[Closed] Which Brakes for the best modulation?

Deores and a few hope stickers...

Teach her to brake properly. It'll be cheaper in the long run (and she's less likely to break something else).

Rome wasn't built in a day, and A brake with more modulation is likely to give her the confidence to start pushing her limits more, therefore would be a worthwhile investment.

Hope or Formula really. And, not cheaper Formula sadly.

If you fancy going oldschool I could do you a set of Oro K24s? Don't have the power or the light weight of a The One but lovely feel. (IMO of course)

I'm sorry but my formula r1 had terrible modulation, they were either on or.... On ( could not stop them dragging)
I'm now on Magura MT 8. Great modulation, not as powerful as the R1 but better modulation

I love Hope brakes and would have them all day long if my bike hadn't come with Deores. Probably change to Hope again in the future when I'm a bit more flush. Last set I had were Tech M4's. Superb.

Shimano with smaller rotors?

formulas all the way. I picked up my r1s for 180 quid, although that didn't include rotors. Way nicer than my xts.

Oros can be had for buttons and are effective enough, but much less power than the xts or r1s

Hopes or maguras.

Currently running tech M4's on one bike and Xt's on another....The hopes aren't as powerful as the shimanos but much better feel IMO.

How about good old fashioned cable actuated brakes? Much easier to adjust for 'modulation' and stopping power shouldn't be an issue. I've some cheap tektros on my DMR jump bike and the rear alone is plenty powerful enough to stop 15st me safely. Levers (bmx style) are a nice shape too.

Hope, nothing wrong with used as a full rebuild is cheap from hope if needed.

Lifelong hope user, keep trying other stuff on demo bikes and remembering why I like my hopes.

Until a few weeks ago I would've said the Shimano offerings were an on/off affair, that was until I found the free stroke adjuster. Trying to hold a wheelie was a pain but now I can feather them enough to keep it up.

Apologies if you've already tinkered, just thought I'd add the above in case you haven't.

Used to love my Hayes Stroker Ryde brakes until some scroat nicked my bike. Found they had lots of feel and could control them really well. Replacement bike came with some sub-Deore Shimano brakes which I absolutely hate for their total lack of feel and modulation.

mashiehood - Member

I'm sorry but my formula r1 had terrible modulation, they were either on or.... On ( could not stop them dragging)

So, they were broken then.

How about sourcing a set of used Hope Mono Mini's? Completely rebuildable, bit heavy if your looking out for weight but great brakes for modulation IME

Anything else other than Shimano. I really like their new style brakes, so much so I have moved two of my bikes over to them... but flipping heck they are wooden!

The reason they have so little modulation is the hydraulic ratio they use to make the pads move so much, it means you get loads of clearance and no pad rubbing which is why I like them so much, great in wet muddy conditions as they clear so well....but the down side is the lack of modulation she is experiencing.

Having had various brakes over the years I still really rate Avid Juicy 7's. Pre mass produced OEM manufacturing Avid era and just quality. Plenty of modulation and power and a lovely lever feel. Doubt you will find a set for sale these days though.

Got some Formula RX's on one bike and they are pretty on/off sharp so would say steer clear of them too.

Formula the ones/t1 are bloomin fantastic! Almost as much modulation as my old mini mono's, but with immense power. Love em 🙂
Btw I have my mini mono's for sale if you fancy them for cheap.
http://m.pinkbike.com/buysell/1527655/

Magura's, I had a set on my Epic but I prefer the immediate power of XT's so took them off.

Read a bike review the other day which described XTR brakes as having the best modulation of any brake the reviewer had tried, ever.

Used to love my Hayes Stroker Ryde brakes until some scroat nicked my bike. Found they had lots of feel and could control them really well

I found this too - had them on my first "serious" mtb and they were very easy to get on with. Cheap too!

Read a few things saying the more powerful version zee, saint etc have more modulation because of so much power being available.

Not used mine yet to confirm...

Hope have easily the best modulation but they're expensive and look naff...
I personally like the binary nature of Shimano as it teaches me to brake properly in the right places and not drag the brakes.

bought some deores from Merlin and I really like the feel power and modulation....... otherwise

magura
hopes

I've got a set of stealth x2's and love the feel of them but If I adjust the reach in towards the bars I lose a bit of leverage and thus loose brake strength.only saying this because the fairer sex tend to have smaller hands and could get caught out by this

never had any problems with my old xt's, just need to get used to them, ill be using new zee brakes on my new build, supposed to be good modulation with massive power.

wiggles - Member

Read a few things saying the more powerful version zee, saint etc have more modulation because of so much power being available.

Then a few things are talking out of their bottom!

If you've got more power being applied by a given input then modulation will decrease.

