[Andeh]

What I usually do:

If I somehow really fucked up and got a lot of air in the line, or am replacing the caliper, then I do a modified 2-syringe push/pull, but I cheat and use a really big syringe for the lower (like 100cc). The idea is it lets you push a ton of fluid through the system and displace the bubbles faster. I fill that fucker up, attach it at the bottom and a small syringe at the top. I start holding caliper low and pushing on big syringe, then move it higher and pull with it. 2-3 cycles of that. Then disconnect the big syringe when it's held high and seal the caliper bleed port. Then I'm a naughty boy and pull the lever one time, remove the small syringe, and seal the bleed port. The naughty lever pull makes them bite quicker, but makes pad alignment a real bitch and near impossible to completely eliminate rub if your rotors are not perfectly true.

If I just am trying to freshen up the system, I just use the small syringe at the MC. I push and pull a few times, but never too hard because the seal between the syringe tip and the MC bleed port doesn't hold up to a lot of pressure. Then I very gently push the syringe until it feels like the internal pressure is neutral. Then I repeat the above naughtiness with a single lever flick, remove the syringe, and seal up the system.

 

[spocomptonrider]

^ I’m going to have to try the naughty lever pull trick, pad alignment already seems to be an issue with these brakes but other than that and the tedious bleed process I can’t really fault them. The only problem I’ve ever had was caused by my own ham fistedness and not necessarily a fault of the brake...

 

[norbar]

If you're mechanically inclined..... Formula The Ones (so old they'll likely need a refurbish) with Shimano L04C (finned) pads. Heaps of power with a 220mm rotor on the front of my 26er. Back is also really good with a 180mm.

I imagine 2 pot Curas would be about the same, if not better.

Getting parts for older formulas is a PITA though.

 

[norbar]

But why? The Hope V4 caliper barely has more slave piston area than a Cura 2, and way less than a C4.

Do Cura levers pop out like older formula models? That's the only advantage if you have spider fingers that tend to break. Never broke my fingers on formulas, broke my fingers many times on non pop out levers at least 3 times in 5 years.

 

[djjohnr]

Anyone got any tips on Magura bleeds? I had to do it twice to get it right and seems solid now. I ended up doing sort of a combination of interweb recommendations and maguras bleed info. The second time I did it I kept the caliper above the mc the whole time and pulled the lever in slightly until I quit seeing air bubbles coming out on the caliper side. Another head scratcher was when I did it maguras way with the caliper bleed port as the system high point I would take the syringe off the caliper and could see that the caliper was not completely full of fluid. Doing it their way and just slamming the bolt back in after that I can’t see how that wouldn’t introduce air into the system!? I ended up removing the syringe and then topping it off with fluid (until the fluid was nearly over running the caliper) then installing the bolt through that little bit of extra fluid....

The thing I thought was weird was that I wasn’t getting any bubbles on the mc side by just pushing but low and behold when I started the lever pull trick bubbles would work their way into the caliper side syringe. The frustrating part is there would be a few bubbles at the end and it was tough to get them to finally go to the top of the syringe.

One last thing, I drilled a hole in the mc side syringe at the 30mm mark, when I got done with the bleed I got expensive elf’s blood er. Magura blood all over hell’s half acre. I thought I was just being a muppet but even when I pressed the syringe on the mc side back in past the 30mm mark it still squirted out all over the god damn place. What stupid thing am I doing wrong over here?

I do this, no issues over three sets.

 

[englertracing]

Found on german website #zegermanz
View attachment 145635
View attachment 145636

Maybe they liked the formula master but hated the lack of pad retraction on the cura...??m
The cura 4 feels a little squishy IMO, can see the caliper flexing.

 

[Jm_]

And why the fuck aren’t brakes self-bleeding in 2020 like my dropper post?

 

[maxyedor]

first impressions on cura 4s, just bedding them in a riding on the street.
Bled up easy enough with the usual 2 syringe method but throw is still really long biting almost at the grip, which i dont mind but it feels too wierd with the long as fuck reach, idk if i fucked it up i was getting no bubbles.
Powers alright despite the fucky ergonomics. I want to say give them a miss for now, but i havent ridden them on dh yet.

Bleed them again, mine have very little lever throw between “off” and bite point, but it took a while to actually get them bleed right. What seemed to work best was pulling vacuum at the caliper, and lots of tappy-tap-tap on everything to shack loose the tiny bubbles of doom in there.

