SRAM Releases New Bronze-Tier Brakes

Jul 12, 2023 at 12:02
by Dario DiGiulio  
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Coming hand-in-hand with the new GX Transmission drivetrain launch, SRAM has released a new budget-minded tier of their Stealth brake lineup. The updated series includes the Code Bronze Stealth, Level Bronze Stealth 4-Piston, and the Level Bronze Stealth 2-Piston.

These are an equivalent offering to their former "R" series brakes, falling below RSC and RS. What that gets you is tool-free reach adjustment, a stamped aluminum SwingLink lever, and bushings in the lever pivots.

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Code Bronze Stealth
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MSRP: $185 USD

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Level Bronze Stealth, 4-piston
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MSRP: $165 USD

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Level Bronze Stealth, 2-piston
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MSRP: $108 USD

The new Bronze-level brakes will probably be seen on lots of cost-efficient OE builds, as the price-to-performance ratio on the lower tier Codes has always been compelling for both brands and end users. The newly minted 4-piston Levels are an interesting offering, and in my limited experience with them so far I'm struggling to see why it's worth taking the performance hit moving away from a Code, when the weight savings are pretty minor. I'm sure some XC folks will beg to differ here, and we'll see how things shake out in long-term testing.

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120 Comments
  • 237 0
 WHY AREN’T THEY BRONZE?????
  • 33 3
 Actually they are: they only got third place.
  • 28 42
flag Mtbdialed (Jul 12, 2023 at 14:21) (Below Threshold)
 they identify as Shimano, so you're a bigot if you think they perform the same!
  • 24 0
 If SRAM was on the level, they’d just tell us they messed up the color code.
  • 1 0
 @EnduroManiac: well duh that’s why they are called bronze in the first place.
  • 3 1
 @EnduroManiac: add in platinum-tier and diamond-tier and these are actually only 5th in the lineup.
  • 4 0
 @WRCDH: or at least provide us with some sort of guide
  • 1 1
 They might as well be called the bronze trickstuff edition.
  • 1 0
 At least they ain't orange.
  • 1 3
 Retriever > Shepard…wait, no sorry. (Shimano > Sram) - (opposing sides trading stories of grandeur)
  • 5 0
 Maybe they cheaped out on the anodizing so if you leave them out in the sun long enough they’ll turn bronze. Classic DIY customization.
  • 2 3
 Yes they are, sh*t is more or less bronze Razz
  • 5 0
 @samdeatley: A guide might lead to avid DB8 about brake colors.
  • 2 0
 SRAM brakes have always been bronze-tier tbh and I don't think it has anything to do with the actual color.
  • 202 4
 Make your bike unstoppable!
  • 40 6
 That should be printed on every sram brake box.
  • 7 3
 Not stopping you --magura
  • 3 3
 Bro the way I cackled when I read this...
  • 3 3
 Too good! Definitely comment of the week.
  • 2 4
 Absolute gold. I am honored to have been the 100th liker of this comment
  • 5 2
 Latest reviews for sram brakes,

"Like a freight train rolling down a hillside, power through any obstacle!"

"SRAM's new bronze line allows you to commit instantly to the steepest lines with no thought of slowing down"

"I would rather put my foot thru the front wheel than use sram."
  • 67 1
 Code Brown incoming
  • 2 1
 Code
  • 2 3
 Comment gold here again!
  • 6 1
 The code brown happens when you have these brakes and can’t stop your bike.
  • 6 0
 Squeeze as hard as you can, and then maybe you’ll leave a skid mark.
  • 1 0
 The best way to prevent a Code Brown is to just use two fingers all the time.
  • 48 2
 I don’t understand why they made the stealth lines point at an angle towards the handlebars. It looks worse than the original outwards angled lines. Parallel to the bar would make for the cleaner looking cockpit imo
  • 46 2
 Cable routing into the handlebar is coming
  • 9 1
 Head set cable routing I imagine.
  • 6 0
 @bbachmei: Ucck, but probably correct
  • 3 1
 I'm more offended by the lack of banjo fitting on the caliper.
  • 1 0
 @bbachmei: That is 100% what that means.
  • 9 4
 @bbachmei: Sram is like the WEF of the bike world. Shoving crap down our throats while giving catchy-phrases.
  • 1 1
 @gearbo-x: Don't worry, Shimano is on board as well: www.pinkbike.com/news/is-shimano-developing-a-brake-for-headset-cable-routing.html
  • 2 0
 Man this series of products from sram looks really plain and boring. Im sure they work week enough though.
  • 3 0
 They could have just made the clamp mount have a couple of different angle options for people that have headset routing and care about this kind of thing.