I've got a set of stealth x2's and love the feel of them but If I adjust the reach in towards the bars I lose a bit of leverage and thus loose brake strength.only saying this because the fairer sex tend to have smaller hands and could get caught out by this

Not so much of a problem to be fair, she's 9 and a bit stone and has relatively long fingers anyway.

Hope Race X2's seem to be winning at the moment.

hope have great modulation!

sbob - Member

If you've got more power being applied by a given input then modulation will decrease.

The latest Saints have a stack more modulation than the previous model, which were IMO horrible. But also more outright power on the dyno apparently. Certainly much easier to use the power they have. The point being, the "given input" isn't the same. Still not to my taste mind.

Then a few things are talking out of their bottom!
If you've got more power being applied by a given input then modulation will decrease.

Not as simple as that though is it. Because something has more ultimate power doesn't mean it is more per mm of leaver pull etc.

The more powerful brake might use the power more spread out through the lever pull even if it does reach a higher "top end"

By given input I meant that the input was the same in either scenario; less or more power.
To state that modulation increases because of an increase in power is pure neddy poop.

Mmm. Don't really agree, it's very hard to modulate an underpowered brake effectively because you need to use a handful to do anything. It's all interconnected. High power by itself tends to mean poor modulation but high power in the right package can improve modulation because a controlled effort gets the right results.

But then you're right into personal taste because "good modulation" doesn't mean the same to everyone. Most people hated my motorbike setup because it was as soft as trifle but the power was all there, you just had to ask for it. I couldn't get on with the more immediate delivery of more popular options. But neither's wrong.

Northwind - Member

Mmm. Don't really agree

If lever travel/master piston displacement remain exactly the same (given input) than an increase in power will not aid modulation.

Most people hated my motorbike setup because it was as soft as trifle but the power was all there, you just had to ask for it. I couldn't get on with the more immediate delivery of more popular options.

So in this example the input is different.
You get me now? 😕

I get what you are saying but on a weaker brake the first 1/4 of the leaver stroke might be so rubbish it doesn't really make any difference there for all of the useful braking is in the last 3/4 of the stroke.

Whereas the powerful brake will be useful throughout the whole range m as a 1/4 is equivalent to a half pull on the weaker brake. So you have more braking power spread over 25% more useful lever movement.

sbob - Member

So in this example the input is different.
You get me now?

Nope. Because in that example if you reduced the power by changing the caliper,pads or rotor, you lose the finesse that only a powerful brake allows (speaking from experience here btw). The combination of "soft" lever and lower power was a mess.

Course, you also have to think about what the "given input" is here, because talking about a particular force has different results to talking about different movements. So it can get pretty compkicated and counterintuitive.

I assure you you've both misunderstood me, but it's not important. 🙂

It is important, I won't be able to sleep until you admit you're wrong 😉

Wasn't someome asking about brakes for his missus or something a while ago? I forget

Avid elixir 7 trail

Shimano M985 or M987 XTR Race brakes do not have servo wave, so pads should not move as fast and therefore have better modulation. Not cheap, though.

M988 XTR Trail are servo wave like XT and others.

Hope.

Well that escalated quickly as they say! 😕

Anyway... Found some Formula R1's at a very good price, only downer is the bore caps are red (she doesn't want any red on her bike!). At this rate I'll end up giving her my T1's and putting new brakes on my bike!

Gonna have a look more at Hopes this afternoon, see which option would be best.

Though I've also just remembered that when I used Aztec rotors on my old XT's, the lack of material on the rotors caused the brakes to feel softer and less powerful, which could be a cheap/easy fix potentially.

Hi mboy
I have some Formula T1 brakes (The One), brand new, unopened for sale.
160mm rotors and very colour neutral 😉

[img] [/img]

I'm after £220 including paypal fees and postage with insurance and tracking.

my email is edayeaye AT yahoo.co.uk

Cheers

Forget avid, and agree that servo wave shimano can be a bit grabby at times. The best modulation (and reliability) I have experienced is from my 10 year old XT M755 4-pot calipers (still in use). Nice and powerful, tons of lovely modulation. Probably not a realistic proposition I know...

shimano but not with resin pads have more than enough modulation - if you need anymore then you need to learn how to brake properly. My son used to grab the brakes but now doesn't and is much more confident.

The latest Deore feel less grabby to me, but that may be smaller discs being used.

If price is not an issue, but still cheaper I think than Hope, dual piston Shimano Zee are like throwing out an anchor, but have way more modulation than other Shimano offerings. So much so, I thought they needed bleeding, but after this concluded the real power just comes on later into the stroke. I think one piston bites earlier? I even messed around with them tricking the pistons to bite sooner, but this just made them grabby.