XT brakes worth the extra weight?

Discuss light weight issues concerning mountain bikes & parts.

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trailgumby
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Joined: Sun Jun 30, 2013 6:05 am

by trailgumby

I have a set of carbon lever Avid Elixir 9s on my Scalpel 29r presently that are... OK. The rear is very noisy with the turkey gobble even though I did the right thing with bedding in but the power is adequate, in the same ballpark as the 2010 dual control XTs I have on my 26er trail bike.

No hassles with bleeding... yet.

I've bought a set of 2014 XT ice techs including rotors and I-spec adapters on special because of their reputation and also because I have Shimano on all the other bikes bar one, but now am baulking a bit at what looks like about a 150-200g weight penalty for the changeover.

I'm just wondering what the view is... is the improvement with the 2014 XTs that big? Is it worth the extra weight?


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madcow
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by madcow

The Shimano brakes are definitely one of the best. If they are worth the weight penalty depends on what you expect from your brakes, your size, conditions etc... If you're looking for a balance of weight and performance I've had good luck with both the Magura MT8 and MT6 brakes.

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trailgumby
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by trailgumby

I'm around 83kg kitted up. No long alpine descents around my locality but there are a few further afield within an hours drive that I do occasionally that will make your brakes stink from the heat by the time you get to the bottom.

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novaterra
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by novaterra

Whats the problem with +200grams if you hate the avid brakes, you wouldn't tell the difference in riding with the extra weight, but you will notice the better brake performance

DanW
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by DanW

Shimano definitely make great brakes and the newer ones will feel different to your dual control era brakes. XTR brakes, Ti bolts and Hope Race X2 rotors are the best blend of price, weight, ease of maintenance and outright performance in all conditions that I've been searching a long time for.

The Ice tech rotors are quite porky and I'm entirely convinced they do much (besides melt in German magazine tests :? ). If you have all of the various parts to hand see where the weight is coming from in relation to the Avids. Even if there was a 200g penalty (I don't think it should be that large) I'd still take the Shimano brakes

MileHighMark
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by MileHighMark

How do the current Shimano brakes handle sub/freezing temps?

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fastezzie
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Joined: Fri Jun 30, 2006 9:30 pm

by fastezzie

XT brakes are awesome, much better than Elixirs. Go for it.

DanW
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by DanW

How do the current Shimano brakes handle sub/freezing temps?


Not done this regularly, but I found mud freezing almost instantly on top of the pads and in the caliper was a far bigger issue to their effectiveness (newest XTR) rather than any other possible cold weather related issues. It was bloomin' cold for that to happen and clearing the frozen mud out every now to give the pads room to move had them working perfectly. No way of avoiding that on any brake in those conditions!

mattr
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by mattr

I've done 5 or 6 years with various shimano and hope brakes and except for issues as mentioned above with mud freezing onto the brake, I've rarely noticed any difference in performance. And that's down to -20 or lower.

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