Anthony,
We don’t delete comments unless they contravene our terms of use, and yours certainly does not. In fact I’m glad you were willing to share your opinion.
It takes a lot to get me to call out a situation like this and I certainly gave it some thought, but his experience is so far from mine and from every other person I’ve spoken to who has ridden Mavens, that there has to be something going on.
Calling his video, The Big Red Disappointment is a big clue. In fact that doesn’t reflect many of his impressions either. He calls them the best brakes SRAM has made as well. Somehow that didn’t make it into the title.
But then he says, (right after stopping to shake out his hands) “I would say that in the current market Mavens are one of, if not the most, fatiguing brakes out there.” I’m not super human in terms of my endurance abilities while braking in challenging terrain, and they likely aren’t as good as Dale’s, but I didn’t have this issue ever. In fact it was the exact opposite. The force required to get a very powerful braking response is lower than other brakes I have ridden. Now that’s a delta.
Beyond that, his weight test doesn’t replicate what SRAM declares on their site, which strikes me as disingenuous;
“With Maven, it takes 32% lighter input force at the lever to generate the same amount of power as Code, reducing fatigue and boosting control for massive bike park days, rowdy DH race terrain, and long enduro stages.”
Dale measured the dead stroke. He’s measuring how much effort it takes to move the lever from its static position to its contact position. SRAM doesn’t mention this at all. And while I agree that the force required here is more than others, it’s a tiny fraction of the force required to stop a bike hurtling down a hill at 60k. I’d argue it’s so small as to be negligible. His measurement indicates nothing about clamping force at the rotor. Dale is clearly a smart guy so you have to ask yourself why he is comparing dissimilar metrics?
I suspect that you wouldn’t have written this comment if you had ridden Mavens because you would then understand what I’m talking about. As someone pointed out to me this morning, social media outlets love a conspiracy; they generate the most clicks.
I have an issue with people being misled. I’m not saying this was done intentionally, but the impact is the same whether it was initiated by malice, some error in set up, or some other factor. Having potential customers believe that Mavens are “the most fatiguing brakes out there,” is something I couldn’t abide by because it’s the opposite of the truth. I wish Dale the best and I’d love to see him give Mavens another look because I’m certain there was some issue with the conclusions he came to.
Sept. 10, 2024, 12:08 p.m. - Cam McRae
Anthony, We don’t delete comments unless they contravene our terms of use, and yours certainly does not. In fact I’m glad you were willing to share your opinion. It takes a lot to get me to call out a situation like this and I certainly gave it some thought, but his experience is so far from mine and from every other person I’ve spoken to who has ridden Mavens, that there has to be something going on. Calling his video, The Big Red Disappointment is a big clue. In fact that doesn’t reflect many of his impressions either. He calls them the best brakes SRAM has made as well. Somehow that didn’t make it into the title. But then he says, (right after stopping to shake out his hands) “I would say that in the current market Mavens are one of, if not the most, fatiguing brakes out there.” I’m not super human in terms of my endurance abilities while braking in challenging terrain, and they likely aren’t as good as Dale’s, but I didn’t have this issue ever. In fact it was the exact opposite. The force required to get a very powerful braking response is lower than other brakes I have ridden. Now that’s a delta. Beyond that, his weight test doesn’t replicate what SRAM declares on their site, which strikes me as disingenuous; “With Maven, it takes 32% lighter input force at the lever to generate the same amount of power as Code, reducing fatigue and boosting control for massive bike park days, rowdy DH race terrain, and long enduro stages.” Dale measured the dead stroke. He’s measuring how much effort it takes to move the lever from its static position to its contact position. SRAM doesn’t mention this at all. And while I agree that the force required here is more than others, it’s a tiny fraction of the force required to stop a bike hurtling down a hill at 60k. I’d argue it’s so small as to be negligible. His measurement indicates nothing about clamping force at the rotor. Dale is clearly a smart guy so you have to ask yourself why he is comparing dissimilar metrics? I suspect that you wouldn’t have written this comment if you had ridden Mavens because you would then understand what I’m talking about. As someone pointed out to me this morning, social media outlets love a conspiracy; they generate the most clicks. I have an issue with people being misled. I’m not saying this was done intentionally, but the impact is the same whether it was initiated by malice, some error in set up, or some other factor. Having potential customers believe that Mavens are “the most fatiguing brakes out there,” is something I couldn’t abide by because it’s the opposite of the truth. I wish Dale the best and I’d love to see him give Mavens another look because I’m certain there was some issue with the conclusions he came to.