes going with me and neither of them are more than 2 pots and neither are hope

i have been loyal to hope for many a year but i have seen the light now after running

hope sports hopr pro2's hope m4's and then finally moto6's all of which are crap compared to a set of hayes hfx9 mags or avid juicy5,7,or carbons

It's Czech Mate

Funnily enough the world doesnt revolve around downhill.Most of my riding theses days is trail riding. Show me a better setp than my hope mono's for the same price, that weigh as little, I can easily get service parts for in a matter of hours and are as consistent and reliable with the sintered bronze pads and i'll consider changing

Thank you please

pollocks

in this post rolls clearly stated he was riding verbier whioch is france in the alps so for what he was doing i reccommened him what was the best for his use

if you can get hope replacements within hours in france let me know as its bloody impoosible me and my 2 mates who go on the same week have all ditched hopes for this trip they have both gone for avid codes me i went for avid juicys

and as for reliable cheap and easily maintained a set of hayes hfx-9's with aztec expert pads are the daddys the most powerful brake i have used in the uk has been this set up and they aint a heavy brake

Rolls

iTrader: (2)

And, as said above, i've got M4's with 185 ish rotors that i REALLY like, but was told to avoid them for Verbier...
Brakes for use in the UK, and for proper use in the Alp's are a completely different kettle of fish - Its like saying that i'd have been able to be as quick on the trails with a rigid bike as the Yeti - yes, you could get away with a rigid for a lot of UK riding... - but not in France

Any one else had any expirience of riding in Verbier / Morzine etc....?

Cheers!

pee vee

yeah deffo true. french mountains are PROPER mountains and terrain,,, not just welsh hills like we have to use over here!!!

Jimbo.

recently got an avid juicy 5 for the back of my specialized p1 and its amazing

I know so many people who have had problems with hope brakes so i've stayed well clear, just need to get some shimano saints and my custom wheelset sorted and i'm hitting the jumps again!

Avid all the way

slowpoke

ive just put a set of hope mono minis with braided lines and halfrauds 5.1 brake fluid on my hardtail - still got to try them yet tho

and i know they would be cock all use in france i was just putting down what i had lol

Matt

jumpin jack crash

id say personally go for hopes. ive got the DH4's which ive had for about 5 years now and there shit hot. never had a problem with them and used them for all sorts of riding. racing/trails/road etc... they stop you on a sixpence too

ive used mates bikes which have had the shimano's which needed a 210 disc front and back to get any sort of braking while racing as they were complete bollox.

i used the formula brakes aon a scott open day at wendover and i couldnt stop on the cross country track so i wouldnt go with them.

never used the avids as for racing they were pretty poor quality in my day.

stick to hopes fella. as long as you know how to bleed them and carry a spare set of pads and maybe discs too with you on foreign trips you should be fine. and if your gonna be doing a "big" course then give them a service before you go

Luca

iTrader: (2)

You may joke but Brembo made a set of high performance brakes for push bikes 2 yrs ago but the limited run in numbers ment a top price tag. They worked awesomely as we had a set given to us for test.

I would go for 200+ front and rear with the terrain you have in mind.

As for manufaturer Hope or Formula oro's.

boXXer

my god, there is some PROPER bollox being said on this thread.

And some proper magazine followers too!

Unfortunately, i have to experiance some of the shite thats on the market today.

In a few words, these are the brakes i would use, and stay away from....

Hope: Brilliant brakes, very reliable, and very easy to get bits for if they break. More than enough power on mini's, but the m4 is better. Stay away from m6 as there is too much going on, and they actually arent that powerful.

Hayes: Again, very good brakes, need bleeding quite oftern though to keep peak performance, bits are easy to get hold of.

Avid: Wouldnt touch with a fucking barge pole! We sell LOADS of rockhoppers, which are fitted with Juicy 5's and 7's as standard. Ive seen (and had to fix under warranty) many seize after 3 months, and they feel shite on the lever too. (very mushy feeling). BUT, they are powerful.

Formula: I HATE FORMULA!!! nothing but trouble, and always fucking sticking! GRRR! parts are a bastard too, as they are american and only have 1 importer into U.K.

Shimano: Pretty good actually! not much go wrong with them, pretty powerful.

Thats all i can think of at the mo.

Luca

iTrader: (2)

Formula - Are from Italy, and i can say as work for the uk importer, the new range of Oro brakes are excellant, im not bias however as id say the choices to have are as follows.

Hope, Shimano new xt ones, Formula and Hayes.

You cant go wrong with any but i do however feel Hope are more focused on the look of the prodcut, but the m4 is the one to have in that range

The Formula Oro is the one for formula
Xt for shimano and Hayes any of them really.

boXXer

you work for propel? We actually dont have an account with them as we used to use Windwave, and they ditched them didnt they?

Dunno why i said american, i was thinking of hayes. DOH

Im just saying as a mechanics point of view, who rides, ive been in the workshop for 8 years now, and i would say hope are the least painful to live with. easily.

It's Czech Mate

Thanking you

When i said Hope earlier, I was talking from over 10 years experience of living with them. I understand that they may not work on the huge french downhills but I think the 4 pots would hold their own

As for whichever spaz mentioned who of the worlds top ten use hope.........they use what their sponsors say to The number of times i've been to a race and seen other things badged up as other things to please both rider and sponsors is untrue

I remember when Peaty first had carte blanche on his spec and hopes were on his bike

boXXer

EXACTLY!!! Hope just dont have the financial backing to go supporting The world cup scene! hope do a LOT of xc stuff though in this country.

Ive ragged the hell out of my mono M4's at 40mph+, and they never pumped up at all.

boXXer

funny you say that! These may be coming out soon. But are WELL expensive...

Fudgey

iTrader: (4)

i just took the brembos off my yam thundercat, they are for sell lol

ill be getting some avid juicys soon, not sure what ones but they work well

Boxxer, was it you that had a universal calliper mount for frames with no disc mount?

i need one