Full Hydraulic: composed of a handlebar lever with reservoir, Inox stainless steel hydraulic brake hose, and a caliper with two opposite pistons. This is a small, lightweight, and totally reliable brake that is recommended for cross-country riding. Complete system comes fully bled, ready to mount and ride. Supplied with 160mm front and rear rotor disks. 323 grams for a front caliper, lever and housing.
Submitted by
tony vazquez
a Weekend Warrior
from warwickshire , england
Date Reviewed: December 3, 2007
Strengths: reasonable stopping power, cheap..got front and rear systems, rotors and bleed kit for £90.
Weaknesses: takes forever to set up calipers so pads dont rub, then you go out and within a few miles they're rubbing again. changed pads and for some reason lost pressure and had to bleed brakes. found front caliper rubbed on spokes as wheel went round(caliper body is quite bulky)had to fit a differnt front wheel to stop it. both rotors bent after only a few hundred miles, (had to replace). apparantly company gone under(not surprised)
Bottom Line:
don't bother unless you enjoy spending time in your workshop or you like the sound of pads rubbing....at least it takes your mind off cycling. slightly better stopping power in the wet than 'v' brakes but a damn sight more annoying!!
Strengths: rite, i cant find how to add a new make to the hydraulic list so im doing it in here and comparing it to the grimica's, the clim8 6pot hydraulics are 10 times better than the grimica's, plain and simple, loads of power, quick and easy set up, did a superman over the bars 20mins after i put them on! instant power, even better when they bed in! they also came with sinted pads as standard
Weaknesses: erm......none! (clim8 that is, the list for grimeca's is endless, make good paper weights or something like that though)
Bottom Line:
CLIM8 are great, enough said, no faults and at £100 (uk) they really are a bargin compared to the grimica's, wel, there is no comparrison, 2 pot vs 6pot....no competition is there really! just get the CLIM8, they really are the dogs, had no problems with them at all,nice big rotors aswel :P (by the way, im rating the grimica's, the CLIM8 would get 5 chili's all the way!)
Strengths: Powerful, love outbraking riders down steep hills on the road.
Weaknesses: Back brake binds, found that caliper must be stripped on a yearly or sooner basis and pistons greased with silicon grease. Reservoirs to small. I use a syringe to top up them when bleeding them.
Bottom Line:
Good power,but maintenance and setup time is excessive. These brakes should be virtually maintetance free but are now. Suspect rear brake is affected by flexation of the hub when the rider pedals!
Weaknesses: hardly ever work like they should rub slack levers
Bottom Line:
these brakes work when they want to and when they rub, the wheel doesnt spin at all, but after a service they work brill, but when stripping them, you must use rubber grease or else you can damage the seals and totally break them, which i feel like doing sometimes, but after a good service, they work brill, especially with sinted brake pads, but if i were you, ide get the clim8 6 pot, they just kick ass and there cheap..buy em!
Similar Products Used: clim8 6 pot (and only £100 each...just get a pair, amazing)
Bike Setup: full sus rockshox judy sl full deore lx, suntour ap57 crank (real nice) mavic x317 wheels on deore xt hubs (with crap dt swiss coloured alloy nipple things...dont get em,they break!) other decent random parts
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Stephen
a Downhiller
from Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Date Reviewed: January 11, 2004
Strengths: Good stopping power and decent modulation. The red matches the rear triangle on my bike. Small. So far no maitnence. Levers are fully adjustable in 3 places.
Weaknesses: Levers dont feel great(not to snappy), but Im still able to stop in a hurry.
Bottom Line:
Good brakes for the price. WAY more stopping power then my hayes mechs. The leavers squeek a little bit, but not a big deal at all. I dont know why everyone hates these brakes. I was worried when I bought these brakes because of all the negative comments here, but they work fine. They are on my 45lb, 7" travel bike and I can still lock up my wheel if I want to at any speed. They also dont "spap" shut when you touch them(some lock up with just a little bit of preasure. I dont like those brakes because you have to be really gentel or you can go over your handlebars. While I do like the HFX-9 i have tried, these work well enough and are cheeper.
Purchased At: In Canadian dolars. Uses at Cyclepath Toronto
Similar Products Used: Hayes mechs, hayes hydros, v-brakes, shoes.
Bike Setup: 2003 Balfa 2-Step DH, Jr T, grimeca system 1 brakes.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Jack
a Cross Country Rider
from Berkeley, CA
Date Reviewed: June 26, 2003
Strengths: As brakes I cannot say this product has any strenghts, however they might make a nice pair of paper weights, or a matching set of ornamental anodized aluminum things to show your uninformed friends.
Weaknesses: This product does not stop your bicycle wheels from turning.
Bottom Line:
These caliper type fixtures cannot be called brakes. Brakes need to have the primary and absolute essential function of being able to STOP a wheel from rotating. These Grimecas might be very nice other things, but certainly one cannot call them brakes.
I used this product for less than one month and rode on them for maybe fifty miles on XC trails in Northern California. I waited for them to "break in." The waiting was in vain, since they just don't work. Poor all around design and possibly a hasty effort to get these out on the market makes these the worst possible excuse for brakes that one can possibly imagine.
Weaknesses: Pig to fit sticky pistons sticky levers
Bottom Line:
Good price but should haved saved up for better.
Absolut pig to fit with the kit bolts to long and will rub everything in sight. Cut off excess threads, filed down the heads.
Front Pistons always sticking out - good for training but hard work
Back (now functions as car handbrake) braked do not come off - had to push lever both ways - pulll for on, scracth head, pick nose, push lever for off - quite handy actually.
