There's been an ongoing debate about which brakes are the most powerful. I can tell you from experience that the answer is the brake with the largest diameter rotor, regardless of piston size, brake brand, how much they cost, blah, blah. You want a more powerful brake? Buy larger rotors.
My brake quest recently took me to Shimano Saint brakes and 220mm rotors (which are 2mm thick). These items are mounted on an XL Canfield Lithium (163mm travel) with a Manitou Mezzer Pro fork (180mm travel).
It's unreal. I weigh 185# out of the shower and I typically wear a 10-15# Wingnut backpack that carries 3 liters of water plus shock pump, spare sealant, plug kit, spare tube, emergency overnight gear, emergency medical supplies, other bike supplies (spare links, valve core, blah, blah) plus a plethora of bike tools. It's heavy. It's saved my butt as well as other's butts on occasion. So to me, it's worth it.
Anyway my point is that between myself plus my 37# bike plus my gear, it's a heavy load. Gravity has a profound effect as weight increases. Some cyclists prioritize lightweight frames & components -- I'm not one of them. I prioritize ultimate performance and stuff that doesn't break. I've broken stuff before. Plenty of times. Hopefully I'm done breaking parts, lightweight or otherwise. I want brakes with the power to control my conglomeration during free fall. I also don't care about rolling resistance. My tires are as aggressive as I can find, rolling resistance be damned. I don't ever want to lose that front tire's connection to the trail.
I'm fastidious about bike setup -- brakes, drivetrain, suspension, everything. So I had high expectations for this braking setup. Those expectations were met.
A couple weeks ago I read a thread in this very forum where someone was putting Shimano brakes down because, compared to say, SRAM brakes, Shimanos have less modulation. That poster said that this becomes more of a problem at speed. Well, this is exactly wrong. As speed increases, so does modulation. The "on/off" feel of Shimano brakes goes away as speed increases. If anyone doesn't believe this, go find a singletrack where you can hit 30mph -- you'll find it's true. Brakes become more on/off the slower we go.
Several of my riding buddies are very fast and pretty fearless. I can still hang with them but the process of trying to do so has forced me to look for advantages anywhere I can find them. I'll take gear that goes as far as possible in the direction of increasing that performance advantage. (Talking human powered bikes here.
)
Enough babbling. The point is that Saint brakes with 220mm rotors are exactly what I was looking for. Before I got the Saints, I was running SLX 2-piston calipers with the jumbo rotors and these were, honestly, nearly as powerful as the Saints. With just 2 pistons! But they didn't handle the 2mm thick rotors very well. The Saints have no problem with thicker rotors and the power delivery is, in my opinion, perfect.
An interesting thing happened as I transitioned from 203mm rotors to the 220s. I learned to stop using my front brake. I thought doing so would lead to skidding but I was surprised to find that I can use a lot more rear brake than I expected without skidding when I'm not employing the front brake. This made sense when I stopped to think about it -- when I put my front brake on, my weight is shifted forward, unweighting the rear wheel. Of course it's easier to skid when the rear wheel is lighter. So now I use the rear brake exclusively unless or until I simply have to engage the front brake (which still happens a lot.) But having amazing braking power allows me to employ just the rear brake for most speed control situations and this really contributes to improved overall handling.
Another benefit is this: my suspension works better. Until I changed my braking technique, I never realized how much my front brake was locking out my front suspension. Again, upon reflection, of course this is true. Front braking loads the fork which results in poorer front suspension performance. Want better suspension feel? Get off the front brake. Even when things get hectic, the handlebar stays quiet. At least quieter.
Just don't skid. If you're like me, you'll find you won't skid -- even if you stay off that front brake -- if you don't want to. Any experienced mountain biker can tell when his wheel is about to lock up and immediately prior to that point is when I reach for the front brake.
This bike is a bruiser. It deserves brakes this good.
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=sParty
My brake quest recently took me to Shimano Saint brakes and 220mm rotors (which are 2mm thick). These items are mounted on an XL Canfield Lithium (163mm travel) with a Manitou Mezzer Pro fork (180mm travel).
It's unreal. I weigh 185# out of the shower and I typically wear a 10-15# Wingnut backpack that carries 3 liters of water plus shock pump, spare sealant, plug kit, spare tube, emergency overnight gear, emergency medical supplies, other bike supplies (spare links, valve core, blah, blah) plus a plethora of bike tools. It's heavy. It's saved my butt as well as other's butts on occasion. So to me, it's worth it.
Anyway my point is that between myself plus my 37# bike plus my gear, it's a heavy load. Gravity has a profound effect as weight increases. Some cyclists prioritize lightweight frames & components -- I'm not one of them. I prioritize ultimate performance and stuff that doesn't break. I've broken stuff before. Plenty of times. Hopefully I'm done breaking parts, lightweight or otherwise. I want brakes with the power to control my conglomeration during free fall. I also don't care about rolling resistance. My tires are as aggressive as I can find, rolling resistance be damned. I don't ever want to lose that front tire's connection to the trail.
I'm fastidious about bike setup -- brakes, drivetrain, suspension, everything. So I had high expectations for this braking setup. Those expectations were met.
A couple weeks ago I read a thread in this very forum where someone was putting Shimano brakes down because, compared to say, SRAM brakes, Shimanos have less modulation. That poster said that this becomes more of a problem at speed. Well, this is exactly wrong. As speed increases, so does modulation. The "on/off" feel of Shimano brakes goes away as speed increases. If anyone doesn't believe this, go find a singletrack where you can hit 30mph -- you'll find it's true. Brakes become more on/off the slower we go.
Several of my riding buddies are very fast and pretty fearless. I can still hang with them but the process of trying to do so has forced me to look for advantages anywhere I can find them. I'll take gear that goes as far as possible in the direction of increasing that performance advantage. (Talking human powered bikes here.
)Enough babbling. The point is that Saint brakes with 220mm rotors are exactly what I was looking for. Before I got the Saints, I was running SLX 2-piston calipers with the jumbo rotors and these were, honestly, nearly as powerful as the Saints. With just 2 pistons! But they didn't handle the 2mm thick rotors very well. The Saints have no problem with thicker rotors and the power delivery is, in my opinion, perfect.
An interesting thing happened as I transitioned from 203mm rotors to the 220s. I learned to stop using my front brake. I thought doing so would lead to skidding but I was surprised to find that I can use a lot more rear brake than I expected without skidding when I'm not employing the front brake. This made sense when I stopped to think about it -- when I put my front brake on, my weight is shifted forward, unweighting the rear wheel. Of course it's easier to skid when the rear wheel is lighter. So now I use the rear brake exclusively unless or until I simply have to engage the front brake (which still happens a lot.) But having amazing braking power allows me to employ just the rear brake for most speed control situations and this really contributes to improved overall handling.
Another benefit is this: my suspension works better. Until I changed my braking technique, I never realized how much my front brake was locking out my front suspension. Again, upon reflection, of course this is true. Front braking loads the fork which results in poorer front suspension performance. Want better suspension feel? Get off the front brake. Even when things get hectic, the handlebar stays quiet. At least quieter.
Just don't skid. If you're like me, you'll find you won't skid -- even if you stay off that front brake -- if you don't want to. Any experienced mountain biker can tell when his wheel is about to lock up and immediately prior to that point is when I reach for the front brake.
This bike is a bruiser. It deserves brakes this good.
=sParty
