shimano brakes are pretyy average performance wise. ive ran a load of brakes, i find avid the best. best lever feel and performance, codes are nice and worth the money for the performance. hayes are just old fashioned and pretty lame, not bad power but terrible levers and no modulation. hope are ok, pretty unreliable and way over priced but good for weight weenies.
shimano brakes are pretyy average performance wise. ive ran a load of brakes, i find avid the best. best lever feel and performance, codes are nice and worth the money for the performance. hayes are just old fashioned and pretty lame, not bad power but terrible levers and no modulation. hope are ok, pretty unreliable and way over priced but good for weight weenies.
I have run Hope DH4, Hayes HFX9, Avid Code and Shimano Saint over the past 10 years. I found the Hopes worked well for years without any hassle, spare parts were easy to get if needed, they were easy to service, but they only had a bit of modulation. The Hayes I had for about a year and never needed to do anything to them, they were easy to bleed if i needed to, but didnt really have modulation (all in the fingers). I had some Avid Codes for a week which had awesome stopping power, were a bitch to bleed (bled them after cutting hose down), but had loads of modulation and adjustment. I currently have Saints, which are easy to bleed, have great modulation and great power.
The choice is yours really, all the brakes are roughly as powerful as each other, you might want to make your choice based on parts, servicing etc and probably (most of all) cost.
Fox dude, you can get 6 bolt XT discs that are compatible with saint brakes, i have them on my bike. The only small problem i found was that the lever doesnt fit perfectly with my X9 shifter, but its not much of a problem really.
dont get saints. you need everthing saint compatible if you get those, ull need new hubs, deraiuler shifter, rotars, it ll get expensive.
I'm afraid that's just not true.
Saint calipers and levers are interchangeable with all other Shimano levers and calipers. Well, XT, Hone, LX, and pre-2007 XTR for sure; I'm not certain about Deore or 2007 XTR, though I suspect they're compatible, too.
Similarly, you can run almost any rotor. Personally, my Saint levers and calipers are clamping on two Saint rotors, one XT rotor, and one Hope rotor (I have two sets, in case that caused any confusion!). None of my systems run Saint hubs or derailleurs.
I'm very happy with my Saint brakes. One friend with Codes prefers my Saints and another with Juicys feels the same way. I think the Codes might be nicer, though my Saints have been more trouble-free. Completely trouble-free, in fact.
you don't have to have center lock hubs to run saint. i have a set sittin right here that aren't center lock. they are a good set of brakes. but i just got codes and they are WAAAY better. more power, better modulation. and about the same price i think?