[DirtMcGirk]

1) how much do you + your bike weigh (fatty on a fat bike?)
2) What kind of terrain are you riding (super steep, short and flat, extended runs, ?)
3) Your intended use (DH Race, shuttling, freeriding?)

1. These days I am tippin the scale at around 235, and the bike is another 42.5, so all in we are looking around 277.5#.

2. I ride a lot of different things through out a season. Everything from top to bottom Whistler runs to short race runs on the East Coast.

3. Used for DH race, lift assisted and shuttle runs on the big bike.

With the way I ride, and with how I have them set up, I have been very, very happy with my Gustavs. The only reason I am switching to the new Saint stuff next season is due to the ability to find replacement parts on the cheap and on the quick. I blew a rotor this year at Northstar doing something stupid, and I had to monkey fix it for the next day as no one in either Tahoe or Reno carried the right rotor. Same thing with pads, Gustav pads are hard to come by and are not cheap.

I've ridden the proto of the 2009 Saint on some local trails, I thought they were great. Are they right for everyone? Not really. Will they work great to stop my one man Tour De Fat as I am comin down the hill? I think they will.

Its all how you like your stuff, too damn subjective in my opinion to say "well what the best?"

 

[Steve M]

1:3 is below 20deg. That is steep enough to make your brakes fade? I can think of many trails I've tried and had no fade with my new fluid. I'm rather light 160-170ish but I think going with your theory I should overheat my oro's on 4.1km and 600m vertical track - especialy that it had a lot of friggin steep parts (over 45deg). Done it with new fluid (boiling point ~300deg celcius) and goodridge hoses (dunno if help) but with sintered pads that generate more heat.
Also I don't think you need a lot of braking on 1:3 steepness.
I think the only place when I'd need a lot of braking and more power/less fading would be in the situation Cheeta mentioned or maybe on Champery DH track (know some very good guys who told me they couldn't ride some parts of it...)



PS. I know the extra power gives some ppl extra comfort but I'm quite fine with the feedback my brakes give me.

I don't think you have a good grasp of what "steep" is, in terms of numbers. Champery is a 1650m long course with a 660m vertical drop, that makes it only 23.6 degrees from horizontal on average (or a 1:2.3 gradient). That course is PHENOMENALLY steep in places, and absolutely relentless on your brakes. 45 degrees is way beyond what can be sustainably ridden, you'll only ever find very short sections of track (chutes) that get that steep, because as I said before, that's where you don't have enough traction to physically stop anymore. A 4.1km track with a 600m vertical drop is only 8.4 degrees from horizontal on average, or 1:6.76 gradient. So like I said, 1:3 is freaking steep! We're not skiers remember...

And for the record, the majority of DH tracks are between 1:5 and 1:10 average gradient. Flatter than 1:10 tends to be very mellow, steeper than 1:5is getting fairly steep.

 

[toodles]

I would go so far as to call this very subjective as relative to your beer gut.

If you know me, you know I am what gay folk would call a "bear." At 235 and 5'10", I am not getting hit up a lot to model for Ambercrombie and Bitch.

I run Gustavs, and for 2009 I am going to run the new Saints with full metal pads. Why would I make this drunken, one way trip to the ER sort of decision? Because damnit, when a fat man tries to stop, I want to make sure its going to happen before I run someone's kid over. Its happened before, it may happen again, and its always been the fault of the Hayes HFX.

When I hit the chicken switch, I want my flying pudge to stop. I've made love to trees. I've gone OTB at the worst of times. I am getting far too old for that ****.

Long story short, now that I have bored you with tales of trips to the buffet for the 9th helping, stoppers are subjective. You may have to ride some of the .50 caliber stuff before you decide you want to drop your game with a .243.

And I'm out!

Bwahahahaha... Amen to that.

As much as I like a good amount of power, I value control and consistency more. A lot of brakes I've ridden tend to develop interesting personality characteristics after a day of runs, after a period of storage or even between top and bottom on a single run.

Now as Socket will no doubt attest to, most of this is due to my inability to fully release the brake lever but I've had good results with some brakes and less satisfactory results with others so I'd say brake design plays a part in consistent lever feel and brake bite.

 

[demo 9]

V brakes-why stop when u can just slow down?

 

[Bati]

I tried 2009 saints last weekend. Was just a park test, but enough to feel its veeeeeeerrrryyyy powerful.

 

[DirtMcGirk]

I think I am just going to take the stoppers off and go Fred Flintstone.

 

[seattle_hans]

i think that the Formula ones and Avid elixers are the top of the line most powerful brakes but i like how the ones modulate and Formula are by far the best brakes on the market!