Set-and-forget brakes

saint are as close as you can get

Saints are 4 piston, SLX and XT are 2 piston. All 3 with servowave levers, which I believe the SLX levers are essentially the same as Saint/XT levers. Can use regular rotors.

1. Magura Gustav
2. ????
3. Profit!

While I too am stoked by the underwear gnome reference, I must say that I am not stoked by the Magura choice. My experience with Magura's (Louise and Marta) has been less than optimal. Never trust a brake named after a woman. Shimano brakes, in my experience, have been the most trouble free and least finicky brakes. FWIW, my 2 cents.

been happy with my elixers

I cant think of running something other than the Strokers.... Lever doesnt change, plenty of power, works for my fat ass.

I can only recomend Magura Louise BAT. I ride them 1 year now and I pretty happy with them. Louise got plenty of power, modulation and BAT works great. And also it's easy to bleed.

The closest I have ever been to a set and forget brake was the first gen. Saints that I still have. Put XT servo wave levers with old saint calipers on the DH this year and have had a few problems with them, still relatively bulletproof but probably not the kind of reliability your after.

magura gustavs are set and forget brakes. The even can handle a rotor with a slight bend as the brakes.
Strengths: - unbelievable power
- great modulation
- very consistent lever feel
- great lever design
- easy one finger braking
- absolutely no brake fade
- very durable
- Looks killer
- set and forget 3 bleeds in 5 years don't lie.

Weaknesses: - a little heavy (who cares)
- expensive (you get what you pay for though)
- performance pads don't last long
- pads are difficult to change

http://www.mtbr.com/cat/brakes/disc-brake-system/magura/gustav-m/PRD_365578_1507crx.aspx

Man, IMO Hope is the way to go. Ive been running mine for 3 seasons and i just change the pads and bled them once. They still feel as good as they did when I got them. Ive heard good stuff about Formula as well.

StabprimoMonkee said:

1. Magura Gustav
2. ????
3. Profit!

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blasted undergarment gnomes......

nowlan said:

Man, IMO Hope is the way to go. Ive been running mine for 3 seasons and i just change the pads and bled them once. They still feel as good as they did when I got them.

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+1

I bleed my Formula "One" brakes once a year. Other than that I just change pads. Pretty set and forget if u ask me. Lightweight, mega power and reliability. I cut into a brake line on a run once (dropped the bike into some rocks. opps) and the brakes continued to work for a good 5 min before I even noticed I was squirting fluid all over the place.

Formulas are about the furthest thing from set-and-forget you can get, especially the One's.

Saints of either generation are the most maintenance free brakes I've ever used.

My experience with Magura's (Louise and Marta) has been less than optimal. Never trust a brake named after a woman.

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And that's where your argument falls apart. Gustav is a man's name, haha. Plus they're some great brakes.

Only had a problem with them when my bike went flying through a rock garden (without me on it) and my rear caliper smacked into a rock. All it needed was a bleed and it's been fine since then (this was around a year ago).

They're expensive as hell but they came with my bike so I can't complain, haha.

Juicys are ok.

My mags lasted 2 bikes (about 3 years).

My old school saints have lasted me since 2003 without even a bleed. Work killer still.

I've run Juicy 7's, Elixir CR's, and Codes, along with Hayes Nines and Hayes Strokers... and I've had a little time on Code 5's, Juicy 5's, Juicy 3's.

Hayes are the worst. Modulation is okay, but power is horrible, especially in the new strokers.

Juicy 7's are the best on/off, set-and-forget brake. My Elixir CR's need every-so-often adjustment... a quick turn of a lever here, a dial of a knob there, and I'm back in business. I've only adjusted mine maybe 3-4 times in the past 8 months.

Codes have the power... AMAZING power, but at times, too much power. With that said, they also had air in the line problems. But when they work... WOW. For DH/FR, they're amazing.

Yeah my first gen saints have been on two bikes now and haven't had to do a thing.

old two pot saints are the same as the xt's and pricepoint has a stupid deal on a pair pre-bled at the moment.

Is there much of a difference between the older XT and LX brakes? I've been on a set of Juicy 7s for a while and love them. Far better than the Hayes HD Mags they replaced. My other bike runs cable discs (Avid BB7 - not bad, but not great either) and I found a decent deal on LX brakes.

Anybody know if Avid adapters work with Shimano calipers?

spocomptonrider said:

The closest I have ever been to a set and forget brake was the first gen. Saints that I still have. Put XT servo wave levers with old saint calipers on the DH this year and have had a few problems with them, still relatively bulletproof but probably not the kind of reliability your after.

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yup, i still have 3 sets of dual piston saints left. 2 with straightline levers and one with xtr levers. love em to death. most trouble free brakes i've ever had

Another vote for Shimanos. I've run Saint (M800) in the past, and currently run XT (M765) with newer XT (M775) levers.

toby

spocomptonrider said:

The closest I have ever been to a set and forget brake was the first gen. Saints that I still have. Put XT servo wave levers with old saint calipers on the DH this year and have had a few problems with them, still relatively bulletproof but probably not the kind of reliability your after.

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I was thinking about doing this to my M800's over the winter, either xt or slx servowave master cylinders, worth doing in your opinion??

essenmeinstuff said:

I was thinking about doing this to my M800's over the winter, either xt or slx servowave master cylinders, worth doing in your opinion??

