Those are mineral oil brakes, so they won’t perform well if it gets really cold. But if you don’t ride in sub freezing temps they probably won’t be an issue.

 

my issue is shamano some how leak and contaminate the pads. After a -25c ish ride. The next ride they squeel like crazy and have to ditch the pads. Heating and soaking in alcohol dont fix.

I just dont want them to leak.

 

my issue is shamano some how leak and contaminate the pads. After a -25c ish ride. The next ride they squeel like crazy and have to ditch the pads. Heating and soaking in alcohol dont fix.

I just dont want them to leak.

It seems like all modern Shimano calipers leak, at least that’s my experience with the four piston calipers. I’ve never known SRAM brakes to have leaky calipers, so I would think they would be fine.

 

I hear avid bb7 in your future.
I had my dropper post get stuck down in -5 before..

 

I hear avid bb7 in your future.
I had my dropper post get stuck down in -5 before..

Well that's not a good dropper post then. On the cheap side, the PNW stuff does pretty good in the cold...especially when you pack it with low temp grease.

The Wolftooth and Bikeyoke droppers are excellent in the cold, way down in the negative F temps.

 

This will be real interesting, since the local fatbike companies (9zero7 and Corvus/Fatback) have been specing SRAM brakes for a while now for this very reason. With the change to mineral oil, it will be interesting to see what they do. I generally didn't get "bad" leaking on my shimanos in the -20F cold, but they definitely wept if left sitting for a few weeks and I eventually had a lever puke in the cold. The action was terrible though, the wandering-bit-point meant that the engagement point would move further and further out, until when it was cold enough, the lever would barely move to engage the brakes, being "full out" when it did. It was VERY difficult to ride like that on anything other than flat terrain, since your finger doesn't make much leverage being nearly fully extended.

I don't think that's an inherent mineral oil thing, that's definitely an inherent shimano thing. But as the fluid gets more vicious in the cold, they will be a lot more sluggish. My Maguras don't leak like Shimano does all the time, but I haven't tried the Maguras in the real cold, since they aren't on a fatbike.

I will say that my Hope brakes work the same, or as close as you can get, at +30F and -30F. In other words, they feel and work largely the same, same egagement point, same action, etc. They might be a bit more sluggish, but you don't really notice it with the gradual onset of winter and temps. I was using shimanos for a while, but simply had to go to hope due to the wandering bite point, leaking, lever puking, etc.

They haven't been specing stuff like Avid BB7s on fatbikes for the cold for a while. You might find something like that on some real low end builds, but generally it has nothing to do with the cold, just OEM pricing. Moisture can get in the housing and lock those up, plus they are more susceptible to splash freezing due to exposed moving parts. There was a time early in the fatbiking phase where we thought that mechanical brakes were necessary...but the DOT brakes are better and more reliable in the long run (no exposed moving parts, freezing cables etc.). We're taking them to Nome and beyond.

 

I only ride in below 0*f a few times a year but I agree that Shimano mineral oil brakes aren't a good choice. I put SRAM G2s (that I bought new for $15/ea !) on my latest bike that I have had for one season and aside from the garbage factory pads that I replaced with MTX, they have been great so far. Dominion also uses DOT fluid so that could be another choice.

Here's a deal on some SRAM Codes: SRAM Code Silver Stealth Hydraulic Disc Brake Post Mount Black (OEM) – Bike Closet and I see the Code R's are priced at 80 bucks on Fleabay: Sram Code for sale | eBay.

A few things I like about SRAM DOT5 fluid brakes: Super easy to bleed, levers can work left or right, thing-a-ma-jig ferrules work really well and are idiot-proof when building a bike. Negatives: need bleeding more often, DOT fluid is corrosive if left on paint, Code RSC was the top tier brake and lacks overall braking power compared to other 4 piston brakes.

 

I only ride in below 0*f a few times a year but I agree that Shimano mineral oil brakes aren't a good choice. I put SRAM G2s (that I bought new for $15/ea !) on my latest bike that I have had for one season and aside from the garbage factory pads that I replaced with MTX, they have been great so far. Dominion also uses DOT fluid so that could be another choice.

Here's a deal on some SRAM Codes: SRAM Code Silver Stealth Hydraulic Disc Brake Post Mount Black (OEM) – Bike Closet and I see the Code R's are priced at 80 bucks on Fleabay: Sram Code for sale | eBay.

A few things I like about SRAM DOT5 fluid brakes: Super easy to bleed, levers can work left or right, thing-a-ma-jig ferrules work really well and are idiot-proof when building a bike. Negatives: need bleeding more often, DOT fluid is corrosive if left on paint, Code RSC was the top tier brake and lacks overall braking power compared to other 4 piston brakes.

You might want to look up the diff between DOT 5 and 5.1