At Interbike last year I previewed the technology behind the Hayes Prime brakes, particularly the virtues of the poppet cam and new reach adjusters. This summer I finally got a chance to thoroughly give these brakes a go and this is my review.

Tech

The Prime Pro brakes represent somewhat of a departure from other Hayes components with a host of new features not found in the rest of the current line-up. The poppet cam technology inside the brake master and the re-designed lever / detented adjuster really sets the Primes apart from simple piston / reservoir systems. Here you’re getting a complex, scaled down version of a braking system that you would find on some sport bikes.

Checkout the video from Hayes below to see the poppet cam and how it adjusts the dead stroke.

Poppet cam

In addition to the poppet cam, Hayes includes a bunch of other great features that make the Prime a truly premium brake. For starters, the Pro kit features titanium and anodized aluminum bolts to shave weight plus you get a two piece rotor (with the Pro sets) made from an aluminum center and stamped stainless steel brake surface.

The caliper is a redesign that is very user-friendly with an easy-to-remove bridge pin holding the two pads in place. With this system you can remove the pin and pull out the pads for a quick service or change without having to pull the caliper off.  The higher placement of the two caliper bridge bolts and corresponding placement of material also makes for a stiffer caliper design.

Installation

These Prime brakes screamed out for abuse so I installed them on my DH rig. The brakes feature burly construction which makes them a natural choice on AM – DH bikes.

Installing the Primes on my Banshee Legend took about 40 minutes. Both hoses were long enough on my medium frame that I still needed to trim the brake lines a good 6 – 8 inches each. Don’t worry – Hayes supplies you with hose ends to do this operation. All you need is a proper brake housing cutter (a Park CN-10 or similar) and you’re golden.

After trimming the hose I installed the levers and calipers. It’s important to tighten the lever clamp top bolt so that there is no space left; torque the bottom clamp bolt at 3.4Nm. The caliper itself takes a bit more work to dial in but a tool like the Hayes Feel’R gauge makes life easy. Set the caliper squarely over the rotor and check the spacing using a gauge or two business cards on each side of the rotor; with the brake applied, tighten the caliper down to 9Nm.

Double check for leaks and proper torque before burnishing the pads with some safe stops (about 30-50) at medium speed. After that it takes a little more riding to really get the lever reach and contact points adjusted properly. I found sitting on the bike standing still is not good enough – I needed to hit the slopes to get a realistic feel for the levers. With the levers dialed I adjusted the contact points.

Performance

How well did the Prime brakes perform? After some serious trail time I have to say these are right up there with the other brands I have played with. Hayes comes out on top in terms of adjustment characteristics and the poppet cam works very well. The detents on the reach adjuster are easy to dial with positive feedback with a nice click between settings. All of the adjustments can be done with gloves on and without any tools needed to make things move.

The Primes offer roughly the same power as the Avid Codes and modulation that’s comparable to the ONE from Formula. I did notice that I needed a bit more finger force on my end to stop the bike than with other brakes I’ve tested. But stop they did. Even on the hardest courses at Blue Mountain, which are notorious for burning up brakes (Shot Glass and O-Chute), the Primes fared well. I did get some noise near the bottom of the runs but I didn’t get any fade. I definitely got these brakes super hot, so much so that the rotors changed to a blue color, which is a good indication of the amount of heat involved.

The Primes modulate very well and by playing with the contact point you can adjust how they engage. The brakes will ramp up faster if your contact point is closer to the bar, more slowly as you move away from the bar. By moving the lever out at the same time you can get the brake to work virtually any way you want it to work. I tend to set up my brakes to have the maximum pressure (fully engaged) with the levers parallel to the bar with about an inch in between the two. I have seen other people set their brakes so the lever touches the bar on maximum pressure (a big no no but who am I to say), and although I am sure you can do that, I didn’t. Throughout my tests with the Primes I always had consistent feel and no change in force through the braking stroke.

Having tanked my bike more than once (I broke my ankle and played ping pong with the bike down a slope), the Hayes Primes didn’t show any signs of damage – the levers survived and nothing was bent. As with any bike part, you will have to service these brakes. After every few rides or so I tend to pull the pads (easy with the Primes) and retract and extend them, just to make sure the pads don’t stick due to accumulated dirt and dust (doing this also keeps the seals moist). Checking up on your equipment also gives you a good indication of how much pad is left, leaving you enough time to order a new set if necessary.

All in all I think Hayes did a great job bringing a powerful and reliable brake to a highly competitive market.  So for about $260 a wheel, try out a set and I think you too will be impressed.

Thanks to Joel Richardson and the folks at Hayes for sending down the brakes for review.

Front caliper with trick ano-crossover tube; no piston in sight

Let me start this off with a confession: I’m horrible at homework. My internet research skills are second to none, but if my assignment is to do the research before writing a preview post like this one, I will inevitably drop the ball. So when I wrote up my first impressions on the Ashima PCB brakes I left out the defining feature of these bad boys: no pistons. That’s right, Ashima claims this is the “World’s First Pistonless Hydraulic Brake.” Then again, you would have already known that if you had read element22′s post here.

