Nerding out on Brakes shall we? Not another tech deraliment

Yeah nice, and TBF I haven't heard of anyone having issues with the calipers either. 

I've been dying to pick up a set of Maven silver calipers to try with different brake levers.  I have Shimano servo wave and non servo wave, TRP, and the Ali levers.  I have slx on my downhill bike and really want to get some more power.

Curious to try some of these Intend clone levers with some maven calipers. Maybe even get a set for the gf’s bike just to compare to my real trinitys,  they come in pink 😆

I ran both a fair bit and I do not like the levers far out. I kept the Intends and sold the Maximas. IMO the power provided by the Maximas is overrated. Yes, it's there, but you have to run the levers pretty far out to get it and that kinda defeats the point for me, anyway. If you look at photos in reviews, everyone running them has the lever out into space. The Intends give me more usable, available power without a long lever stroke. 

I don't like braided lines, either, and the Intends are easier to disconnect/move between bikes if you do that. Intend also has great support, I've heard mixed about Trickstuff but I had no issues, so I can't confirm. Finding Bionol can be kindof a pain for the Maximas and I find it annoying such an expensive set of brakes doesn't come with bleed tools, where the Trinity does, IMO that is really weak. Other than that, they are both smooth, very nice looking, and consistent. I just think the Intends are a more powerful, easier to use, easier to install, and come complete. Trickstuff kinda started the market on boutique brakes, but since then there are better options IMO. My Hope T4V4s were half the cost and performed almost identical to the Maximas with more adjustment, so I don't really see any reason to use Maximas any more.

I'm 220lbs on big/heavy 29ers, so keep that in mind. Lighter riders will get along better with the Maximas than I did, but even then will need to run levers further out than most other brakes I've tried.

I just installed some Trickstuff Power pads on my Intends and they’ve almost killed me several times from grabbing too much front brake lmao

Maybe give that combo a try. 

The maxima has a less precise lever feel but it definitely has a little bit more stopping power. Take ‘less precise’ with a grain of salt as the trinity is the most precise feeling lever I’ve ever tried. Maxima is still a very precise lever but not quite how the intend feels. Also feels like the maxima has an easier power ramp.  I find you have to pull the intend with some decent effort to get that wheel locking power whereas the maxima power comes on with less effort. 
 

Regarding lack of parts availability from previous comments, Fanatik is now a trickstuff dealer so sourcing pads and bionol from them is easy. Intend is a little trickier since you literally can’t buy putoline 2.5 in the US. Of course I spilled the jar a little bit and lost about 1/4 of the jar included with the brakes however I had to order some more stuff from intend so I ordered another jar of it from them which should keep me going for a while.

 Maxima no doubt has a finicky bleed process but I enjoy wrenching on my bike so I don’t mind but I could see the process being a nuisance for many users. Intend is incredibly easy to bleed. I do wish there were threads to better secure the syringes but just having them plug and play does work and I’ve never had an easier time getting a brake to feel perfect. 

You do have to run the maxima blade further on because of how long it is but is one of the best feeling brakes after the trinity. Trinity’s just have an unmatched level of precision in the lever throw. I’ve been running the brakes on an ebike so I will leave the full maxima set on because of the slightly increased power but will run the trinity on my next analogue bike. I would like to try the new hope brake because I’ve tried the outgoing v3 and honestly hated how it felt even after multiple bleeds. The trinity still worked great on the ebike however with the extra weight of the bike (and me) it’s nice having that wall of power you can lay into when late braking into corners. I never felt like the trinity lacked power on the ebike, but the maxima did have slightly more power that was noticeable. I don’t think this would even be a thought on an analogue bike with less mass to slow down. 

Guess I'll pass on the maximas then, I really do not like running the levers far out; it is one of the best things about the intends, feels like my fingers can rest instead of staying stretched all the time. I had a set of new hope tech 4v4 that I sold to get the intends, but I do regret it a bit having not tried these out aswell. Mind giving your take on the tech4v4 as well compared to trinity/maxima?

Thanks!

That lever is indeed fantastic, I never had such control and modulation before. Never had a brake where I could access so many parts of the breaking curve, especially the first part of gentle braking. 