Would also rate them as a don’t buy due to the MC volume issue, but if it weren’t for that, they’d be a great brake despite the finicky firstbleed

 

[jstuhlman]

when i had mine bled by the local shop guy just for fun he slammed the bike on the ground a few times to dislodge bubbles-made the throw much shorter and the feel much firmer. ymmv.

 

[dovbush66]

Bleed them again, mine have very little lever throw between “off” and bite point, but it took a while to actually get them bleed right. What seemed to work best was pulling vacuum at the caliper, and lots of tappy-tap-tap on everything to shack loose the tiny bubbles of doom in there.

Would also rate them as a don’t buy due to the MC volume issue, but if it weren’t for that, they’d be a great brake despite the finicky firstbleed

thanks man ill give it another go. i noticed they have way more pad retraction than ROs. did you ever try using a thinner bleed block to overfill them a bit or does that make the pads rub?

 

[maxyedor]

thanks man ill give it another go. i noticed they have way more pad retraction than ROs. did you ever try using a thinner bleed block to overfill them a bit or does that make the pads rub?

Not sure you can really gain anthing that way. There's almost zero pad rollback as it is, which some people hate, but I kinda dig. I'll see what explodes when I finally swap my pads, just going to push the pistons back and see where they leak since right now I have about double the fluid in them than the MC would normally allow due to refilling once I figured out the MC problem.

 

[Westy]

when i had mine bled by the local shop guy just for fun he slammed the bike on the ground a few times to dislodge bubbles-made the throw much shorter and the feel much firmer. ymmv.

Your wife's vibrator on the lines would work well too.

Yours will also work.

 

[jstuhlman]

Your wife's vibrator on the lines would work well too.

Yours will also work.

VIBRATE IT NAO

 

[Udi]

It's 2020, all the terrible brakes are suddenly good again
New year, new me!

 

[StiHacka]

New year, new me!

We can only Hope.

 

[kidwoo]

It's 2020, all the terrible brakes are suddenly good again
New year, new me!

Hey if we can wish away the existence of a deadly virus we can believe shimano brakes work too!

 

[maxyedor]

When you really really hate air in your lines, call Brian Lopes and see if you can borrow his

 

[buckoW]

It's 2020, all the terrible brakes are suddenly good again
New year, new me!

Hi Udi,
I’m still liking the Hayes!

 

[dovbush66]

Not sure you can really gain anthing that way. There's almost zero pad rollback as it is, which some people hate, but I kinda dig. I'll see what explodes when I finally swap my pads, just going to push the pistons back and see where they leak since right now I have about double the fluid in them than the MC would normally allow due to refilling once I figured out the MC problem.

hey man, thanks for the tip on tapping the fuck out of it. I got some more air out of them

They feel perfect with the pads and bleed block spacer in, but with the wheel installed i had a million mile of lever travel and thought i fucked it up, so i took out the wheel and pumped the pistons out and bit and now they're mint. Is this normal and just a sign of the tiny amount of oil inside?

 

[Olly]

They feel perfect with the pads and bleed block spacer in, but with the wheel installed i had a million mile of lever travel and thought i fucked it up, so i took out the wheel and pumped the pistons out and bit and now they're mint. Is this normal and just a sign of the tiny amount of oil inside?

That and/or your rotors are worn down to paper-thin.

 

[maxyedor]

I would check out the alignment to the rotor, If it’s not straight it’ll flex the rotor and give you a really long lever feel. Failing that check for a sticky piston, and yeah advance them a little so that they’re closer to the rotor. Watch the pad rollback, that should give you an idea of just how close to the rotor the pads should be.

 

[dovbush66]

I would check out the alignment to the rotor, If it’s not straight it’ll flex the rotor and give you a really long lever feel. Failing that check for a sticky piston, and yeah advance them a little so that they’re closer to the rotor. Watch the pad rollback, that should give you an idea of just how close to the rotor the pads should be.

They're brand new and i voided the warranty by using Juice Lubes oil so if it is sticky pistons, fuck Advancing them out with no disc fixed everything and they feel great now, was just curious cos i never had to take the wheel out to advance the pistons on any of my other brakes.

 

[ebarker9]

Anyone got any tips on Magura bleeds? I had to do it twice to get it right and seems solid now. I ended up doing sort of a combination of interweb recommendations and maguras bleed info. The second time I did it I kept the caliper above the mc the whole time and pulled the lever in slightly until I quit seeing air bubbles coming out on the caliper side. Another head scratcher was when I did it maguras way with the caliper bleed port as the system high point I would take the syringe off the caliper and could see that the caliper was not completely full of fluid. Doing it their way and just slamming the bolt back in after that I can’t see how that wouldn’t introduce air into the system!? I ended up removing the syringe and then topping it off with fluid (until the fluid was nearly over running the caliper) then installing the bolt through that little bit of extra fluid....