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My vote on this is - YES. Nice lever feel and power. As previously stated, I'm using XT - M765 calipers which are the same as the older/original Saints. I only have a few short trail rides on them, but I'm happy with the upgrade.

toby

Hacktastic said:

Formulas are about the furthest thing from set-and-forget you can get, especially the One's.

Saints of either generation are the most maintenance free brakes I've ever used.

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Thats some B-**** there. I will say that getting them bled is key, and a hard thing to do if you follow the instructions. If you reference many of the threads on RM you'll have your "The Ones" bled perfectly in no time. I've had mine for a year and a half, and haven't bled them since after I got them. I ride DH 5 days a week, and just switch pads. The Levers are tough as hell, the power and modulation is tops, they are very adjustable, and the overall quality of them is much nicer then any other brake I've owned.
When the pads are completely shot the lever does get a little spongy, but thats the same with any other brake, and most LB's don't carry the pads, but you've got to mail order your parts anyway.
If "The Ones" are overkill Formula makes lots of other great brakes.

Good luck

I've had my hope Mono M4s since 2005 and I've never had any problems. I have had a stint where I've ran crappy pads, and from experience now I'll never use the shimano semi-metallic pads in em again (Hope M4s use the exact same dimention-pads as the old XT brakes). They've been solid, just like my old DH4s were.



Here's the thing though, brakes aren't terribly complicated and one brake isn't going to be that much different than the next. What will make a big difference is pad material and contamination. Obviously you have to use the proper rotor-size for what you're doing, but otherwise these things are pretty similer and I'd attribute 95% of any "differences" to different pad composition. I do feel that avid quality tends to be somewhat sketchy at times, as well as their R&D is lacking with the turkey-warble/severe vibration problem, but that's the only big thing I can think (I use Codes as well). Otherwise, these things are more the same than different. If the lever feels fairly crisp or positive and you have no power, your pads suck. If the lever has radically different engagement points during braking or feels "soft", you've got air in the lines. Lots of people thing bleeding is some sort of magical fix, and sure if you have air in the lines go ahead (and lots of people don't really know how to bleed either), but the amount of mis-diagnosed brake problems is huge.

Biffff said:

Thats some B-**** there. I will say that getting them bled is key, and a hard thing to do if you follow the instructions. If you reference many of the threads on RM you'll have your "The Ones" bled perfectly in no time. I've had mine for a year and a half, and haven't bled them since after I got them. I ride DH 5 days a week, and just switch pads. The Levers are tough as hell, the power and modulation is tops, they are very adjustable, and the overall quality of them is much nicer then any other brake I've owned.
When the pads are completely shot the lever does get a little spongy, but thats the same with any other brake, and most LB's don't carry the pads, but you've got to mail order your parts anyway.
If "The Ones" are overkill Formula makes lots of other great brakes.

Good luck

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Even with good bleeds, the Megas and Ones are really really finicky. I think the Megas in particular because of the smaller caliper volume get affected by pad wear, even small amounts. Bleeding those things is a motherfvcker anyway. I'm glad to be back on Shimanos where field bleeds are as simple as me opening the top, priming the system, and topping it off.

The K18s are still the best bang-for-the-buck brake on the market I think. MUCH nicer positive lever feel out of those than the Mega/One brakes too. I still have mine sitting around for my 6" bike when I get it back together.

I was never a fan of how the Megas/Ones engaged anyway. They seemed to apply close to full power before the lever would even firm up and it was sketchy as hell.

Hacktastic said:

Even with good bleeds, the Megas and Ones are really really finicky. I think the Megas in particular because of the smaller caliper volume get affected by pad wear, even small amounts. Bleeding those things is a motherfvcker anyway. I'm glad to be back on Shimanos where field bleeds are as simple as me opening the top, priming the system, and topping it off.

The K18s are still the best bang-for-the-buck brake on the market I think. MUCH nicer positive lever feel out of those than the Mega/One brakes too. I still have mine sitting around for my 6" bike when I get it back together.

I was never a fan of how the Megas/Ones engaged anyway. They seemed to apply close to full power before the lever would even firm up and it was sketchy as hell.

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Everybody has there own experiences. My pads wear right to the backing plate and I still have good lever. I find one of the best trates of the ones is the modulation........very easy to control the power. Like I said I haven't had to bleed mine in over a year,and when its time to bleed its as easy as any Avid brake. Ya just need to push fluid in to the lever when your done and make sure all the air is out.

MikeD said:

Also considered a new set of Hope 2-pots I found for a decent price...the new ones look pretty wild, but I want something that will require a minimum of support/parts. My old Hopes needed a lot of things changed quite often...

MD

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hope parts:
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Brands.aspx?BrandID=184
go with hope, best brake. no other brake retarded like a hope. i run avid juicy7 code, elixir cr but this brake are painfull and they run only HOT!!!!
the only brake where hath the same retarded, is the formula one!!
i hope so you run hope!!

ive just ordered elixer 5's to replace my 02 mags on my dh bike. figured id save some cash as i didnt need to adjust my brakes on the fly

Just picked up some M765 XT's to replace my Juicy 5's. I've had a couple of sets of juicy's, from new they are just crap. They don't hold a bleed, changing pads is an absolute prick and they don't have much power.

I could not believe how much better the workmanship quality was on the xt's than the juicy's or how easy it was to change the pads, not to mention the levers in the xt's don't come with factory slop. It seems like Shimano has actually thought their brakes. I'll never go back to Avid again.