"the slop between the blade and body of the master cylinder is a bit annoying, but these are not on-trail performance issues. The M396 brake levers are excellent in the heat of battle"
Have to disagree here. The brake lever moving around _is_ a performance issue, because it can and will mess with your head/body and cause inconsistent braking. If I'm pulling hard on the lever and then smack a big bump and the lever moves, in the "heat of battle" that movement could easily be misinterpreted by my hand as a need to brake harder, since I expect a given firmness of the lever for a given braking force.
YMMV, of course, but since in the past few years I've gone from bushing pivots with sloppy stamped levers, to ball-bearing pivots with machined levers, back to bushing/stamped (because bike thieves!), and now back to balls/machined, I have to say that the difference is there and noticeable. Despite the ball-bearing brakes being much more powerful in both cases, I actually find myself having much more control since the lever only moves on a single axis. All finger movement goes directly into the brakes, making it much easier to pull just hard enough even while the traction under the tires is constantly changing.
March 28, 2022, 8:28 a.m. - Justin White
"the slop between the blade and body of the master cylinder is a bit annoying, but these are not on-trail performance issues. The M396 brake levers are excellent in the heat of battle" Have to disagree here. The brake lever moving around _is_ a performance issue, because it can and will mess with your head/body and cause inconsistent braking. If I'm pulling hard on the lever and then smack a big bump and the lever moves, in the "heat of battle" that movement could easily be misinterpreted by my hand as a need to brake harder, since I expect a given firmness of the lever for a given braking force. YMMV, of course, but since in the past few years I've gone from bushing pivots with sloppy stamped levers, to ball-bearing pivots with machined levers, back to bushing/stamped (because bike thieves!), and now back to balls/machined, I have to say that the difference is there and noticeable. Despite the ball-bearing brakes being much more powerful in both cases, I actually find myself having much more control since the lever only moves on a single axis. All finger movement goes directly into the brakes, making it much easier to pull just hard enough even while the traction under the tires is constantly changing.