Give me a brake.

avidtest · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:04 am

Two brakes to be exact. After a 3-week hiatus to get my both XTR's warranty serviced by Shimano, I now have a shiny new replacement set, which takes some of the sting out of waiting for.. Three. Fucking. Weeks.

Good gravy, am I ever jonesing to ride and look forward to spinning around Calavera tomorrow morning. Thank the Baby Jesus!

Dirtrider · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 7:26 am

Any item coming/built/shipped from Japan might have delays due to the earthquake over there.

Glad you got the new set and will be ready to roll. :thumbsup:

Inconceivable · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 8:33 am

Wait a second... I thought you were going to ride the Arch. :arrow:

evdog · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 9:15 am

What the hell are you doing that cause the brakes to fail?

Can't say I've ever had a problem that wasn't solved with a bleed. Well, except Avids, but the main problem with them was basically that they suck.

avidtest · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 10:32 am

Inconceivable wrote:

Wait a second... I thought you were going to ride the Arch. :arrow:

Yeah, well.... I got skeered... I failed to train enough, and then when the brakes went south, and I didn't ride... well, you get the idea. I've got lot's of excuses and I'm sticking with them.

Evedog, when Shimano starting using some sort of carbon internal component (in 2015?), they had some fitment issues. No matter how perfectly I would set the front caliper prior to a ride, one of the pistons would be rubbing on the rotor by the middle of the ride. The right side caliper would not actuate and release like the left side. Cleaning and bleeding would not help. It's a known issue.

The rear lever developed a lot of play. There was no adjustment for it and the noise was pretty obnoxious any time there was no pressure applied to the lever. The shop noticed some gouging on the lever and figured a wreck probably caused the problem. I couldn't say, as I don't recollect a "wreck to rattle" correlation. I was happy that Shimano went ahead and replaced it though.

My only complaint, if you want to call it that, is that I wish Shimano could offer "direct to consumer" warranty service. I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons why they cannot though, so I'm not bitchin' too much. If I ever need warranty service for brakes again though, I might just consider buying a new set instead of waiting that long.

OldDogDan · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 1:31 pm

^^^ Glad you got the Evil good to go again! As for the jones, don't know why you didn't break out the Mojo to ride...surely you can't be that spoiled by the new bike?! Trail talk last weekend was that in the case of current brakes, XT is superior to XTR for those who value reliability over bling.

avidtest · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 3:46 pm

Bling.. that hurts Dan... seriously though, my last set of xtrs were just plain awesome. As 4 the mojo, I am spoiled by the evil, but it gave my knee an opportunity to heal up a bit, so it wasn't all bad.

OldDogDan · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2016 4:56 pm

avidtest wrote:

Bling.. that hurts Dan... seriously though, my last set of xtrs were just plain awesome. As 4 the mojo, I am spoiled by the evil, but it gave my knee an opportunity to heal up a bit, so it wasn't all bad.

Yeah, actually I was surprised by the XT over XTR comments. "As good as" I was expecting, but not "better than". But you know those DT guys. I'm guessing the XT doesn't have the "carbon phenolic pistons" (yep, looked it up -- GFRP insulated piston).

Well, I can understand resting a sore knee. How's your elbow? We were expecting you for the ride, or at least tailgate brews -- heck, a mountain biker in a wheelchair showed up for that! See you this weekend then.

325racer · **Posted:** Wed May 04, 2016 4:46 pm

So did the replacement come with the ceramic pistons vs the carbon? IE. whitish color vs blackish color?

avidtest · **Posted:** Wed May 04, 2016 6:15 pm

You know, I didn't pay much attention, but I presume they were black. If they were white it probably would have caught my eye. I'll report back if they happen to be the older white ones, but I don't think so.

There is not much definitive info out there about the potential issue of ceramic vs carbon (white vs. black). Is it true? There was no recall or even a notice from Shimano, as far as I know. And if there was an actual problem, has it already been quietly resolved?

The main thing is, I'm riding the bike I want to ride again, and it's making me smile.

325racer · **Posted:** Wed May 04, 2016 11:10 pm

Check out podcast 652 on this page.

http://mountainbikeradio.com/

Start at about 15:30

Give me a brake.

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