I ditched the Dominion A4s for LHTs and couldn’t be happier with the decision to give them a chance.
The bite point and lever reach adjustments are better than the A4s. The A4s have a lighter lever pull, but only very minimally, and after riding the LHTs once I never noticed the difference again. The LHTs can be adjusted to feel like A4s or Shimano XTs, or anywhere in between. The A4s will only ever feel like A4s.
LHTs actually look high quality, I am constantly impressed with their looks. A4s look like cheap plastic, I was never impressed with them. That’s all personal preference, though, so your thoughts may differ. I’ve been asked about my LHTs by other riders on the trails, I was never asked about the A4s. The “all for riding experience” logo on the LHTs is a bit cheesy, but thankfully the text is small enough that it isn’t noticeable unless you’re up close to the calipers.
Bleeding is similar between the two. Lewis does recommend the Shimano cup bleed technique, but I found the Hayes double syringe technique works better. I’ve had the LHTs for a year now and have had zero leaks. The A4s had multiple leaks in the 4 months that I used them.
Centering the calipers are far easier on the LHTs, even when compared to the A4’s crosshairs. I was constantly having the A4s start rubbing within a few minutes of a ride, spending time after the ride to readjust to no rubbing, just to have them start rubbing a few minutes into the next ride. With the LHTs, I’ve literally spun the wheel, let them self-adjust until they stopped rubbing, then finished tightening them down and have had no issues after that.
LHT brake pads are top loading compared to the A4s being bottom loading. Up to you if you have a personal preference on that one. A4s have their specific pad design. LHTs are the same as Hope v4 and Trickstuff.
The biggest negative of the LHTs is that there is a bit of a design flaw in the calipers. Maybe it was just an early model issue and they have it fixed now, but non-Lewis brake pads don’t perfectly fit into the calipers, there’s a little too much metal on the lower stop that keeps the brake pads from sitting far enough down into the slot to secure them in place. You have to use a Dremel to grind down the pad a little on the bottom edges, or take the calipers apart and slightly grind down the metal used to stop the pads from sliding through.
The LHT brake levers also don’t have the grip dimples. I wear gloves every ride and haven’t had an issue with my fingers slipping, but there definitely isn’t as much tactile feel as the brake levers on other systems like the A4s.
Personally, I greatly prefer the LHTs over the A4s. I will never go back to A4s, but I will consider Lewis again when I need brakes for a new bike, or if my current ones get damaged and need replacing.