Similar Products Used: Hope M4 (Top of the class kit)
Bike Setup: Spesh FSR Comp
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Ritch
a Cross Country Rider
from Christchurch New Zealand
Date Reviewed: March 4, 2003
Strengths: the front worked for a while... nice red pots. braided hoses...
Weaknesses: DRAAAAGGG. made the bike feel like it weighed a ton. ive DUMPED these puppies, they sucked all my life blood from me when i rode...
Bottom Line:
dont bother with these brakes. get something else. if they came stock on the bike, lose them when you can first afford to. the suck. after the first bit of mud gets in there, the plungers that push the pads stick up and never retract. also, the moment youve descended a hundred or so metres in a short time, the heat produced expands the fluid, making the brakes drag even more... i was finding the wheel locked up whenever i left the ground...
Strengths: Cheap (price includes a reasonable set of 36 spoke wheels with sealed hubs and braided hoses), weather poof stopping power no more worn out rims,
Weaknesses: the front caliper started to leak oil after a service however this was due to the stupidity of the shop that serviced it, because they got coppor grease on the piston, this has now been sorted out,
Bottom Line:
not as good as hope disks, but lots cheaper than hope. as a intro to disks they'r a bargain and do the job fine. however if you've got a £450+ to spend you should go for hope.
Submitted by
Ben
a Downhiller
from Portland, England
Date Reviewed: October 19, 2002
Strengths: Zilch! well the front hubs good
Weaknesses: 1)Red 2)Rubs 3)Can,t get hold of any spares 4)crap PADS sounds like they are on the Metal all the time 5)Bleed nipple snapped 6)Screws on the resouvoir rounded off 7)The lever makes all sorts of noise and wobbles 8)They dont work in the wet like disks should.
Submitted by
Dave G
a Weekend Warrior
from Bishop Auckland UK
Date Reviewed: September 8, 2002
Strengths: Cheap,Red and they stop you. What more do you need??
Weaknesses: Lost braking pressure when I was out today,but this returned after a few minutes of swearing and pumping the lever. Don't know if this is a general hydraulic brake thing or not as these are my first
Bottom Line:
I bought these as a pack with a set of Vuelta freeride wheels (think thats how you spell it) for £160. Unfortunaly having manitou forks I had to buy a bracket and a 185mm front disc for them to fit and new shifters so it pushed the price up to £240. So far though I have been very impressed with the braking power they provide, and they look well meaty compaired to hopes\magura's.
Favorite Trail: Chopwel Woods in the north east of UK
Duration Product Used: Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$250.00
Purchased At: www.mountain-high-bikes.com
Similar Products Used: n\a
Bike Setup: Specialised Rockhopper A1 Comp.
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Michael
a Cross Country Rider
from Barrie, ON. Canada
Date Reviewed: August 29, 2002
Strengths: Consistent all weather performance. Hydraulic feel and maintenance. Better than average breaking performance (after some adjustment at the lever) They're red?
Weaknesses: Zero adjustability. The bolts holding the rotor on rubbed on the fork. The caliper rubbed on the spokes. The disc rubbed on the pads.
Bottom Line:
To fix the above mentioned problems I needed to file the tabs on the caliper down by about 1/4 of a mm and put paper thin washers on the disc bolts. So much for easy instalation and setup. At first the power was absolutely awful, these brakes couldn't bring me to a stop if I was rolling uphill. With some adjustment to the lever pull and moving the lever closer to the stem so my fingers sit closer to the end of the lever I managed to greatly improve power. They're still not as grabby as the V-brakes on my girlfriends C-dale but they have more than enough for trail riding and XC use (definitely not DH material). I still derive the benefit of all weather performance and not having to change cables, the feeling at the lever is very smooth and consistent. If I had paid retail for these I would be disappointed but due to the circumstances under which I acquired them I'm happy with my purchase.
Submitted by
gethin allen
a Weekend Warrior
from wales
Date Reviewed: August 15, 2002
Strengths: comes fully bled and assembled therefore easy to fit, power was good at first when the brake is in perfect condition, cheap £200 with wheels
Weaknesses: caliper piston seized, the shop that sorted this out got oil on the pads and they're useless once you get oil on them, and to top it all off the lever started to squeak and leak, this was all to do with the front brake the rear has been totally trouble free
Bottom Line:
good if you can get them cheap and you know how to maintain them, otherwise save the money and get hope disks
Similar Products Used: hope closed 2 pot (although the hopes are better they are a lot more expensive)
Bike Setup: specialized A1 FSR with bomber Z3 Air forks and maitou bazooka rear shock, nwew wheels and disks, deore/Lx etc,
Overall Rating:
Value Rating:
Submitted by
Matt Leonard
a Cross Country Rider
from BELFAST
Date Reviewed: June 13, 2002
Strengths: It looks nice in Red.....The braided hose is very welcome and i like the lever.The brake itself seems to be well built
Weaknesses: Power.Evene after break-in the brakes wernt overly impressive. The screws on the top-cap of the resevior warped into nothing...ended up having to get a new lever so i could bleed.....This lever took 6 WEEKS to come.....a week later out in the rain....The lever siezed.......Took it back to the shop but on the way to the shop the actualy lever snapped in half......and i am still waiting on my enw lever.....6 weeks again this time and it hasnt come.....so ive got a little tektro novela mechanical on at the moment..and to be honest......it whips the gremicas ass for power and modulation.......and thats the truth.This break doesnt live upto any expectations ......although teh colour is nice:)
Bottom Line:
For the price you could pick up a hope mini-which is i think the best hope disc brake -superb and everyone i know who has one says so too. -The leevrs are very dodgey on the gremica system 1.....and power is bad.......suffers from fad as well and ive had little luck with it.Used it for a year and a half now and its just gonna sit ni my room now ..maybe ill get it framed.........but thats IF I EVER GET MY OTHER LEVER. -
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