[Sandwich]

Ok, so I've been looking a little at upgrading my brakes. I've read up on the whole hope/hayes debate, and I know a little bit of history. I've ridden hayes for a while, and now I have a hope closed-system for a rear, with a hayes up front. Both are good, but neither are great.

So I'm wondering....who rides anything different? Gustav M's? Shimano XTs? Grimecas? Avids? Or are all you guys in one clique or the other?

I love the look of the grimeca 17's, (six pots) but they're insanely expensive, especially compared with hope six pots. I probably don't need that much power anyways , but has anybody used them? Any experience with anything else?

The hayes work, but don't thrill me, hopes are nice but I'm not sure they're what I'm looking for.

 

[steve45]

i'm riding gustav m's, heres what i think of them.

taken from my post on another brake thread.

been using the gustavs for almost a year now, i am mighty impressed, they have to be the best brake i've ever used by miles.

they are really powerful(huge understatement)
probably the best modulating brake i've ever felt, so keeping that power under control is a breeze
reliablity, i've heard of people having trouble with sealing with the old bright yellow ones, but the 02 upwards are very reliable, more so than most of my buddies hopes, actually i havnt had a single problem yet.
not the lightest brakes but trust me the minimal extra weight penalty will not be noticed on the bike
i wouldnt say it goes through pads much i'm on my second set about the same as other brakes i've had.

infact i think the only drawback they have is the large price tag, but even then its totally worth it though.

bottom line - these are the best brakes ever

taken from http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=86393&highlight=gustav

 

[RhinofromWA]

I had a pair of 1998ish Gustavs and the had 3 complaints

1- only a 6" rotor for the rear. Heard they upped it to 170mm or something. I am big and need teh larger rotor.

2- I could never get my rear brake to run drag free....it dragged pretty bad but the front ran as drag free as my Hayes ie almost no sound at all. BUT the rear gave me an ulcer.

3- availability of brake pads for Gustavs. Most shops around here carry Hayes and Magura XC disk brake pads...nada on the gustavs so I would order 2-3 at a time. Hoses and such are like the other systems and not a problem to find but pads were not as easy to find.

Power and feel was geat on the Gustav's I still have them but have yet to put them on another bike. I am running Hayes on my DH bike for parts availability and sponsorship deals. My XC rig came with Shimano mech disks.

Rhino

 

[steve45]

they are now avalible in 190mm rear and 210 front. but if you want to upgrade from an older model you may find a bloody pain in the arse to find some shop selling the larger caliper cradles for the bigger rotors, i certainly am, i've got a 210 rotor just sitting there waiting. i've almost given up trying.

i've been incredably lucky with the drag issue, absolutley zero drag front and rear, but due to there design(floating caliper) you have to be prepared to allow a little drag, not always an issue though, i'm sure your fully aware of this though.

 

[OGRipper]

I've got old-style 4-pot xts paired with 203mm rotors and love 'em. They have gobs of power, modulate well, and are easy to set up and bleed. Once set up they perform consistently well with no squeal. As my pads wear I usually change the lever throw a bit but that's it, they are great brakes and can be had pretty cheap, plus just about everyone has parts for them.

Ahem, IMHO the reason you don't hear much about them on RM is because even though they work great, a lot of folks don't like to admit that Shimano makes good stuff.

Plus people are more compelled to post about aggravating parts instead of the stuff that quietly does the job. (I HOPE you understand what I'm talking about! :devil: )

Also, I haven't had a chance to try them yet but have heard the Saint brakes have similar performance and less weight than old xt. The hot setup is older xt levers, Saint brakes, and some sweet hubs like King or whatever. And no, you don't need the Saint hubs or rotors, you can use any 203mm rotors (I prefer Hayes).

 

[Sandwich]

steve i read your posts before. Do you have any long term reviews? My friend had a set, the yellow 98 ish ones. They seemed ok but everytime he crashed he broke his levers...Magura hooked him up, but still....

I'm not thrilled about making the shimano jump. I'd rather buy a set of brakes then buy proprietary parts. I think I might make the shimano free jump too.

Anyways...anybody know how much importing parts to the us costs? I can get systems 17's for 209 euros, about 250 US...cheapest here is 330!

 

[Sandwich]

bump?

 

[math2014]

Originally posted by OGRipper
I've got old-style 4-pot xts paired with 203mm rotors and love 'em. They have gobs of power, modulate well, and are easy to set up and bleed. Once set up they perform consistently well with no squeal. As my pads wear I usually change the lever throw a bit but that's it, they are great brakes and can be had pretty cheap, plus just about everyone has parts for them.

Ahem, IMHO the reason you don't hear much about them on RM is because even though they work great, a lot of folks don't like to admit that Shimano makes good stuff.

Plus people are more compelled to post about aggravating parts instead of the stuff that quietly does the job. (I HOPE you understand what I'm talking about! :devil: )

Also, I haven't had a chance to try them yet but have heard the Saint brakes have similar performance and less weight than old xt. The hot setup is older xt levers, Saint brakes, and some sweet hubs like King or whatever. And no, you don't need the Saint hubs or rotors, you can use any 203mm rotors (I prefer Hayes).

I am on the same boat with XT 4 pots, i would like to confirm everything said here, especially with goodridge lines upgrade.

 

[paranoid56]

If you can buy them from a private party, they can just send them via air mail, and have them put the cost on the part less then 20 bucks, and it should only be about 15 bucks to ship.
Shane

Originally posted by Sandwich
Anyways...anybody know how much importing parts to the us costs? I can get systems 17's for 209 euros, about 250 US...cheapest here is 330!

 

[Sandwich]

bike mailorder.de can do 409 euros shipped....that's about 480 bucks! has anybody ever done business with them?

Anybody have any experience with grimeca?