The thing I thought was weird was that I wasn’t getting any bubbles on the mc side by just pushing but low and behold when I started the lever pull trick bubbles would work their way into the caliper side syringe. The frustrating part is there would be a few bubbles at the end and it was tough to get them to finally go to the top of the syringe.

One last thing, I drilled a hole in the mc side syringe at the 30mm mark, when I got done with the bleed I got expensive elf’s blood er. Magura blood all over hell’s half acre. I thought I was just being a muppet but even when I pressed the syringe on the mc side back in past the 30mm mark it still squirted out all over the god damn place. What stupid thing am I doing wrong over here?

Have to say that I feel your pain on this. I've been at it for...2 hours on just the rear caliper and my thumbs hurt. There just seem to be an infinite number of bubbles. It took probably 30x worth of the push pull cycle to where there were only a few bubbles each time and then if I do the lever "flick" the whole line is just filled with air bubbles to the point where I can't draw all of them out with the volume of fluid in there. Maybe I'll give some of the other suggestions a try.

 

[StiHacka]

Have to say that I feel your pain on this. I've been at it for...2 hours on just the rear caliper and my thumbs hurt. There just seem to be an infinite number of bubbles. It took probably 30x worth of the push pull cycle to where there were only a few bubbles each time and then if I do the lever "flick" the whole line is just filled with air bubbles to the point where I can't draw all of them out with the volume of fluid in there. Maybe I'll give some of the other suggestions a try.

If you are trying to "pull" the air out with a syringe, you're most likely sucking in air that is not in the system.

Side note: still like the Hopes on the trail bike.

 

[ebarker9]

If you are trying to "pull" the air out with a syringe, you're most likely sucking in air that is not in the system.

Side note: still like the Hopes on the trail bike.

Hopes are definitely the easiest brakes I've ever bled. Unfortunately the internet has convinced me that they're woefully inadequate to stop my 155lb on flat east coast trails.

Not trying to pull the air out, but you do have to draw the fluid back into the lower syringe to be able to push through the system again. I gave it another few goes trying to be as gentle as possible when pulling the fluid back and seem to have gotten it to work. Hopefully.

 

[rich_gardiner]

I bought some M9120 XTRs off AliExpress for £285 posted from China to the UK in less than a week - was convinced they'd be fakes but they were legit and have been really impressed. Comes with bleed block, caliper bolts and finned pads, but no olive or insert if you need to cut/swap hoses over.

Not sure how it'll work out with Exchange rate for people in the US but it's still a great deal compared to paying RRP

510.0US $ |SHIMANO XTR M9100 2 Piston M9120 4 Piston MTB Bike XTR Hidraulic Disc Brake ICE TECH Left & Right XTR Brake Better M9000 M9100|Bicycle Brake| - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

 

[buckoW]

Formula Cura Disc Brake Kit - glossy black

Formula's light and strong brake for Trail, AM, Enduro and Downhill. ▶ Model: glossy black

www.bike24.com

Cura 2 for 80€ is a pretty good deal too.

 

[jstuhlman]

Formula Cura Disc Brake Kit - glossy black

Formula's light and strong brake for Trail, AM, Enduro and Downhill. ▶ Model: glossy black

www.bike24.com

Cura 2 for 80€ is a pretty good deal too.

yeah, they're $128 at universal cycles here. people must have jumped on that, cause they're no longer in stock at that link. last time i looked at something from them, shipping was something like $30 for a tire, so with the exchange rate i'd bet getting them for $128 stateside is comparable or better.

 

[buckoW]

yeah, they're $128 at universal cycles here. people must have jumped on that, cause they're no longer in stock at that link. last time i looked at something from them, shipping was something like $30 for a tire, so with the exchange rate i'd bet getting them for $128 stateside is comparable or better.

Yeah, I forgot about the shipping to US.

 

[jstuhlman]

I've used German and UK sites in the past and it used to be reasonable . . . everything the past few months when I've checked has just been exorbitant.

 

[6thElement]

I've used German and UK sites in the past and it used to be reasonable . . . everything the past few months when I've checked has just been exorbitant.

Not enough planes flying across the Atlantic to keep the shipping prices down, bike-discount.de isn't even bothering to allow NA shipments at the moment.

 

[jonKranked]

trigger warning: lead times

trickstuff's lead time is currently 12-15 months

 

[Jm_]

trigger warning: lead times

trickstuff's lead time is currently 12-15 months

Yo dawg, you should get some brakes while you wait for your brakes.