Instead they've made the hoses much more likely to run on the handlebar and headtube for every bike that doesn't have headset routing (which is most of them, thankfully)
  • 3 2
 Cable routing up your nose, coming Summer 2025
  • 39 0
 Coming to a $9K bike spec near you.
  • 13 0
 And headed to a scrap yard within a year
  • 31 0
 Ok, but why? It seems weird to go Ultimate, RSC, RS, then Bronze. Now nearly every single tier has a different naming scheme...
  • 32 1
 It's like trying to figure out the different tires and compounds from Schwalbe.
  • 9 0
 If you heard the actual internal discussions over product naming at SRAM, you’d find out that it’s even more inane and contentious than you could ever imagine.
  • 4 0
 Maybe those will change to Platinum, Gold, and Silver over time.
  • 5 0
 They are like toothbrush or razor marketing at this point. They need to re package the same mediocre product to keep the punters coming.
  • 4 1
 I think Sram will stop making the RSC and RS, so the new lineup will be: Ultimate, Silver, Bronze.
Which makes sense
  • 3 0
 @laupe: At least the Ultimates' finish is always chrome/silver...
  • 1 0
 @zyoungson: good point, but in my experience the reality is it’s mostly down to internal politics more than anything else IMO.
  • 1 2
 It doesn't matter, they all suck.
  • 25 0
 I know it's popular to hate on SRAM brakes, but Ive tried about 10 different hydraulic brakes and I keep coming back to code RSCs. I think they're fantastic brakes and I'm thrilled to see these more affordable codes come out.
  • 6 0
 Same feelings here!
  • 9 0
 I'm with you that they just work. However, am I the only one who finds the caliper gets in the way of doing up the lower bolt? Tricky to get an Allen key in there, let alone a torque wrench
  • 1 1
 10?! You could be riding a full squisher with all that brake $
  • 2 0
 @emptybe-er: Many of us choose to ride hardtails even though we could afford full suspensions.
  • 3 0
 @hardtailparty: I understand! It was just a bad dad joke. Seems like brakes keep getting cheaper but bikes are 10k for some reason. I remember paying like $250/wheel for the og Hayes brakes in the late nineties when the whole custom built bike was under $2,500.
  • 27 0
 False advertising they're grey not bronze. Major disappointment
  • 7 0
 The Hayes Dominon is more bronze than this
  • 23 1
 Like R but not, because they have swinglink which the R levers do not. I'm not complaining - if this means Sram have done away with non-swinglink levers that's amazing news.
  • 8 2
 Sram brakes without swingerlink are just unuseable
  • 2 0
 I was just saying the same thing. Good. So maybe just slightly heavier or uglier material to differentiate? That's fine.
  • 1 0
 @lwkwafi: I think also bushings instead of a bearing but it's not very clear
  • 3 0
 @DCF: yeah the bronze level have a bushing and the silver and ultimate have a bearing (I’ve had my hands on all three today)
  • 1 1
 So the R is now an RS except they already have an RS so they made it a bit lower quality and called it Bronze instead?
  • 1 0
 @DC1988:
Don't forget the awful hose routing too...
  • 10 1
 $370 for a set of the lowest tier brakes. I think if they included a set of 200mm rotors and bleed kit would make it a great value for a rider and offer a unique package for the home mechanic.
  • 10 0
 What kind of an update is this? Stop messing around and give us AXS braking.
  • 2 0
 Maybe it will be called Stoppers ?
  • 10 0
 Soon to be specced on kinda whatever bike.
  • 6 0
 The article says the Code Bronze replaces the R model and includes reach adjustment and swinglink. Wouldn’t that mean they replace the RS?
  • 5 0
 If it means the previous R is gone, it's great news.
  • 5 0
 I’m tempted… if only they had a slightly longer
Name, then I’d be going for my wallet. (Level bronze sram brake 4 piston stoppie thing cable inside the handlebar wtf)
  • 6 0
 Inventing rattling cables on your handlebar 2023
  • 5 0
 Do they still act as a horn when you use them?
  • 1 0
 No, but they do attract horny turkeys, so I assume they'll sell well amongst hunters
  • 18 14
 Maybe release some that are reliable instead.
  • 21 9
 This is SRAM, not Shimano
  • 22 9
 @nickfranko: yeah, shimano would have wandering bite point and 30 different ispec standards.
  • 21 16
 @Roost66: this urban legend is still present after years, from a bad batch of Shimano brake levers. Mostly "SRAM ONLY" users keeps it alive. While Shimano brake users are just happy with their brakes (not sponges).
  • 5 6
 @Roost66:

