Brakes for your Enduro bike

Now that most of us have just 1 bike for all types of riding, a 150-170mm travel enduro bike (as opposed to having both a DH bike and a trail bike) - what type of brakes are you guys using? I have the dual piston Shimano XT brakes and am feeling undergunned on bigger/steeper descents. Thinking about upgrading to a 4 piston brake - either the Shimano Zee/Saints or something from Avid/SRAM. Anyone have any recommendations/insight for me?

Saints for me.  You could upgrade to the 4 piston XT's?  I have heard they are just a re-badged Saint.

I run a set of Shimano Saints and a set of Hope T3 V4, on two different bikes.  If I were to do it again, I should have bought another set of Zee/Saints.  The Hope brakes are beautiful and consistent but having been accustomed to the power band on the saints, I'm finding the switch difficult - especially since I'm still riding Saints on my other bike.

Thanks guys - sounds like Zee/Saint is the way to go. Going to see if I can find something used - full price is pretty steep, for the Saints at least.

It's worth getting the Zees then at full price. Some people have had bad luck with Saint/Zee brakes and warranty is not possible on used sets.  I remember buying one of the sets of Saints from Different Bikes (back when they existed) for $200 an end during one of their sales, it's worth calling around to see if one of the shops has stock and is willing to give you a bit of a brake.

Guide RS on my last 2 bikes , 200/180 26"    180/180 29er

Saints on the DH bike.

Saints on the MOJO G16 29er Enduro bike.  

XTR Trail on the hardtail. 

Step 1: Buy Shimano products from Europe

Step 2: ??????

Step 3: Profit

I've been debating switching the G16 to a set of Hope Tech 3 V4 or Formula Cura 4s but I don't have experience with either brake.  The GFs bike needs brakes so it would get the Saints. But a set of Zees is the cost of one T3 V4 brake.

Ah, the Cura 4's are finally out! Would love to hear feedback on those.

I'll echo the Shimano sentiment, once you're accustomed to Shimano power everything else just feels too anemic.

The new Codes are pretty sweet...

Jenson has Zee's on sale for $125 USD per end. There are no rotors at that price but they have rotors on sale as well so you could put together a set for $200 CDN depending on rotor choice.

I have a new set of SLX's to go on and am debating if it's worth spending another $90 to get just a Zee caliper and to swap out with the SLX.

I have Zee calipers on the hardtail and fully. I haven't found them to be much more powerful than my 2 piston XT's (which for me are plenty powerful enough), but they do modulate better. Love easy access of parts and the Shimanos are easy to work with.

Do the Zee and Saints suffer from the same wandering bitepoint issues plagued with the newer M7000/8000 master cylinders?

I have Guide RS on my Range 29 and XT M785 on my Chromag Rootdown. I prefer the Guides. Maybe less overall bite, but much smoother application of braking power than the Shimanos. The XTs are just a bit too on/off for my liking, and I end up locking up my wheels more often than I’d like as a result.

I’m looking at XTR Race for the Chromag, which don’t have Servo Wave levers. They’re said to be a bit less powerful but smoother.

If I wanted more power than my Guides, I’d take a good look at Codes. I also felt a buddy’s TRP Quadiem and they seemed promising.

ReductiMat had TRP Gwins on his Tues. Swapped for Saints.  

My issue with SRAM brakes stems from the X.0 era brakes and after being burnt on two sets of X.0 vowed to never use them again.  In fact besides X.01 drivetrain I haven't bought a SRAM part since, so long as I don't count a X-sync Chromag ring and Canfield Bros Crankset with SRAM style DM

Posted by: D_C_

I have Guide RS on my Range 29 and XT M785 on my Chromag Rootdown. I prefer the Guides. Maybe less overall bite, but much smoother application of braking power than the Shimanos. The XTs are just a bit too on/off for my liking, and I end up locking up my wheels more often than I’d like as a result.

I’m looking at XTR Race for the Chromag, which don’t have Servo Wave levers. They’re said to be a bit less powerful but smoother.

If I wanted more power than my Guides, I’d take a good look at Codes. I also felt a buddy’s TRP Quadiem and they seemed promising.

Same thing I noticed with Guides , better overall feel with less on/off feel. I don,t ride the park so I don,t need the insane braking power . Plus with the 2.5WT tire I have noticed the 200mm is too much and have switched to the 180mm too try.