[Closed] Sram Guide Brakes - Not good?

I’ve always found Guides ok for trail riding and U.K. uplifts with 200/180mm rotors. However I’ve never been anywhere like the Alps which are so hard on brakes.

If you already have big rotors then other than trying different pads (I don’t find the standard organic sram pads great- I use uberbike race matrix) it’s a change of brakes to get more power. I got a couple of eBay brake bargains so I’ve got a Sram code R on the front and Guide RE on the back of my fs and they’re a good chunk better. The Guide RE has the same lever as a Guide R but the previous gen Code DH caliper. Quite a cheap upgrade really.

Are they the Guide T?

These were fitted on my G170S and seem to be a bit of a cost cutting exercise by Whyte, no way they're adequate for the sort of riding the bikes are meant to be designed for. I've upgraded to the Guide G2 RSC and they're a massive improvement, single finger braking is now far more relaxed and controlled.

If low end guides are being fitted to big bikes like those that’s not great. Really the Guide RE is the perfect Sram brake to be fitting to that sort of bike where cost rules out Codes.

Same with Shimano - they have that Deore level 4 pot budget brake now - should be decently powerful for a relatively budget brake.

Are you a brake dragger by any chance?

Got Guide RSCs and the X0 Trail before it (same caliper roughly), and no problems in the alps and similar with big long descents.

One thing with SRAM stuff is they are best for modulation but they're not a grab and drag brake. Learnt quick in the alps to just feather the brakes to scrub speed and hard brake before a corner as needed or not.

Still though, if they're pulling to the bars something is up. Any pad left? (the RSCs and above have nice bite adjust to help when pads wear thin). Or otherwise a bleed issue. Were they perfect before hitting the trails?

Also, yeah, big rotors for the alps if you haven't already got them.

I would be binning them in flavor of saint or similar. Ive just swapped my code r (these are meant to be the good ones?!) for saint. Even saint on the sram disk isnt as powerful as saint on icetech. Will be swapping the discs over as well when time permits.

If you like/are used to how Shimano brakes feel then Guides will feel like they require a lot more braking effort.

Some of the cheap Guides coming OEM are not as good as the higher end Guides people may be used to.

Even saint on the sram disk isnt as powerful as saint on icetech. Will be swapping the discs over as well when time permits.

You think Shimanos stainless steel is grippier than Srams stainless steel?

Just got back from Morzine with a guy who had Guides and his rear brake started going back to the lever, gave them a bleed (oil was filthy), played with the pistons so that they all came out evenly (one side came out a lot more, pushing the rotar over) and then did the trick from that GMBN tech video of jamming a pad spacing tool between the pads, squeezing the brake lever and resisting it a few times. Brakes then worked fine for rest of week, I think the top enduro guys were running Guides till the launch of the Codes so they cant be that bad, just need looking after.

I'm a pretty dyed in the wool Shimano man and I run Sram Guides (RSs and REs) on my bikes. The one with the REs I use a lot in the mountains and the other I use at places like Innerleithen a lot where it's steep and you're on the brakes a lot. Both have been excellent, which was a surprise to me since Avids I've had in the past have been awful.

My mate runs Guide Rs and they're pretty poor though, I think it depends a lot which model you've got. I've got Rs on my pumptrack bike but they're not getting used hard enough for me to comment either way.

I've had guide RSC for about 2 and a half years now and to begin with I thought they were good. However a couple of months back the front brake lever started to get stuff and eventually locked on. A common fault with the piston in the lever apparently and I didn't have time to strip and for a new part to it so bought a new RSC front brake. A couple of weeks back the back brake did the same so I swapped just the lever this time.
They have good modulation and can be set up to suit your needs using the bite adjust but they suffer from brake fade on longer/steeper descents and that should t really happen with such an expensive brake.

Mind you I've had no end of issues with Shimano brakes with the seals going and would never go back to them.

I put some alloy pistons in an old set of Guide Rs I had, they went from my worst working set to the best. Not to hard a swap, the circlip is the most difficult part. One thing I find though is the Rs don't like less than about 50% pad. I bulk by Race Matrix pads on discount UberBike weekends.

I put some alloy pistons in an old set of Guide Rs I had, they went from my worst working set to the best. Not to hard a swap, the circlip is the most difficult part. One thing I find though is the Rs don’t like less than about 50% pad. I bulk by Race Matrix pads on discount UberBike weekends.

New pistons in the caliper or lever?

You can adjust for pad wear a bit - if you take the wheel out and pump the brakes to get the pistons closer to each other then put the wheel back in that’ll sort it for a while.

New pistons in the caliper or lever?

Lever I presume (with mention of a circlip). On this, are aftermarket caliper pistons available? Would resolve the sticking I'd imagine.

Guide R's don't have the additional pull servo that RS and RSC have, so they do pull close to the bars. My mates R's aren't as good to use compared to my RS's. I'd say RS feel more like Shimano where they bite, but shimano are more full on, RS more progressive.

They just might not suit the terrain you are riding.

New pistons in the caliper or lever?

Yes it was the lever piston, sorry I didn't say. I did buy some replacement caliper seals but I've not needed to use them yet, though sometimes the calipers need cleaning up when putting new pads in.

