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What brakes are good in 2020?

OGRipper

back alley ripper
Feb 3, 2004
10,654
1,129
NORCAL is the hizzle
My guess is that even with the amounts they charge it would not be profitable to invest in expanding their production capabilities. Also, I expect they produce brakes faster than 12 - 15 months for the increasing amount of pros running their stuff, creating more lag time for ordinary consumers.

But hey, at least they've got these cool jerseys in stock: :rolleyes:

1594401893573.png
 

Sandro

Terrified of Cucumbers
Nov 12, 2006
3,224
2,537
The old world
That’s the thing that is a bit puzzling: most of the machining and treatment is done externally. I talked to the boss a few times when Udi was trying to acquire some and he said that the booming automotive industry was clogging up all the machine shops. It certainly isn’t booming at the moment, so there must have been a significant surge in demand or a new bottleneck.

I could have dealt with 6 months if I really wanted some, but anything longer puts them out of contention.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
86,001
24,549
media blackout
That’s the thing that is a bit puzzling: most of the machining and treatment is done externally. I talked to the boss a few times when Udi was trying to acquire some and he said that the booming automotive industry was clogging up all the machine shops. It certainly isn’t booming at the moment, so there must have been a significant surge in demand or a new bottleneck.

I could have dealt with 6 months if I really wanted some, but anything longer puts them out of contention.
i remember reading / hearing somewhere that they also had a stretch where varying batches of the subcomponents were coming in out of spec.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,998
9,659
AK
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.
Well not quite, because the trickstuff dementia doesn't just show up the minute you place the order, you still need 1.5 brakesets for the waiting period...which is really 2.
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
86,001
24,549
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Well not quite, because the trickstuff dementia doesn't just show up the minute you place the order, you still need 1.5 brakesets for the waiting period...which is really 2.
the point is in the long run it'll wind up being cheaper than replacing brakes on an annual basis
 

jstuhlman

bagpipe wanker
Dec 3, 2009
16,697
13,051
Cackalacka du Nord
the point is in the long run it'll wind up being cheaper than replacing brakes on an annual basis
Who replaces their brakes on an annual basis? I think I've had maybe three sets of brakes over the past 12 or more years. Two sets of XTs and my current Curas.

I know, I know, it's hard to believe I'm still alive what with XTs AND crabon barzzzz
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
86,001
24,549
media blackout
Who replaces their brakes on an annual basis? I think I've had maybe three sets of brakes over the past 12 or more years. Two sets of XTs and my current Curas.

I know, I know, it's hard to believe I'm still alive what with XTs AND crabon barzzzz
if i hadn't actually met you i'd still be convinced you were a ghost trapped in a computer
 

jonKranked

Detective Dookie
Nov 10, 2005
86,001
24,549
media blackout
Virtually every "technical" thread runs in circles forever. I'm also in the club that runs my XT brakes forever, with annual bleeding and routine pad replacement. Before that it was Hayes, before that Magura (which sucked), before that DiaTech.
oh don't get me wrong, both sets of my XT's are over 5 years old. and i'm still running first gen saints on my DH bike. i'm always on the lookout for components that are gonna last for a long time, and am willing to pay extra for it.
 

Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
54,445
20,248
Sleazattle
Virtually every "technical" thread runs in circles forever. I'm also in the club that runs my XT brakes forever, with annual bleeding and routine pad replacement. Before that it was Hayes, before that Magura (which sucked), before that DiaTech.

Many years ago I had a set of Avid lever fail soon after I replaced the pads. My method for recentering calipers was to grip the levers with all the strength I had while tightening the calipers. I quickly learned that wasn't necessary and counterproductive. I see people test their brakes with a full hand grip fairly often. I wonder if lever failures may be related to people giving them an Andre The Giant handshake when they are designed for single finger modulation. Either way, aside from that one Avid failure, and a pair of Hopes that never worked. All my brakes from a variety of suppliers have all been super reliable.
 

