I need some help

I wouldn't recommend getting those Hayes brakes as they are older and aren't meant for DH. Especially with a budget of $200-250 you can find much better brakes. It will help if you give us your weight, and riding style.

I just picked up a set of Elixir CR Levers and Code calipers and so far they seem to be solid brakes.

Those an XC brakes, ****ty ones at that. Even when they first came out.

250$ for el caminos? Are you on crack? Get elixirs or saints if you find a deal on them.

There is no reason why one would want to buy El Caminos.

Just buy some Shimanos. Any will do for your spec - take the cheapest. Nothing beats mineral oil reliability - I ain't going for DOT4 mess ever again.

Seriously, avoid them.

Since you are pretty light I would look into a set of Elixirs, Shimano SLX or Shimano XT's. All fairly popular brakes that way they are easy to find parts for.

Oh yes... I just figured out why would you want to buy EL Caminos...

For your mother in law! But then again, just buying El Caminos might get you charged with attempted murder.

Think really hard if its worth it. Killing your mother in law with an ax is way less suspicious and is less likely to get you caught.

A.f.g said:

Ok thanks everybody, i will forget about El caminos.

And one more thing, i didn't understand last message about some murder. Was it irony оr what was that?

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it means too hard to brake down on the way

StabprimoMonkee said:

There is no reason why one would want to buy El Caminos.

Just buy some Shimanos. Any will do for your spec - take the cheapest. Nothing beats mineral oil reliability - I ain't going for DOT4 mess ever again.

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BS. Proper DOT 4/5.1 brakes work very well and they boil less due to DOT 4/5.1 higher boiling point. I'd never use smaller (ie slx/xt/xtr) brakes that use mineral oil for anything not being my trailbike.

StabprimoMonkee said:

Nothing beats mineral oil reliability - I ain't going for DOT4 mess ever again.

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auto and motorcycle manufacturers are laughing at this

@norbar & @tehRicist: Were discussing MTB brakes here yes? In my experience dot brakes need to be bled very often to retain their function and once you open a container of brake oil, well next time you need it its going to be worthless.

DOT works mighty fine for cars, but there volumes, presures and other tech can be quite different. DOT may have higher boiling point while it's not contaminated with water and on MTB's thats usually until you take your first ride in ****ty conditions.

I have used Formula, Avid, Shimano, Hayes and Magura. In my experience Shimano and Magura were the most trouble free. And my mates with Magura or Shimano brakes spent a lot less time servicing them. I attribute that to mineral oil.

K? OK, BAI.

Yes, most manufacturers use DOT 4 or DOT 5.1 (Do not mistake with DOT 5 which is different) brake fluid for their brakes.

Only Shimano and Magura use mineral fluid AFAIK.

Main issue that I have experienced is that since DOT 3,4 and 5.1 are Hygroscopic (means they actively draw moisture from thin air), and since bicycles are often used in high moisture conditions, DOT based fluid tends to foul up pretty soon leading to water boiling in your calipers which leads to air in system and hard levers and thus loss of braking power.

Mineral oil does not draw on water so getting water in system is harder (not impossible) but has a lower boiling point. Thus on paper and in ideal conditions DOT should be better. But in practice you get to run mineral oil based brakes for up to 3 seasons without maintenance, while you get to constantly fiddle with your DOT based brakes.

Do not buy old brakes....ancient proverb. :wink:

StabprimoMonkee said:

@norbar & @tehRicist: Were discussing MTB brakes here yes? In my experience dot brakes need to be bled very often to retain their function and once you open a container of brake oil, well next time you need it its going to be worthless.

DOT works mighty fine for cars, but there volumes, presures and other tech can be quite different. DOT may have higher boiling point while it's not contaminated with water and on MTB's thats usually until you take your first ride in ****ty conditions.

I have used Formula, Avid, Shimano, Hayes and Magura. In my experience Shimano and Magura were the most trouble free. And my mates with Magura or Shimano brakes spent a lot less time servicing them. I attribute that to mineral oil.

K? OK, BAI.

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I'm talking about bike brakes. Formulas had faulty series but now is ok. Yes dot oils catch water and end up with a low boiling point but in many cases a "wet boiling point" of good dot 4/5.1 brake fluids is still better than mineral ones.
I remember shimano had some bad batches of xt too so it's not like mineral oil is the solution to all brake problems. Plus low boiling point sucks.

@norbar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake_fluid#Boiling_point

Also "wet" is defined as 3.7% of water in fluid. Do you agree that DOT fluids are bound to get wet waaay before mineral fluids?

Also I picked somewhere that Magura Royal Blood has a boiling point of 384°F and we can probably assume that it means dry boiling point.

Well in practice I am greatly satisfied with my Gustavs. Also my mates with Saints have barely any problems, while dudes with codes always moan and complain.

YMMV

StabprimoMonkee said:

@norbar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brake_fluid#Boiling_point

Also "wet" is defined as 3.7% of water in fluid. Do you agree that DOT fluids are bound to get wet waaay before mineral fluids?

Also I picked somewhere that Magura Royal Blood has a boiling point of 384°F and we can probably assume that it means dry boiling point.

Well in practice I am greatly satisfied with my Gustavs. Also my mates with Saints have barely any problems, while dudes with codes always moan and complain.

YMMV

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384F is LOOOOW. It's 198C. Motul RBF 660 is 312C Dry and 216 Wet. Ie - better wet than Magura dry.

You assume too much. You see a number but don't know the other and you assume it's better. You see 2 brakes have no problems and one other have and assume it's crap.
Seriously that's how silly rumors spread. The problem with codes is they had faulty series.
Also BIG mineral fluid brakes like saints or gustavs have no problems with overheating but try to ride XT, Marta FR, or SLX with that fluids on longer descents and you have guaranteed fade.

A.f.g said:

What about this brakes?

I see that in live and probably i like it, but why it's so cheep? I wanna hear your's opinions

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=54410

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Don't go with these, they won't be powerful enough. Like I said go for something like the Avid Exlir, or Shimano SLX since you are fairly light. Depending on the amount of power you are looking for you can change rotor size, 203mm or 8" disks are very common for DH, but you could most likely get away with 185mm disks.

And yes the stem is what attaches your bar to your fork steer tube.

I missed this first time around, but since I am 'that guy' I had to toss this out there:

All braking systems get moisture in them over time, it is simply a matter of the system materials and surrounding atmosphere

Water is 'absorbed' by DOT fluids but this quality does not increase the amount of water that enters the system.


Lets say that your system has aquired 1% by volume of water over some period of time...

DOT would absorb that water into the fluid itself. Yes your DOT B.P will be lower than it was 'dry'..

What about the systems with silicone or mineral oil? Where is that water? It is not absorbed, so it does not change the B.P of the oil, but it does change the system.

We all know that oils (silicone, mineral, etc) are less dense than water, thus water sinks in a large volume of oil.

In a brake system, over time, that water finds the lowest point in the system...the caliper!

Now think about the hottest part of the system... and the B.P of the water that is sitting right there..

Which 888 are you looking at?

Are you in Afghanistan? Do you have access to shipping on NATO or American bases? If you have access to an APO address Ill ship you something and probably save you some money.