View of the rear caliper and rotor

Standing in for the pistons in this minimalist design is a diaphragm of “high temperature performance rubber” protected from heat buildup by a heat retardant engineered plastic shield. Thin, light stuff for sure. Note in the photo the speedy-looking red anodized crossover tube which distributes the juice (they say “external fluid transfer”) to both sides of the caliper while earning mad style points. Rotors also look good and are feathery: the front is claimed 112g while the rear is claimed 85g. My finely calibrated pharmaceutical-grade scale confirms those are pretty accurate weights.

The business-end view of what I’m calling The Flapjacks.

At your fingertips you’ll find alloy levers working pistons inside plastic bodies. More of that smooth-looking red anodization hits bolts and piston pivots. It takes an allen to adjust reach, so keep your multi-tool out while you’re setting up the cockpit. Red accents show up in the clamp and a plastic insert with a stylized “A” cutout adds to the dialed appearance.

So how do they work? The big shakedown came on my trip to Ray’s Indoor MTB Park in Milwaukee. After bedding the brakes in with a dozen full stops from medium speed I got to ripping it up on the XC circuit and the skills features at the park. I rode like a man possessed, owed in part to the fact that it was February and I hadn’t ridden any trails in months.

Without letting up for a solid 2.5 hours I railed on these brakes. No big, sustained downhills, mind you, but a great test of the gear anyway. I sensed no fade; the rubber diaphragm is great at quelling the vibes so no chatter either. The design leads to a softer, less abrupt feel at the lever and I think that leads to great modulation as well. These are not ON/OFF brakes, so you’ll have to get used to giving the right pull to lock up the rear if that’s what you want. For the average Joe on the trails I think it’s just right.

At $229 retail these are worth the price for anyone looking for light weight, style, innovation, and unique technology. You’ll certainly have something to talk about at the trailhead bull sessions as you bring out the Mr. Wizard facts about “engineered” this and “high temperature” that to impress your riding buddies. Or you can just smile and let them try and guess what’s going on in there.

Thanks to the folks at Ashima for providing the brakes for review.

While walking around Interbike I had to swing by Formula Brake and chat with Christoph Vogl about this year’s line up. It looks like they did so well on improving the line last year that there are no major changes this year other the introduction of the new RX series brake which is great for all types of riding (except DH). At about 351 grams the RX brakes are nothing to sneeze at and with 22mm pistons these will generate some serious force.

I was especially interested in learning more about THE ONE, a brake set designed for everything from enduro to DH. As far as the Formula line is concerned these are just awesome brakes – super powerful with 24mm pistons and a low weight to performance ratio. (just 308 grams, lighter than many XC brakes you may be familiar with). What makes these brakes special is that both the master cylinder body and the caliper are forged, allowing the engineers to remove unwanted material while creating a stronger brake.

If all goes well I’ll be performing a full review on one or two of these brake sets in the near future. In the meantime, check out formula-brake.com for more info and details on other great brake sets.

Cheers.

For those who like to ride fast down a steep downhill or if you live life on the edge waiting to hit your brakes at the last possible minute, Hayes Stroker Ace brakes may be perfect for you. Hayes has upped the ante once again with the Stroker Ace brakes; these babies have a slightly larger and thicker brake lever than the otherwise identical master cylinder of the original Hayes Strokers and an all new mono-bloc forged 4 piston caliper (like a F1 brake caliper). I just finished testing the Hayes Stroker Ace brakes and these new features plus the larger brake pads have delivered an eye popping experience.

The Stroker Aces advertised brake system weights of 440g (6” rotors) and 520g (8″ rotors) are slightly less than my measurements of 452g (for my 6” rear rotor) and 552g (for my 8” front rotor). Installing the new brakes was pretty straight forward and there was even enough hose for long travel bikes. I have tried riding with a 7” rear disc and found the braking was too powerful back there for my riding style. The 6” rear disc works well for me and it even saves some weight!

Now on to how well the Stroker Aces actually performed on the trails. It took a few runs to break in the pads and two caliper adjustments to finally get the Aces set up just right.  During my testing, I evaluated several aspects of the brakes performance including noise level, rotor and pad durability, brake modulation and release, biting force, torque, and fade.  The following chart is a summary of my observations.

I was really impressed with the modulation of these brakes and gave it a high rating of 9 out of 10.  The Stroker Aces really had a lot of control despite the large pad size and four pistons.  There was moderate braking torque when first applying the brakes.  After subsequent applications of the brake, the forces built up and I gradually had to back off the amount of braking required.  Usually when you keep applying brakes they tend to fade or need more force, but these do the opposite.  After changing the brake fluid to DOT 5.1, I found the brake actuation to be a little better.

I rated the silence of these brakes a six out of ten. It was a very wet day when I noticed the rotors and pads generating some noise that was difficult to remove.  The noise was at slow speeds and did not occur at high speed application of the brakes.  Last, the rotors and pads held up well to my testing, there was hardly any sign of wear on either part.  I’ll be keeping the Stroker Aces on my rig to see how they do in the long run though.

Overall, these brakes work extremely well and if you have a long legged all mountain, black diamond or DH mountain bike, get yourself a set of Hayes Stroker Aces and you won’t be disappointed!