I do live in EU so I can source all this stuff easier, but thta far out lever on the maxima...meh

I'm thinking of replacing my 220 rotor in the front with a 246mm galfer this coming spring, curios to see how much even more easy it gets on the fingers, if that's even possible. 

I am also really curios about the hope evo gr4 and how they compare to trinity, seems like a great brake from the reviews (only thing I don't like is that you can't put that monster 3.3mm rotor anymore, which is a shame)

Yea, the way your hand contacts the bars when the lever is out that far is very different. I did some testing on it and found the closer they are, the more comfortable and balanced the contact of my hand is against the bars. Your hand pressure tends to rotate more inward the further the lever is away from the bar. I have problems with arms/hands though so it's more of an issue for me. 

The Tech 4 V4 is kindof between the two. The Intends have a more traditional (Dominion, Shimano, etc) lever feel in the sense that you get a lot of feedback in the lever when you pull them, you'll pull them and you feel when the pads hit. I feel like with the Maximas and T4V4s, that point is a lot more vague, for better or worse. On the better side, it means that you have a super light lever pull, but on the downside they can take some adjustment because you won't get that resistance at the lever like you will with the Intends and others. The levers are really smooth, have a lot of good adjustment, they are consistent, and the power is really good. 

The power with the T4V4 ramps up a bit faster, the lever can be run closer into the bars largely due to the contact point adjuster, so you don't have to run the levers out into outer space like with the Maximas. Other than that, they feel VERY similar IMO to the point I don't see much reason to run Trickstuff unless you just want to. The feel when the pads contact the rotors is really similar with the V4 (I gather it's more like other brakes with the E4s but haven't tried them). The Hopes are a good balance of both worlds IMO, but I found the bleed process janky, messy, and stupid but they've since fixed that with the GR4s (I haven't had a chance to try those yet). That aside, I think Hopes are the best bang for the buck and accessibility compared to the others. I don't think you gain much with them over the Intends though unless you want a lever pull that is lighter when the pads engage.

So I guess the summary is, the Intends lean closer to most brakes where you get that lever feedback and pressure build up as the lever is pulled like with the Hope, Shimano, Magura, etc brakes. It feels progressive even if the power delivery is really similar. The Trickstuff and T4V4 brakes have a much ligher feel when the pads contact the rotors and it actually takes some adjustment to not grab too much brake if you are feeling for that pad contact, but you can really feather the levers. I think of the 3, the Hopes have the widest and most usable adjustment range, also.

 I would love to try a set of Lewis EB 20-21 brakes.  They market them for emotos but could be usable for MTB.  As a 250lb guy that rides 50+ days of park a year I really want powerful brakes.

I have a couple sets of their LHP S6 brake if you'd like to grab a set. They're 6 piston brakes with a +20mm post mount built into the caliper. Could be the perfect heavy duty brake for you.

Damn I just love this set of trinity brakes, such a joy to look at and use. Want to get some sinter green pads soon to test if the resonance disappears (and if it gives them even more bite). 

For anyone wondering if you can use a 220 rotor on the back of a propain tyee 6 AL in L + 29" wheels, yes you can (with an extra adaptor on top). Couldn't find this info before buying it for myself so I'll save you the anxiety. 

Anyone have strong thoughts on Maven Bronze(which I'm eyeing) compared to Maven base or Hayes Dominion. Currently running Dominions but curious about the Maven power. I'm not huge maybe 165 5'5. Consider myself a fairly quick intermediate/advanced rider.

Not a plastic syringe in sight. 

Are you pressurising the system or vacuuming it? 

Vacuum

And a huge cup on the lever? 

Nah, just the stainless steel one I made after breaking a plastic one. It probably holds less than a plastic one TBH. 

My procedure was:

Bleed cup on the lever. 

Gravity bleed a little to get some fluid into the vacuum pump hose and cannister. 

Put the bleed cup plunger in.

Connect the vacuum hand pump to the other end of the cannister. Pull a vacuum (around 600mmHg), tap the hose and caliper and watch the bubbles flow (wonder to myself if I'm just sucking air in from somewhere haha). 

Once happy with the lack of bubbles, release vacuum a bit at a time whilst intermittently releasing the bleed cup plunger to stop any air from going back into the caliper.