Happymtb.fr

Turbo Monkey
Feb 9, 2016
1,919
1,271
SWE
I am having second thoughts about my Cura 2. They work great and I really enjoy the loads of stopping power and the short throw when riding tracks I know well. But I have a tendency to do brake check a little more often than necessary when riding unknown terrain... it resulted in an OTB and a broken rib after last weekend trip to a bike park :no: not a good way to start the summer...
Anyhow, I blame the equipment since I am too old to change my habits!
 

dovbush66

Monkey
Aug 27, 2018
195
218
Ireland
I am having second thoughts about my Cura 2. They work great and I really enjoy the loads of stopping power and the short throw when riding tracks I know well. But I have a tendency to do brake check a little more often than necessary when riding unknown terrain... it resulted in an OTB and a broken rib after last weekend trip to a bike park :no: not a good way to start the summer...
Anyhow, I blame the equipment since I am too old to change my habits!
i feel your pain dude, dh bike 100% ready and I roll an ankle riding bmx, lol.

swapped to cura 2s from 4s because I didn't like the sponginess. just messing around what I can on the street but i really like them. the lever feel is sooooo good
 

slimshady

¡Mira, una ardilla!
i feel your pain dude, dh bike 100% ready and I roll an ankle riding bmx, lol.
You should give up on the little bike and ride a grown man sized one, just like Chase, just sayin...


</sarcasm>
 

englertracing

you owe me a sandwich
Mar 5, 2012
1,581
1,076
La Verne
You should give up on the little bike and ride a grown man sized one, just like Chase, just sayin...


</sarcasm>
Thats underwhelming compared to what he is capable of on a bmx
 

ebarker9

Monkey
Oct 2, 2007
850
243
So I've returned to this thread to continue pushing my luck in asking for advice about MT5's. In general, these are great. More power than I need, I actually like the lever ergonomics, and they were cheap. However, a few issues...

-The rotors were pretty warped out of the box. Both front and rear rub on both pads. I've mostly managed to tweak them straight but maybe because of the greater thickness, it took a bit of work.
-Took me a lot of working the individual pistons in and out to get them all extending and retracting evenly.
-I still don't get the bleed process if I follow Magura's instructions
. Pushing fluid from the caliper into the brake side syringe, sure. But if I have to draw it back to the caliper syringe I just end up pulling a bunch of air past the lever side connection.
-The bleed blocks that are supplied have no clips to keep them in place. There are videos showing the use of rubber bands or a tie to keep them from falling out. Seriously, why?
-The brakes have that lovely Avid Juicy 7 turkey warble sound. First it was just the front. Now it's the back as well. Everything is mounted solidly. Caliper is nicely centered. I followed my normal bed in process of rolling down my street, dragging the brake, never coming to a stop, slowly increasing speed. Tried sanding the pads on sandpaper on a flat surface, cleaning with IPA, and then repeating the bed in. Same result. Pad compound issue? Inherent problem with these brakes?
-The pads are a pain to remove. The pistons have to be 100% fully retracted and even then it's a bit of a battle. This is with the magnetic backing/piston connection. Maybe others are different.


old.jpg
 

Andeh

Customer Title
Mar 3, 2020
1,026
993
The bleed blocks I got with my Trail Sports, MT7s, and bleed kits were all the sort that let you hold them in place with the pad bolt (like in the video Da Peach linked).

Mine only make noise when they're wet, but it goes away pretty quick as the water evaporates off from the heat. If they're warbling otherwise, sounds like you contaminated them or something.

When doing a full bleed, I remove the plunger from the MC syringe and treat it like a funnel. I push holding the caliper at the lowest point, then raise it up and pull. This is a lot easier to do if your bike doesn't have internal brake line routing.
 

ebarker9

Monkey
Oct 2, 2007
850
243
The bleed blocks I got with my Trail Sports, MT7s, and bleed kits were all the sort that let you hold them in place with the pad bolt (like in the video Da Peach linked).

Mine only make noise when they're wet, but it goes away pretty quick as the water evaporates off from the heat. If they're warbling otherwise, sounds like you contaminated them or something.

When doing a full bleed, I remove the plunger from the MC syringe and treat it like a funnel. I push holding the caliper at the lowest point, then raise it up and pull. This is a lot easier to do if your bike doesn't have internal brake line routing.
Thanks.

Yeah, I don't have any retaining bolt. It's just the magnetic pads that keep them in place and stop them from rattling around. That would definitely make life easier.

I know that contamination is always the answer, but I really can't imagine any way that it would have happened. I'm super diligent about rubber gloves, never touching the pad or rotor surfaces, cleaning up any brake fluid with brake cleaner before reinstalling pads, etc. And it's the same for both brakes.