 

[jonKranked]

Yo dawg, you should get some brakes while you wait for your brakes.

part of me is tempted to just put it an order now.

 

[maxyedor]

Yo dawg, you should get some brakes while you wait for your brakes.

"Quit your whining, you're just a cheap bastard, that's the only reason you don't have Trick Stuff, don't bother asking about your shitty brakes you cheap bastard, it's not the lead time, there's a single pink one in stock at a shop somewhere in either the Alps or the Pyrenees, or maybe it's in Denmark, just buy that one" - Every TS fanboy on RM when lead times are mentioned.


But really, that's how I ended up with Curas, was tempted to order some Trickstuffs, but I can't plan my braking life a year ahead of time.

 

[jonKranked]

"Quit your whining, you're just a cheap bastard, that's the only reason you don't have Trick Stuff, don't bother asking about your shitty brakes you cheap bastard, it's not the lead time, there's a single pink one in stock at a shop somewhere in either the Alps or the Pyrenees, or maybe it's in Denmark, just buy that one" - Every TS fanboy on RM when lead times are mentioned.

i don't make fun of people for being cheap (because i'm cheap myself, generally) but for being impatient and not understanding why high quality requires time.

But really, that's how I ended up with Curas, was tempted to order some Trickstuffs, but I can't plan my braking life a year ahead of time.

the flipside to this is that, by the accounts i've heard, a set of TS brakes will put you in a position where you aren't having to buy a new set of brakes at least once a year.

 

[Sandro]

Where exactly is this Trickstuff circlejerk happening? I think we have a single member who runs them? That’s admittedly a high percentage on a forum with 8 active members, but still.

 

[maxyedor]

the flipside to this is that, by the accounts i've heard, a set of TS brakes will put you in a position where you aren't having to buy a new set of brakes at least once a year.

Unless my new frame or fork has some new 87mm diagonal 3-bolt mount with 7.2mm hardware than the TS brakes end up in the parts bin anyway.

6-7 months is a silly lead time, 12-15 is just preposterous. I'm sure they are everything they're cracked up to be, but the lead times really are silly, especially because you need a 2nd set of brakes to get you through while you wait for the set of brakes that's supposed to prevent you from needing a second set of brakes, and costs the same as 4 sets of brakes. There's a reason people buy brakes that aren't Trick Stuff.

 

[Jm_]

Unless my new frame or fork has some new 87mm diagonal 3-bolt mount with 7.2mm hardware than the TS brakes end up in the parts bin anyway.

6-7 months is a silly lead time, 12-15 is just preposterous. I'm sure they are everything they're cracked up to be, but the lead times really are silly, especially because you need a 2nd set of brakes to get you through while you wait for the set of brakes that's supposed to prevent you from needing a second set of brakes, and costs the same as 4 sets of brakes. There's a reason people buy brakes that aren't Trick Stuff.

You could probably get a Lahar faster.

Yeah, I get quality stuff taking time. I have no problem that Craig is backed up 3-5 weeks to get a fork cartridge to me, that's reasonable for a high quality product. I have plenty of other examples waiting for something that is worth it, but I agree that 12-15 months is just ridiculous. I've seen what CNC machines do, it doesn't take 12-15 months. It sounds like they don't have their supply-train figured out for hoses, seals or they can't get CNC machine time, etc. if it takes that long. I mean hell, it doesn't even take anywhere near that long to order a freaking car and have it built by BMW and shipped across the world. Trickstuff needs to seriously up their production capability and get the lead time down to a reasonable amount if they want to be taken seriously.

 

[jonKranked]

Unless my new frame or fork has some new 87mm diagonal 3-bolt mount with 7.2mm hardware than the TS brakes end up in the parts bin anyway.

ok sandwich

6-7 months is a silly lead time, 12-15 is just preposterous.

is it though? some custom framebuilders have wait lists that are measured in years.

the lead times really are silly, especially because you need a 2nd set of brakes to get you through while you wait for the set of brakes that's supposed to prevent you from needing a second set of brakes

or maybe it just requires the slightest amount of planning, and ordering them before you'll need them, instead of waiting for your current brakes to inevitably fail

costs the same as 4 sets of brakes.

if you go through a set of brakes a year, and the trickstuffs last 4 years then you've hit the BEP. if they last longer than 4 years (likely) they will cost you less in the long run.

There's a reason people buy brakes that aren't Trick Stuff.

if that were the case there'd be no lead time, inventory would be readily available.