Guides on my s150 were crap in the alps too, so it’s not just yours!

I'm in Morzine at the moment, I have the even smaller Level TL brakes on my bike and they're fine.

A couple of times I've overheated them on the scary bits but on the whole no issues. But I can't see how any brake will fare any better once they're hot and brake fade has set in?

I have been resetting the pad position before each day to reset the lever position. Do The better Guides (RS?) have the better lever that compensates for pad wear, which the lower guides and my Levels are missing?

Hi All

Thanks for the thoughts. They are Guide R’s, I will try a bleed and new pads. I’d imagine they will be fine for UK use, but may look into a replacement set when another big trip comes around. I am used to XT’s, which have quite a light lever feel, good for one finger braking which doesn’t feel as comfortable/easy on the Guides?

Are the main top end options Code RSC and Saints? Shame those Trickstuff are so damn expensive and also shame Hope don’t have a really powerful brake.

Guide REs on a very heavy ebike getting used at very high speed in Leogang at the moment, behaving absolutely faultlessly with UB race matrix pads.

Sorry, not read the full thread but your question is very similar to one I posted three weeks ago whilst in the alp with shite SRAM guide brakes.

However in my case, I have to admit that they had plenty of powr, they just made s bloody unbearable racket.

Bought a pair of SLXs for £94 quid IIRC from merlon as replacements

they just made s bloody unbearable racket.

That's quite odd for Sram ime

Don't count on the SLXs as a cure all, you may well have just swapped some noise for Shimano patented wondering bite point

That is strange on the noise - my Goode R’s / Code R’s / Guide RE have all been completely silent in the dry.

The Guide R’s can sometimes be a bit screechy in certain wet conditions but even then not that noisy.

All run on Centerline 200/180 discs.

I have the exact same issue with my RS's. Just got back from two weeks in the Alps. Power was rubbish, lever getting closer and closer to bars all the time - constantly having the adjust the reach and also pump the lever while riding just to make them work. They have been fully rebuilt with new seals, bled etc etc and they are still shite. They are ok for UK riding but dire for the Alps! Might just get some XTs and be done with them!

I’d like to put my twopence I’m on this, before it was stolen my Transition scout had Guide R on and in Tignes doing alps riding after 2 days I needed to take them to the shop and they did a quick bleed for me which sorted them!

I’ve got RS on my new bike and although they seem much better I still have an issue where if the lever itself gets hot (direct sun for a while) it doesn’t like returning that well to the rest position !

Guides have been good for me. I’ve had them on my bike for 4.5 years and they’ve stayed good without any major maintenance needed - which is better than any other brakes I’ve had over the years.

Mountain bike brakes are just a probability function of when they’re going to self-destruct. The actual braking is a secondary function. But the SRAM gods have been smiling on me.

Got SRAM guide R 4 pot brakes on a Whyte S150 and rode the Trans endure epic uplift thingy at Tweed Valley early June, by the bottom of the first stage my left hand was in pieces and the whole weekend was ruined somewhat by the brakes. I still can't work out whether this was down to weak hands as not been to the gym much recently or poor brakes (or poor set up). Re-positioned the levers and the jury is still out on whether it's set up or that I just can't get on with them. Always had XT brakes on previous bikes and never had any issues with them so it's pretty frustrating.

If your lever won't return in the sun, then you might have the earlier lever. I've replaced both pistons, and with the bike under a clear cover, in direct sun, red hot levers, no stick now.

Had big problems with my Guide Rs this year in Morzine. Had no front brake for most of a day as once heated up it just pulled to the bars. Went to 2 shops, was told it was a common issue with Guides, especially on hot days (I asked about a bleed, shop said they’d do it but didn’t expect an improvement). Picked up a set of Code Rs for a good price out there on the first evening and enjoyed consistent powerful braking for the rest of the trip. 200/180 rotors and never had issues with the guides before in the UK (unlike the previous Xts I had which were consistently incosistant).

Removed my Guides after 3 weeks on my Whyte , they were ok for small runs but when I came off Skiddaw`s scree slope I vowed never to use them again, they were woeful compared to my Xt and even more so compared to the m8020 4 pot xts.
I went down the route of pad placement and different pads but to no avail. Used the M8020s in the Alps for 8 days straight, other than change the pads I didnt have a single problem.

My experience of Guides is that they aren’t particularly tolerant of pad wear and the lever gets closer as the pad wears.

They’re easy to work on and feel different to Shimano with a very different braking response. Agree that they aren’t dragger friendly.

Moving to Magura though has taught me its worth paying attention to rotor thickness. SRAM and Shimano are pretty close for thickness but Magura really do prefer a more solid rotor. If swapping different brakes and pads onto a set of rotors I’d expect to need to seriously clean the rotor at minimum. Different pad compounds can mean that a rotor with all the micro pits full of pad material A will grab pads made of material A great, but may not grab material B from your new stuff as well leading to an idea the rotors aren’t as good.

My 2014 ones have been consistent and I haven't encountered the swollen piston fault(well not too much) what I really dislike is the huge amount of lever throw they have.I've just fixed this by making a set of shims for them-much much better,not my idea I found it looking for solutions by others who felt it was a problem also.