Mixing 2 pot brake lever with 4 pot caliper

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Mixing 2 pot brake lever with 4 pot caliper
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flag Frank191
O+
Posted: May 17, 2020 at 11:56 Quote
I have XT 2 pot (piston) brakes and am thinking about changing the front to 4 pot. I was thinking the new slx or deore 4 pot. Can I run my current lever and just switch the caliper? Thanks!
flag sxy-slo
Posted: May 17, 2020 at 13:48 Quote
sure. Levers are the same.
flag mmiloou
Posted: May 20, 2020 at 9:13 Quote
On that note, I'm assuming I can mix deore levers with saint calipers?
flag Jolldizzle
Posted: May 20, 2020 at 20:39 Quote
mmiloou wrote:
On that note, I'm assuming I can mix deore levers with saint calipers?

Definitely
flag sxy-slo
Posted: May 21, 2020 at 10:28 Quote
You can, however the power and feeling of the brake won't be exactly the same. Saint has slighlty different lever. Deore lever is in theory the same as slx,xt,xtr except finish and lever material. 4pot xt/slx/xtr/mt520/mt420 have the same lever as their 2pot coutnerparts.
flag Thasingletrackmastah
Posted: May 26, 2020 at 19:24 Quote
mmiloou wrote:
On that note, I'm assuming I can mix deore levers with saint calipers?
Yes, but you'll need a Saint brake hose, including the small banjo bolt.
XT and SLX hoses will fit, Deore won't.
flag harrymc-onthecheap
Posted: Apr 6, 2021 at 14:30 Quote
So could I use a SRAM level brake with the SRAM guide 4 pot caliper ?
flag Lukas2306
Posted: Jan 27, 2022 at 4:57 Quote
sxy-slo wrote:
sure. Levers are the same.

are they tho? I've been experimenting for some time with the combinations of 2pot SLX levers/calipers and Deore 4pot levers/calipers and the feeling is just weird.

I currently run 4pot Deore levers with 2 pot SLX calipers on the first bike and the feel is rock solid, I press the lever and have an instant bite.

On the second bike, 2pot SLX lever on 4pot Deore pot is even after very careful bleeding still mushy. Recently went for shiguras and slapped MT5 calipers with 2pot SLX levers together and even tho they are much stronger, the lever feeling is still a little bit mushy. It feels like the oil chamber/piston in the lever is not pushing enough oil to caliper and it needs to be compressed much closer to grip to get the full stop.

EDIT: Please don't ask why I run this combination, It is the outcome of some destroyed levers and personal preference.
flag leftypumpkin
O+
Posted: Jan 27, 2022 at 7:06 Quote
My bike has a mix right now:

Front and rear started off as used MT-520 4 pot I bought off a pinkbike seller. Then I broke a lever clamp and replaced the front with an XT lever (which has the lever adjustment knob instead of just an allen bolt for the MT-520). Then I cracked a rear calliper piston during a bleed session and now have a used XT 2 pot rear calliper. Other than spending way too much for the hose so I could install my $25 XT 2 pot rear calliper (XT use banjos, the MT-520s were an olive setup) all have worked fine together.
flag Frank191
O+
Posted: Jan 27, 2022 at 15:14 Quote
Update: I have been running XT levers (that came with 2 piston calipers) with SLX 4 piston calipers for almost 2 years and it works great. Especially since I recently put MTX red pads on and Galfer 203 rotors.
flag Cpembo6
Posted: Jan 27, 2022 at 21:41 Quote
Just in case anyone else is wondering, you can also run 4 pot M520 calipers with SLX M6000 levers (and in theory any Deore and upwards lever). I beleive the M520 caliper isn't quite as powerful as a Deore/SLX/XT 4 pot, but it's certainly more powerful than my original M7000 2 pot caliper. A nice cheap upgrade to just the front of my short travel bike, to get jsut a little more braking power and much better modulation.

And to answer someones question above, yes Deore/SLX/XT levers on 2 pot brake sets are exactly the same as the levers on 4 pot sets. They have the identical model number on the lever. 4 pot is only specific to the caliper, not the lever. e.g. A set of M7120 4 pot brakes comes with an M7100 lever and M7120 caliper.
flag Danzzz88
Posted: Jan 28, 2022 at 5:38 Quote
Keep the levers, swap the calipers for Magura mt5/7...thank me later.
flag sxy-slo
Posted: Jan 30, 2022 at 8:53 Quote
Lukas2306 wrote:
sxy-slo wrote:
sure. Levers are the same.

are they tho? I've been experimenting for some time with the combinations of 2pot SLX levers/calipers and Deore 4pot levers/calipers and the feeling is just weird.

I currently run 4pot Deore levers with 2 pot SLX calipers on the first bike and the feel is rock solid, I press the lever and have an instant bite.

On the second bike, 2pot SLX lever on 4pot Deore pot is even after very careful bleeding still mushy. Recently went for shiguras and slapped MT5 calipers with 2pot SLX levers together and even tho they are much stronger, the lever feeling is still a little bit mushy. It feels like the oil chamber/piston in the lever is not pushing enough oil to caliper and it needs to be compressed much closer to grip to get the full stop.

EDIT: Please don't ask why I run this combination, It is the outcome of some destroyed levers and personal preference.

Yes. Ive mixed 8100 xt lever with fore 4pot caliper on May wifes occam. Works exactly the same. Probably you stil have some air bubbles in your starem.
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