Have the traditional Shimano leaky caliper making braking interesting but only on the front. Seems a bit wasteful to replace the rear as well for no reason. Could get a like for like replacement but thinking of getting a 4 pot instead of the 2 pot m615.
If I just get a (as yet to be decided) new front and leave the rear as it is, am I going to be entering a crazy world of mismatched power/feel/modulation or does the human brain manage to deal with these things without too much fuss. I think I can probably reconsile myself to the levers looking different - I will probably just put some stickers on them or something.
Cheers.
yeah ran loads of combo's over the years due to problems and swaps, you will either just get on with it or it will annoy the hell out of you
I rode for years with mismatched brakes, one was a tekro cheap thing on the rear and the front was a hayes stroker so somewhat better but definitely different in terms of feel. I never had any issues with differences in power however the brakes weren't too dissimilar I'd imagine. It makes sense to put a bigger calliper on the front, not like the rear brake is the stronger one so I'd give it a go.
Had Ultegra hydro on the front and TRP on the back for ages, just until I could afford the rear hydro really.
Braking was fine, yes they felt different but it wasn't an issue. TRP use Shimano pads so avoided compatibility issues, that would be a PITA, bad enough having Shimano for the road bike and Formula for the others.
My front caliper doesn't even match the lever 🙂
One bike has a slx disc brake on the front and a 90's xt v-brake on the back. The frame won't take discs and the fork won't take Vs.
I love that frame so can't bring myself to get rid of it. Haven't died in the couple of decades I 've been riding it like that so must be ok.
I'm thinking of changing the MT-500 deore front on mine to the new 4-pot deore, the front brake always needs more power than the rear so running matched brakes actually seems a little strange.
So long as they're the same lever then I see no issue. I'd run a Hope X2 rear/E4 front on a hardtail, and an E4 rear/V4 front on a FS all round/enduro/trail bike with no issues.
Yep Shimano and avid.
Simple question with some complex results - which misses the obvious fix...Shimano calipers are easily available by themselves so would bolt up to existing lever and hose and simply need bleeding. You might even get a caliper that doesn’t leak this time.
Overall, the brain will usually adjust after a few rides to needing to pull differently on each lever although obviously it’s wise to try for similar modulation characteristics.
I’d say it’s more likely that the lever shape will be a problem if different than actual braking. I think most of us have had at least one ride where one brake has gone soggy and coped without dying.
Different pads, bleeding supplies etc could be a nuisance but surmountable. I’m happily running Magura Trails at the mo which are deliberately 4pot front /2pot rear but with matching levers, pulls etc. Many have done similar with Shimano, Hope etc over the years and picked a lever they like and then decided what caliper to use with it rather than simply accepting the boxes product. Needing different pads front and rear isn’t the end of the world...
Cheers all. Guess it's a goer then. Just need to decide which to get and what stickers will look best!
Actually, on the point about just changing the calipers, does anyone know if the new xt or deore 4 pots will work with the m615 levers?
Just replace the caliper surely? I've got a 4 pot Saint front and SLX rear and an SLX front and cheap as possible 385 or something on the back on another bike.No,I can't tell the difference but who could they're on different wheels? I got a newish SLX to replace my old Saint as they had the same banjo fitting ,not all are the same.
You might even get a caliper that doesn’t leak this time.
Four pairs across 6 sets in the oab household and two generations of Shimano brakes have all leaked/jammed/died/squeel of doom on me in 3 years.
Ahhm ooot.
I'm a bit OCD, so would normally have everything matching. But I had a disc front and V-brake rear for a long time when I had a Rohloff, and it was absolutely fine. The v-brake was enough to lock up the rear without trying, and I don't remember ever thinking there was a mismatch in modulation
BB7 front and drum brake rear....
Saint calipers front on SLX lever on one bike and on XT on another, with single pots on the rear. Works well for me but probably overkill really.
Just buy a 4 pot caliper the you've solved the ocd problem. God knows it would annoy me to have 2 different levers but as for mismatched calipers, people have used 4 pot front and 2 pot rear combos for ages. Infact Magura now sell their MT trail kit with exactly that set up that they reckon work better. (Although not sure I buy into it being better)
John
BB7 front and an XT V brake on the rear. No issues at all for the reason above. Frame was non-disk and I didn’t bother adapting. Front brake matters more than the rear.
Also have Ultegra calliper on the front and fixed wheel transmission braking at the rear. In truth that makes a difference as I don’t do skidzzzz. But the front was really all I needed compared to the same ultegra front and rear on my other fixed road bike.
Alpinekit.co.uk are selling Magura MT5s for 62.86 English pounds at the mo. Looks a very cost effective way to go four pot up front.
It is although the levers aren't great. The HC levers are 30 each which makes it not as cheap.
John
<span class="skimlinks-unlinked">Alpinekit.co.uk</span> are selling Magura MT5s for 62.86 English pounds at the mo
Yeah, my mate shared that with me. Very tempting.
It is although the levers aren’t great. The HC levers are 30 each which makes it not as cheap.
Also seen that. From what I can tell the originals are just considered too long?
Also seen that. From what I can tell the originals are just considered too long?
Depends on how big your hands are. They fit my gorilla hands well but have to be well inboard for 1 finger usage.
both my old MTBs (SS, 1990s vintage) now have front discs bur rear Vs, by dint of partial upgrades along the way. So, by definition, have mis-matched brakes, TBH you just get on with it...
Had the choice of running mismatched brakes & levers and decided against it and it wasn't even for my bike. Though in part it was really just an excuse to buy new brakes for one of my bikes and donate the old brakes to the OH's. I thought mismatched levers & brakes would feel a bit strange and/or non-satisfactory and would rather just buy a new matching set and CRC were doing SLX M7000 for £100.
The standard levers work ok but just a bit too long and they feel a bit crap. The HC levers feel much more substantial and much higher quality. Makes the brake feel more solid.
John
I had exactly the same, but it was the front.
So for a while I had Hope X2 at the front, and XT at the rear. It was fine, until the rear started leaking as well. Now it's Hope at both ends.
