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That's a pretty sweet paint job on those Lewis brakes.

Dale just posted a comprehensive deep dive into Lewis brakes. The "Counterfeit Origins" chapter is super interesting. Solid investigative work! https://youtu.be/59xC6Q51po8?si=iWQy3wxS_URGbXqT

Places you guys can go fight each other about e-bikes. https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/The-Hub,2/Lets-be-honest-Ebike-related,… https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/hub/what-do-you-prioritize-e-bike?page=2 https://www.vitalmtb.com/forums/The-Hub,2/Downsides-of-ebikes-and-what-…

My Trickstuff Dirretesimas have been amazing for the past two years. Easy to bleed and lever feel is sublime. Everyone complains about cost and wait time with these. But no one complains about the end result… Still trying to get a good bleed on my Formula Cura 4’s and keep my Code RSC’s from fading on big bike park days. BTW, love the content Dave, Nick and crew put out!

I took Dale's bike for a lap yesterday to try the Mavens. He bled and massaged them and was running 200F/180R rotors. For reference, I run TRP DHR Evos with 200mm rotors on my own bike which I find slightly underpowered although they make up for it with excellent modulation and a light lever feel. My first thought riding the Mavens was that the power is insane. It felt like someone was throwing a stick in the spokes (not saying this is good or bad, just how it compares to my TRPs). My second thought was WHY IS THE LEVER...

To chime in on this, I was aware of the piston massage before I received my set of Mavens for review and had the procedure explained to me prior to setup. I chose to not do it for two reasons. 1) Ive ridden every Avid/SRAM hydraulic brake since the Juicy Seven and have only ever needed to do that procedure when cleaning the pistons, not on a brand new brake setup. 2) The average consumer throws the owners manual away immediately and then starts a forum topic to help fix their problem. I wanted to give that experience a try...

Definitely going to take a look at them. Hard to say what all will really be possible until can see what the pad retract numbers are. There are some specific things I want to try that could work out quite well knock on wood.

I got to do a carpark test of mavens today, sram did kinda shit the bed with the lever effort required. But a pretty rowdy brake none the less. I kinda look at like you're gonna giving that amount of squeeze if you're wanting to stop fast, if you're a brake dragger maybe they're not for you. I'd happily run them on my bike i think. Pretty compatible to trickstuff, the bite point is nowhere near as crisp, but power seems to be close.

Youve missed the point, Its not because of F1, as thats silly, I'm just using that as an example. The Mavens just arent for everyone, theres nothing wrong with that. I'm good with different products for different people, Im not sure why theres a belief that they should be for everyone. They built a product to service a niche segment, and those people will like them, end of story

Being an engineer doesn’t automatically make someone a capable mechanic

Just going to give my thoughts on the Maven lever hand fatigue topic. I am going off topic to rant on about Hope brakes but this will make sense if you make it to the end. For a start I have never used the Maven brakes. I have always loved and championed Code RSC brakes and never had an issue with them, until I tried a set of Hope Tech 4 V4 brakes. I have always liked Hope parts but previous Hope brakes have always been disappointing. I put a pair of V4’s onto my Nomad when I built it...

So that'll be in most cases then. Every mountain biker thinks they're a mechanic, engineer and designer, so they're all going to give it a go after binning the manual. Is there even a manual in a box with the Mavens? The initial setup seems to be super critical

I would say in both cases that step should have been done by the LBS or manufacture. The only time something like that should be able to be missed is someone orders brakes and installs them themselves.

or, since we all know sram levers feel like crap and are very stiff, he's just saying the truth?

Dale is a friend, I will see if he will come chime in here.

I don't know the person in question, but I can tell you that after 26 years of turning wrenches for a living that neither being an engineer or a good (even great) rider absolutely DOES NOT mean that you know how to work on bikes.

But, if there is an increase in power because of equally advancing the pistons that will drop your arm pump issue. So it still applies to the issue being stated abotu increased arm pump. If the power isn't there because you don't correctly advance the pistons, then you can't complain that the lever actuation is what is giving you arm pump. you arent comparing apples to apples if the correct steps arent followed.

He's not just some random YouTuber. He's a damn good rider and an engineer who's worked in the industry. I don't buy the double rotor thing as being responsible for the lever force. Sounds to me like that's to get all 4 pistons advanced evenly and to condition the piston seals. Hayes told me to do something similar with the pad spacer (insert spacer after installing pads, pull and hold lever for 15+ sec). Having done and not done this, it didn't change the lever force, just the brake power. Unevenly advancing pistons reduces power. The stiff lever pull design...