The Shimano wandering bite point is attribtued to an incomplete bleed. Watch the Greg Minnaar tutorial. If you do this to your shimano brakes, they are solid-as bruh

www.pinkbike.com/news/video-marshy-attempts-to-teach-greg-minnaar-how-to-bleed-brakes.html
  • 5 5
 @atiboa: Huh?
  • 10 6
 @atiboa: The conspiracy mind is fascinating. Are you telling the Pinkbike tech people they are wrong for it, too? Somehow their entry-level brakes are almost always solid, but the higher the price, the more varied the experience.
One could also say the idea that SRAM brakes fail is just as much of a "SHIMANO ONLY" conspiracy. Def some real shitty Guides back in the day, but I have definitely had more Shimano brakes f*ck my pads and rotors from leaking at the caliper while 0 SRAM have done that. But I am just a TRP fan boi, so what do it know?
  • 1 0
 @nickfranko: this would've been so on point, if only it were an article about anything besides brakes...
  • 5 0
 Gobble gobble gobble
  • 4 0
 Weird this isn’t a bixxer
  • 2 0
 I find it hilarious that the level is still using that caliper design - same exact one as I had on my Avid DB3's back in 2015.
  • 1 0
 Actually, bleed port is slightly different, my mistake. The previous level T brake caliper were exactly the same however.
  • 4 0
 lever pivots downgraded from potmetal bushings to recycled tar
  • 3 0
 In mountainbiking, there are five on the podium. Please bring on the fourth and fifth place brakes!
  • 5 1
 lol we definitely didn't need worse SRAM brakes
  • 3 0
 Are they mineral oil or DOT4?
  • 4 0
 Neither. DOT 5.1 (they accept DOT 4 also) Wink
  • 1 0
 They will never come close to the older Silver Avid Codes , Even Semenuk ( sram athlete ) was riding them on his rampage bike in that documentary he did , 2021
  • 2 0
 Budget version? How about addressing the reason why so many riders are opting for TRP
  • 3 0
 What a depressing name, don't you wanna feel like you bought a good bike?
  • 3 0
 It's like the iPhone SE: meant to persuade people to buy the more expensive stuff. I'm sure they'll release Silver ($497,97), Gold ($598,9Cool and Platinum Deluxe Ultra Turbo World Cup RS X 0.7 ($899,99) versions afterwards.
  • 1 1
 Nooooo I thought sram silver brakes were replacing the old r and we gain bite point adjust which makes their brakes at least somewhat usable, now we have to have shitty code brown brakes specced oem
  • 1 0
 What happened to the G2 series? Does it go from level straight to code now?
  • 3 5
 Maybe if they made a brake that worked for once they wouldn't have to keep rebranding....these are a step back in terms of aesthetics imo too. Go buy a set of hayes dominions or slx's for that matter and you'll never go back.
  • 1 0
 I'll stick to my shigura xt/mt5 setup. It works great and no toxic/caustic mess because I'm a total clutz... so that's nice.
  • 1 0
 Don't be so hard on yourself. Mt5 are some of the worst brakes to bleed on the market today. I used half a liter of mineral oil to bleed my brakes 2 times, unsuccessfully, due to leaking pistons. My wood floors look great... But I don't think spilling half a litre of mineral oil is great for the planet either.
  • 6 6
 Let’s take the crappiest brand of stoppers on the market and make a new budget line. Should market them for racers because they certainly won’t slow you down.
  • 2 0
 I feel like SRAM brakes have always been Bronze-tier tbh...
  • 2 0
 In a race with three contenders? Definitely.
  • 1 0
 Sorry to ask, are there any decent brakes out there? Quick poll...
  • 2 0
 Hope tech 4s Best brakes I've ever used.
  • 1 0
 Anything besides the best selling ones (SRAM and Shimano). Does it make sense? No.

So Hayes Dominion, Formula Cura, Trickstuff, Hope, Magura (except the levers), TRP, etc. They're all better but sell lower numbers.
  • 1 0
 Can hardly imagine uglier levers
  • 1 2
 Man I hope Devinci goes back to Rockshox for next year
  • 1 1
 same shit different day
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