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I changed to the sintered pads straight away. I never run organic. But it's nice to hear that the brakes should be powerful at least.
Powerful has a different meaning for each individual
I'm 100% happy with the feel of the curas. I prefer a brake that ramps up fairly linear, but has a defined bite point. The Mavens, Trinity, Trickstuff I've tried feel way spongier and wander around the bite point, but feel like way more stopping power, because you need a lot less finger power. I can still easily lift the back wheel with my 2-pot curas when stopping seated with a handful of front brake.
I find it funny that 1 day ago you asked a troubleshooting questions, then "sold them in a tantrum."
I tried these and basically dropped them after a short period of time. That was with Trickstuff pads. They are just weak in comparison to newer options.
They just don't have power compared to other, more powerful options on the market today. If you are ok running the levers far out, you might be able to get enough out of them, but if you run levers close or want a shorter throw, it's not there even with the upgraded pads and levers. The power just comes on way too late for me and requires too much hand force to get it. They felt like slightly weaker Codes to me.
Maven, Intend, Hope, Shimano, Dominion all have more power available sooner with less hand fatigue/force required to get it. If you are getting squishiness out of the former two like another user commented, something is off, there is nothing squishy or vague about either of them when setup properly.
Personally, I think the Hopes are the best option if you are looking for power and don't want super boutique like Intend. They are readily available, have a great lever feel, tons of power, and are adjustable.
I sold the Hayes Dominion A4 in a "tantrum" after a few months of super annoying noisy use and warranty issues. The troubleshooting/feedback is regarding my current brakes - Formula Cura 4.
I get your points of view. May I say that the brakes you mentionned were unavailable (Maven, Intend) years ago or too expensive (for my wallet)? Sure it has changed for the last 3 years, and reducing Cura 4 lever throw has been in my mind for the last monthsas well. However, I cannot financially justify changing them now, and I do think that more improvement can be expected on my riding skills (thanks to some coaching 😇).
Absolutely makes sense, brakes have changed a lot the past 5 years.
I also didn't really mention that it heavily depends on your weight, also. I'm over 200lbs so what's required of me is very different than someone lighter. I know users on the Cura 4s who are in the 160-170 range and get along with them great, the power just wasn't there for me on a heavy bike with a heavy-ish rider.
Does anybody try to mix motive levers with maven base calipers? Mainly for the Bearing pivot at the lever
Before I bought my intend trinity set, I had the formula cura 4. Changed the stock pads to galfer green, installed 220mm 2.3mm thick formula monolithic rotors (front and back) and replaced the levers with the rgtec offering in normal length. I didn't get the chance to run them down the mountain and properly test them, but honestly, they have amazing power. If you get the long rgtec levers, you will get even more power.
Looking at testing results between various brakes, the formula cura 4 with these changes should be up in the top with the much pricier options (top 5 for sure).
The only drawbacks I could find (for myself) were that the levers didn't feel perfectly ergonomic and there was some resistance when pulling on them (can't remember though how much, but I think the mavens still are above them when it comes to force needed in the finger).
I can only say this now because the intend trinity is absolutely amazing in every regard and has definitely spoiled me...but for the price, a modded (used) formula cura 4 set is something I recommend to everyone who doesn't want to spend more for hope or boutique stuff. They are a tank of a brake
Thanks for the feedback! I will try different pads and maybe bump up in rotor size. RGtec - guessing it's made in the US? Don't know how easy it is to find in Europe.
I bought it from here https://www.mtb-news.de/forum/m/rgtec.314441/
Took a few days for it to arrive inside EU
I think you can find some listings from him on ebay as well (and other sites)
He’s in Italy. I’ve bought a few levers for my bikes from him through eBay - https://ebay.us/m/xNqwvo - highly recommended.
I'm using ones from EMRG (now they're called Reichman), and it's a game changer!
Wow, that is a LONG lever.
So for a guy who is getting a bit confused on the lever throw question. Which current brakes have the shortest? The Radic, Maven and something else?