On the subject of pads, I have the linked type. Any advantages/disadvantages to the type that has a pad per piston?
 

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
15,980
13,234
One of the 200mm rotors I bought at the start of this year wasn't true either, doesn't even spin through the caliper. Haven't bothered dealing with it or shortening the four hoses as the COVID's has meant wife and I haven't wanted to head to DH parks.
 

englertracing

you owe me a sandwich
Mar 5, 2012
1,581
1,076
La Verne
So I've returned to this thread to continue pushing my luck in asking for advice about MT5's. In general, these are great. More power than I need, I actually like the lever ergonomics, and they were cheap. However, a few issues...

-The rotors were pretty warped out of the box. Both front and rear rub on both pads. I've mostly managed to tweak them straight but maybe because of the greater thickness, it took a bit of work.
-Took me a lot of working the individual pistons in and out to get them all extending and retracting evenly.
-I still don't get the bleed process if I follow Magura's instructions
. Pushing fluid from the caliper into the brake side syringe, sure. But if I have to draw it back to the caliper syringe I just end up pulling a bunch of air past the lever side connection.
-The bleed blocks that are supplied have no clips to keep them in place. There are videos showing the use of rubber bands or a tie to keep them from falling out. Seriously, why?
-The brakes have that lovely Avid Juicy 7 turkey warble sound. First it was just the front. Now it's the back as well. Everything is mounted solidly. Caliper is nicely centered. I followed my normal bed in process of rolling down my street, dragging the brake, never coming to a stop, slowly increasing speed. Tried sanding the pads on sandpaper on a flat surface, cleaning with IPA, and then repeating the bed in. Same result. Pad compound issue? Inherent problem with these brakes?
-The pads are a pain to remove. The pistons have to be 100% fully retracted and even then it's a bit of a battle. This is with the magnetic backing/piston connection. Maybe others are different.


View attachment 148551
Maybe try sending your rotors and doing another bedding procedure, but get them good and hot after that not Mandy pandy baby dragging stuff. Sometimes getting them hot AF alone can shut them up.

Also bleeding anything with suction beyond a very initial starting like wetting the system is pretty universally dumb.

Backbleeding from syringe good
Air likes going up hill.....
Bleeding master to caliper fine, good to go both directions... but do it with pressure not suction no matter what they say
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,915
1,200
"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"
Epic butthurt there, also that's not a nice way to talk about @Flo33
 

ebarker9

Monkey
Oct 2, 2007
850
243
Maybe try sending your rotors and doing another bedding procedure, but get them good and hot after that not Mandy pandy baby dragging stuff. Sometimes getting them hot AF alone can shut them up.

Also bleeding anything with suction beyond a very initial starting like wetting the system is pretty universally dumb.

Backbleeding from syringe good
Air likes going up hill.....
Bleeding master to caliper fine, good to go both directions... but do it with pressure not suction no matter what they say
Will try, thanks. It does seem that, as good as bikes generally are now, there are so many things that require a much higher level of setup/maintenance work than they should.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,998
9,659
AK
Another vote for TRPs, and I also felt like the orgs were rubbish compared to the metals. Which is another point, you can run Shimano (Saint) metal pads in them, which are usually relatively cheap and easy to come by. Easy to set up out of the box as well.

But overall this thread is almost sounding like it should be part of the "What's right with the industry thread", since there's some strong proponents of Mags, TRPs, Formulas and even Hayes. Seems like Shimano left the door open (and never bothered to close it again), and others brands finally stepped in/up.
Well TRP it is then. I got a bunch of new shitmono metallic pads, just replaced my rotors to refresh them, but the rear brake is now "soft", like every time I get on the bike the lever travels further and the lever MC is all damp. This is the brake I bought in Bellingham too, when my XT blew out for the same reason (but much more dramatically). The plan is to slowly switch over my fleet to brakes that don't week at the caliper pistons and blow out at the levers...Hope works good for my fat-bike.
 

boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
7,882
6,178
Yakistan
Went mtb riding at 11k, lost the front magura trail sport. Lever would go to the bar. Got home to 1k and it did some stopping but still pulled to the bar. 10 bleeds later we are back in business.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
18,998
9,659
AK
Went mtb riding at 11k, lost the front magura trail sport. Lever would go to the bar. Got home to 1k and it did some stopping but still pulled to the bar. 10 bleeds later we are back in business.
Wait, why mineral oil again?