Submitted by Justin Guy a Cross Country Rider from Christchurch
Date Reviewed: 3/22/2004 7:10:37 PM
Duration Product Used: Less than 1 month
Purchased At: OEM on a Kona Dawg
Strengths: Reasonably light, easy set-up (subject to the little problem below), use mineral oil c.f. nasty dot5 fluid, work o.k. in most conditions.
Weaknesses: The non-adjustable pistons tend not to reset themselves to centre properly, so regardless of how much time you spend aligning everything, you tend to get pad-drag. They also squeal like a set of out-of-tune bag pipes (and are about as much use for stopping) in the muck and wet, use dopey 'A' spec (manatou style) bolting system which, although easy to set up, looks cheap and ugly with the extra bolts and adapters required to get them onto 90% of all bikes, (also prone to coming loose - use locktite), but the biggest bummer is the usual array of shimano proprietry differences (low pad / rotor interface depth)which makes interchanging wheels a pain in the A unless you use shimano rotors and calipers on all your bikes - which now means using shimano centrelock hubs on all your wheels - which means more $$$ for shimano.
Similar Products Tried: Hope Minis, Avid mechanical
Bike Setup: 2004 Spec Kona Dawg Primo
Bottom Line: The performance of these brakes is decidedly average, and coupled with the other issues, have been a bit disappointing so far. They aren't even close to the performance of Hope's minis by any measure (maybe I've been spoiled), and like too many of shimano's offerings, they aren't necessarily compatible with the rest of your gear. My bike came equipped with 2004 XT, including the integrated shifter / brake lever - another example of shimano creating a solution where there was never a problem. The new shifter / lever combo shifts no better than rapidfire+, and the levers also tend to flop around on bumpy stuff - having to fish around for them on bumpy decents with corners fast approaching isn't exactly reassuring. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for innovation, and some of the 2004 XT bits are great (e.g. cranks), but the brakes are nothing special. If I could retrofit Hope brakes I would - except doing so also means new shifter pods and presumably an old style XT rear derailleur. My recommendation would be to buy something else (Hope Minis would be a better alternative) unless you ride tame XC and don't mind being stuck with fairly ordinary gear.
