Hydraulic disc brakes.

Only just! My OH had a set of Hayes 4pot on her bike for our Alps trip last year and they nearly ruined the holiday for her. Needed so much lever force to stop, and they were ridiculously on/off. They were better for me with bigger hands, but still not great. I have a work hack with Hayes Stroker on and they are utterly hateful. Wooden feeling, no sense of what's going on at the caliper at all.

If you find them great, then more power to you - OH now has my old Elixir 5 on her bike and it's transformed it for her (I ran them in the Alps and they were great). I have Shimano SLX now, and they're even better. Seriously, if you think Hayes are good brakes, go try Shimano! ;)
 
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Get onto to eBay and take a look at the prices XT and XTR are going for.

I picked up a mint set of M970 XTR's with rotor's a while back for £120 delivered.

I've also picked up perfectly good M770 XT's for £50 without rotors.
 
dyna-ti":npxfqxt5 said:
I'd avoid an brake that cannot be serviced being bought 2nd hand.

Stick to new.

I know what you mean about the servicing but I've bought 2 x sets of M970 XTR's and 3 x sets of M770 that have given me no issues at all.

I'd would say to stay away from the M810 Saint 4 pots though, these have a tendency for the calipers to leak - the monoblock calipers used on XT and XTR seem to be a lot more robust.

Obviously stay away from anything that looks like it's had a hard life, there's plenty of low mileage stuff out there with plenty of life left.

There's a clean looking set of XTR's here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/171928456891? ... EBIDX%3AIT

I've seen these go for less but they're being sold by a bike parts trader so chances are, if there is an issue you should be able to send them back - it's worth checking with the seller first. If your buying second hand brakes check your hose lengths first, if you need to shell out on fresh hoses you wont be getting as much of a bargain.

If your mechanically competent and can fit this stuff yourself it's definitely worth a look, however if your paying for the LBS to fit them, stick to new and play safe.
 
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As others have said, Deore is good enough - and CRC have had front/rear Deore brakes for as little as £15 each.

I would also personally avoid second hand. While you can get a bargain, there are plenty of fiddly things that can go wrong.

In the end I can see myself settling on front disc/rear v for my disc brake equipped bike as I simply can't get a consistently quiet and good performance out of my rear brake (and nor can my LBS either).
 
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Re sh. Dont know exact number but i have bought maybe 15 pairs of s/h brakes and not had any problems. Majoriity have been almost like new, one set of xtr have slightly wobbly levers due to worn bushes but that as bad as it got.

Again mostlyfrom ebay advertised as in good condition and have turned out to be.
 
Nothing to do with playing safe :?
Considerably more to do with spending money then a month later when its warm they pee fluid everywhere and youre left with brakes for the bin.
Possibly then no money to get replacements, or youre throwing good after bad.

As previously stated some mid range shimano are cheap as chips these days from an OEM company like CRC so why take the risk.

Pays yer money, takes yer chance eh ? and so what if a hose pops off :LOL: you've another :p
 
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^^^^^ but you can say that about brakes on a s/h car or any s/h article. As you say it is a gamble and you take into account money saved. ... which you can use for health insurance lol.
 
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I have some current Deore's I might be letting go so PM me if interested. ;)

Not all Shimano are created equal and you need the recent stuff for best performance. Back in 2005 I had some Hayes and thought they were pretty good at the time.
 
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