Close the caliper and finish off with a lever bleed. 

Job done. 

My theory with this to remove all the bubbles from the caliper the easiest, least messy way. 

Pulling a vacuum on a syringe sucks, this holds the vacuum indefinitely and you can basically hang the hand pump off the bars and go have a coffee or beer if you wish. 

I was worried the vacuum would pull the fluid in the cup past the u-cup seal that the plunger uses to seal on my stainless steel bleed cup but it didn't. Worked a treat. 

Rode tonight and the brakes were fantastic (they were good before the vacuum bleed, but it definitely made them more snappy). 

There are ways to hold a vacuum on a syringe - there are one with a threaded collar on the rod that you can fix in place.

As for pulling air, I'm more and more certain that pulling too much vacuum does in fact pull the air in the lever past the wiper seal and into the lever. Or, bleeding Sram brakes, past the Bleeding Edge adapter. There's too much air coming out when doing syringe bleeds for it to not happen.

As for proper vacuum bleeds, I was thinking if plumbing both ends of the brake together with a hose with another branch coming off it, into the bottom of a reservoir holding a lot of brake fluid and then vacuuming said reservoir would work? Air could be pulled out from either end and if it flowed out at one end would be replaced with fresh fluid coming in from the other end. Maybe even add a pump to circulate it through the system too or add some one-way valves to prevent the fluid flowing in one direction, but not the other?

I think I'm overthinking things...

I think people would be surprised how much vacuum they can actually pull on a syringe. 

The other thing I did was wrap some thread tape around the o-ring section of the bleed cup and the caliper fitting to negate any air leaks at those connections. I was very careful not to put any thread tape on the threads, especially on the bleed cup as I didn't want to have any pieces of thread tape ending up in the system. 

True, given the size of bubble there has to be a lot of vacuum. Having it controlled in some way would probably be beneficial.

I feel the opposite. I don't think the ult/slv are worth the extra couple hundred. I don't notice much of a difference in lever feel and the power feels the same. But I'm also heavy and looking for the most power I can get. The only issue could be that the bronze have a barb and olive at the caliper vs. a banjo on the others which could make hose routing funky depending on the bike. 

@sickshredsled I believe the main difference between the base and bronze is that the base has smaller pistons and slightly less power

The hard part not noticing the difference between different levels of Maven is that SRAM’s build quality and consistency is so bad it’s difficult to know what you’re actually comparing.

How are they, crazy power?

If youre light I'd stick with dominions and just get bigger rotors. I have both and the mavens have more power but take so much more maintenance and are not as snappy. I'm 280 and probably around a similar skill level.

Pulled the maximas off my bike, trying the new Lewis AX levers, massive piston layout and excited to try them. Feel really good in the stand, much better than the previous gen lever. 

Yes. Sold my maximas to someone. Wanted to try the hope evo gr4’s but have a decent lead time on them and I already have the Lewis on hand so I’m curious to try the revised model. 

There were issues on the previous brake that seem to be resolved on the AX and with a 20/18mm piston layout it should rival or hopefully outmatch maven power. I ran Lewis levers on maven calipers previously and while I preferred it over the maven lever, it didn’t push quite enough fluid to have a long term/consistent feel I was looking for on the rear brake at least.

 Even when testing the previous gen version, it’s still very similar to a maxima and costs 1/3 as much. I like the maxima, it’s a great brake however I’d rather free up the funds to try other options. As good as the maxima is, I can’t justify the price difference, there’s nothing it does exceptionally well that makes them worth 3x the money. This is coming from someone who’s spent my own money out of pocket on both to really see what the difference was. 

They do have a little bit more power on tap but will be curious to see if this new AX brake outmatches that. The trickstuff lever usually needs to be ran pretty far out to feel good and the lever has a slight spongey feel even after multiple bleeds and talking to other users who have experienced the same thing. It feels good with decent modulation on trail but the bite point is not firm and very defined on a brake line the trinity. 

My friend has the Lewis brake set pictured and he just runs Trickstuff pads in them and they feel really great. If I was spending $1000+ on Mtb brakes again I’d just get something like a trinity. Truly a remarkable brake that feel flawless and unique compared to any other brake at its price point.