[FeltDH]

I have a Felt Compulsion 3, 09. Love the bike but now I've ridden it a couple months I'm looking at some upgrades. The bike has full SLX kit. The drivetrains great but the brakes are crap, so there the first to upgrade. Thing is I have no idea what to get, I don't have the cash for something real fancy I just want a reliable brake. I was thinking maybe juicy 5's.
What are other people running on budget trailbikes?

 

[eurospek]

I have a Felt Compulsion 3, 09. Love the bike but now I've ridden it a couple months I'm looking at some upgrades. The bike has full SLX kit. The drivetrains great but the brakes are crap, so there the first to upgrade. Thing is I have no idea what to get, I don't have the cash for something real fancy I just want a reliable brake. I was thinking maybe juicy 5's.
What are other people running on budget trailbikes?

Downgrade to Juicy 5 from SLX M665?

 

[FeltDH]

I have found the SLX brakes to be lacking in terms of stopping power, I don't really know juicy 5's but have some friends who like them. If you have reasons not to get them, I want to know as well as any ideas on what to get. Do people like xtr's.......? there seems to be an ok deal at jenson currently.

 

[Ray Lee]

I have Elixir R's and love them, a friends bike came with Elixir 5's and they feel just as good to me.

http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/18...Brakes/Disc/Avid-Elixir-R-Disc-Brake-2010.htm

http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/19.../Disc/Avid-Elixir-5-Disc-Brake-White-2010.htm

I admit that I see a ton of Juicy brakes on the trails so they must be pretty decent as well

I have a Felt Compulsion 3, 09. Love the bike but now I've ridden it a couple months I'm looking at some upgrades. The bike has full SLX kit. The drivetrains great but the brakes are crap, so there the first to upgrade. Thing is I have no idea what to get, I don't have the cash for something real fancy I just want a reliable brake. I was thinking maybe juicy 5's.
What are other people running on budget trailbikes?

 

[dkbikes4life]

How much money is too much? I just got Hope M4's back and front from the classifieds here for much much cheaper than Jensons wants for them. Jenson wants $270 per brake but the guy here sells them for $180 a brake, brand new in the Hope box still.

 

[zebrahum]

Yeah, I'd never ditch Shimano brakes to go to an Avid system (past negative experience has clouded my vision). I suspect that your brakes are just improperly adjusted. Does your rotor flex when you engage the brakes? Are your brake pads and rotors clean? If your SLX brakes aren't cutting it, it's more likely they aren't set up properly than anything else.

 

[b-kul]

slx>juicy 5. like zebrahum said if you cant get them to work well for you you probably have them set up wrong.

 

[macming]

Why don't you try bigger rotors and new pads?

Bigger rotors will always give you more power, and new pads can be made of a different material, or your existing pads are contaminated.

 

[mimi1885]

XTR lever is ok but not the caliper, I ran my XTR set but ended up swapping caliper to XT. What size rotor are you running f/r?

 

[FeltDH]

Thanks for the opinions/info guys. Pretty sure rotors & pads are clean, although I'll maybe get new ones before the season starts (pads). its not so much that I don't feel the calipers are working though. The brake levers have a lot of flex (after the pad is in contact with the rotor). I really don't like this feeling. I also don't like the big chunky SLX levers although this has nothing to do with performance really. On the other hand I love the look of most Avid levers.

Rotors are 180/f and 160/r respectfully, because of Felts placement of the rear brake I'm not sure I can put a larger rotor on.

 

[mimi1885]

If you are going to go with juicy why not look at code? or better yet look at Magura Louise (BAT), or formula RX. They are quite affordable at price point. I still think that SLX is a good brake, though I've never been on it full time but on a few occasions that I was on the bike with SLX brake I couldn't tell the difference between that and my XT.

I don't think you have to worry much about the rear rotor size, you won't need more than 180mm rear rotor anyway and it fit fine.

 

[b-kul]

seems like your mostly having problems with the levers. why dont you try some straightlines?

 

[zebrahum]

seems like your mostly having problems with the levers. why dont you try some straightlines?

Unless you know something I don't (and I pray you do), there aren't any aftermarket levers for servo wave levers. I haven't been able to find levers for my XTs and I think the SLX uses a similar lever design.

 

[mimi1885]

Unless you know something I don't (and I pray you do), there aren't any aftermarket levers for servo wave levers. I haven't been able to find levers for my XTs and I think the SLX uses a similar lever design.

+1
Straitline, Twenty6, and dangerboy are not making the newer version shimano brake lever. Going with Juicy5 you can with all 3 companies the levers feel really nice but I don't know about the J5 brake though like many said it definitely not an upgrade.

 

[macming]

Thanks for the opinions/info guys. Pretty sure rotors & pads are clean, although I'll maybe get new ones before the season starts (pads). its not so much that I don't feel the calipers are working though. The brake levers have a lot of flex (after the pad is in contact with the rotor). I really don't like this feeling. I also don't like the big chunky SLX levers although this has nothing to do with performance really. On the other hand I love the look of most Avid levers.

Rotors are 180/f and 160/r respectfully, because of Felts placement of the rear brake I'm not sure I can put a larger rotor on.

Sounds like you have some air in the brake line. Squishy lever feel is the number one symptom.

My shamino brakes have pretty solid lever feel with a good bleed.

 

[mimi1885]

Sounds like you have some air in the brake line. Squishy lever feel is the number one symptom.

My shamino brakes have pretty solid lever feel with a good bleed.

+1
Either that or the other end of the spectrum where you set the lever contact very shallow making the contact early on the stroke it feel pretty crappy too.

 

[b-kul]

Unless you know something I don't (and I pray you do), there aren't any aftermarket levers for servo wave levers. I haven't been able to find levers for my XTs and I think the SLX uses a similar lever design.

opps. saw shimano and assumed. guess not

 

[have2ride2day]

I run Elixir Rs on both my bikes with Straitline levers. I love 'em, but I don't know that I would consider them to be an upgrade from SLXs. SLXs are nice brakes. Avids are better feeling to me, especially with aftermarket levers, but it is much much harder to keep them feeling good all the time. The tips of my fingers are numb and peeling right now from bleeding my Elixirs a couple nights ago. BTW I don't know that Avid even makes Juicy 5s anymore.

 

[mimi1885]

While they don't make production after market lever, Twenty6 would make the custom lever for you to fit your brake. It can be done but not cheap, I asked once for the Marta lever I think the custom lever is about $500-600 a pair I'm sure the second pair would be significantly cheaper

 

[FeltDH]

+1
Either that or the other end of the spectrum where you set the lever contact very shallow making the contact early on the stroke it feel pretty crappy too.

Could you explain your last thought a little better please