You can make the mavens extremely short. At the end of the my bleed process I pressurize the system. This entails doing the whole process as normal, then closing up the lever, opening the caliper, and pressurizing the system using the bleeding edge valve. It doesn’t take much more than a few CCs of fluid. I’m sure it’s not recommended, but I prefer this over cheating the pads in. Downside, whenever you change pads you’ll need to do a quick bleed most likely due to excess fluid.
Has any of you pressurising guys thought about advancing the master piston to make the throw shorter?
Not sure how the Mavens have it handled, but Codes and Guides lesser than RSC just had a circlip holding the piston in. If you were to put a spacer between the piston and circlip, it would sit farther inboard and it should theoretically give you a shorter throw. You would need to take care not to close off the port to the reservoir, make it just a bit shorter.
I’ve installed a set of Maven Silver the other day with some 2.3mm rotors, as I was in a bit of a tight schedule I’ve finished the bleed with the pads in and their spacer, holy guacamole, pretty tight fitting but the feel was awesome for Mavens, impressed
Sweet, just did mine. Thank you!
Did mine too, felt awesome until they didnt, everyone should read more posts after that one, saves you the time undoing everything.
Maybe you can summarize instead of asking folks to comb through ~68 pages of posts looking for the relevant ones?
Edit: Found it: https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/nerding-out-brakes-shall-we-not-another-tech-deraliment?page=11
tl;dr a couple people who tried it (including the OP) ran into issues once the brakes heated up, including fully-locking up the brakes
Here's a sample: "Yes just came on here to report this issue today at the bikepark haha. Pumped up too much after a long descent. Even weirder : adjusting the contact the normal way with the small T9 torx would "reset" the lever. Meaning that turning the contact adjuster one way then the other back to the same initial position would somehow restore some lever throw... before pumping up again on the next long descent. Really confusing. I've backed off the ball head screw inside a little bit and then reset the pistons and bled them again to correct the fluid volume and seems all good now 👍"
I mean that original post starts the conversation and its like ten posts long on the same page, think everyone should have the time and interest for it before modifying their brakes. Long story short, Hayes has set it correctly already so it doesn’t mess up the ports and close up the system.
Radic and intend are the shortest. All the others are there or there abouts.
Throw HEL Advocate in the mix, too, super short lever throw and very stiff hoses which means very little movement after the bite point as well. Our review if you missed it: https://www.vitalmtb.com/product/guide/hydraulic-disc-brakes/hel-performance/advocate-71426#product-reviews-721041.
My worry with braided hoses is will they fit the dumb tiny internal routing on my alu capra. Plus of course spare part availability for smaller brands. Though radic things are tempting. Intend is not as I promised myself to stop spending stupid amount of money on bikes and more time on fancy bike trips (and probably saving money so the wife doesn't stab me)
Also from the mainstream brands i assume it's mavens even without pressurizing the system and then trp with 2.3mm rotors? i just miss the feel of my old gustavs (yes the old old ones. Haven't ridden them in 2 decades but still remember them fondly)
The HEL hoses are no thicker than regular non-braided hoses. They’re installed on my alloy Capra right now (shown in the review I linked above).
I'm building up a long travel ebike. I've been on trp brakes for a while, and I really enjoyed them, except they don't have contact point adjust which I would really like. I was ready to pull the trigger on some Lewis brakes, but then Rob rides emtb made an offhand comment about how they're not nearly as powerful as mavens, and the other site had maven's unliterally every single ebike of their last Roundup test.
Should I just get mavens?
I read on the dreaded Facebook a while ago about changing the lever blade bearing on a hope v4 from a standard 8mm OD to something larger, to reduce the free strike, Ive some 10mm OD on order but wondering if anyone's tried it and has experience if it? Taa
A couple people in the hope evo thread on MTBR tried it and love it. And they were responsive to my questions about it. Start around post #62. IIRC 9mm OD bearing replacement still had a positive effect and didn’t requiring any filing, 10mm did require a bit of work with a file. Check that thread out for more info. I have some on order too, and a pair of GR4s to compare against. Won’t really get experience on them till the spring though.
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