Review: Lewis LHT Ultimate Brakes - Clones or Contenders?

With fully machined surfaces, titanium fasters and ceramic pistons, Lewis has gone all in manufacturing the LHT Ultimates. The lever design boasts two patent-pending designs: a slick bite-point adjustment, as well as the option to change the lever pull ratio. Lewis even has their own laser cut rotors, brake pads, and CNC’d brake adaptors (all sold separately).

At just $509 USD, they aren't cheap, but they do cost half the price of the Trickstuff Maximas. Does that make them twice as good though?




Features and Specs

As much as the LHT brakes resemble the Maximas in appearance, they’ve implemented more adjustments and lavish materials. The two-piece 7075 T6 aluminum caliper uses titanium fasteners to hold them together. Inside, you’ll find 17mm titanium ceramic-coated pistons help to keep the weight down, compared to stainless steel. They maximize the surface area to up the power and dissipate more heat over their smaller caliper which uses two sets of 14 and 17mm pistons.

The svelte, direction-specific levers are where the real action happens though. First, the lever-throw can be adjusted without a tool by the knurled barrel, but inside that hides a bite-point adjustment screw as well - the first patent-pending feature. While that requires a 2mm allen key, Lewis provides its own tool to change when the pads contact the rotor. I was able to fit the provided 2mm barrel adjuster tool into the tight space by depressing the lever.

Additionally, there’s the ratio adjustment, which is the second patent-pending feature on the LHT Ultimates. By loosening the set screw on the lever pivot, the pivot location can be rotated within a small 360-degree window by loosening a grub screw, altering the progression of the lever. This is similar to the Formula Feeling Control System.

The difference in positions makes the brake engage early and more consistently throughout the lever stroke, or much softer with increasing pressure. I preferred the linear position for less free-stroke and a more positive feel throughout the lever pull.

Furthermore, the "no oil-loss" lever and hose make for routing the line with less mess and the split-clamp lever is available with a MatchMaker compatible mounting bracket.

The first set of LHTs I tried used a steel-braided hose, but due to the larger outer diameter, they’ve reverted to a nylon-coated, kevlar hose. Those arrived in lengths of 1000mm for the front and 1600mm for the rear, which was just long enough for the basic routing found on my Ibis HD6 test bike. The Kevlar hoses also drop the weight and are available in longer lengths upon request. For the record, I had no issue fitting the steel-braided line through Ibis’ HD6 internal routing, however, other frames may use tighter guides.

As for the brake pads and rotors, Lewis produces those as well. The TP-40 pads use their own sintered metallic compound but are the same shape as Hope Tech’s V4 caliper, which have been historically easy to source. The 12-spoke rotors incorporate a densely perforated design with chamfered edges for less ear-piercing noises, but more importantly, they use a rust-preventative electrophoretic paint. At 2.3mm thick, the 420-stainless steel rotors come in 180, 200, and 220mm sizes and are fixed by the 6-bolt pattern only.


Price and Weight

Compared to SRAM's Code RSC brakes, one of the benchmark brakes on the market, which cost $528 USD, the Lewis LHT ultimate are nearly equal in weight and price. Titanium isn’t a cheap material and that drives up the cost of the LHT Ultimates compared to the standard version of the brake, but the fancy material does save weight where steel is normally used.

Additional components like the sintered metallic pads and rotors cost $13.90 and $29.50-32.50 USD. As for taxes, customs and duties, I can’t speak to those because these were a sample set, however, Lewis is actively seeking worldwide distributors which should alleviate any extra charges.

Placing the LHTs on the scale shows the caliper and master cylinder weighs 301g with a 1600mm brake hose, including oil. One set of sintered, metallic brake pads weighs 35g, a set of six titanium rotor bolts is 15g, and the adaptors plus bolts weigh 72g per end. SRAM’s Code RSC brakes come in at 294g with a 1000mm line and brake pads installed, excluding hardware.

The rotors are quite a bit heftier with the 200x2.3 mm size weighing 252g which is about 50g more than SRAM’s similarly sized HS2.


Installation

The Lewis LHT Ultimate brakes arrived in branded and well secured packaging along with all of the necessary hardware and bleed funnel.

Starting with the front brake, installation went fairly smoothly. I ran into a minor issue where I least expected it, though. The bar clamp was a little finicky to properly catch the threads on the underside and the screw bottomed out before clamping down on a set of OneUp Carbon bars. Lewis usually includes a rubber pad that integrates into the bar clamp to prevent slipping but this was absent in the package I received. I never experienced that issue on other test bars, but I also never ran into that problem with other brakes on the handlebar either. There’s no need to point fingers but it’s worth noting that brakes with a dual bolt brake clamp, such as Formula, and Magura, do a much better job of dissipating the load on the handlebar versus the hinged clamp design.

When it came time to trim the front brake hose, I had difficulty removing the hose barb without destroying it. Lewis now supplies one additional barb and olive per brake to avoid any frustration removing the barb. Installing the rear line, even with the braided option at the time, went smoothly and didn’t require any trimming for the size 3 Ibis HD6 and 770 mm wide bars. A longer bike or wider handlebar may require a hose greater than 1600 mm. Lewis offers these options and should be specified at the time of purchase.

The calipers arrived with plastic bleed blocks inserted and the pads in a separate zip-lock bag. The supplied brakes arrived with a slot head brake pad retention pin, which makes the process slightly annoying as the tool wiggles out of the keyway. Lewis says that this has been updated to a 3mm Allen key bolt head now. I noticed that the rotor bolts were not prepped with any Loctite and added the liquid for peace of mind.

The bleed process is fairly straightforward and uses a similar method to Shimano brakes with the gravity-fed bleed funnel (or syringe) threaded into the master cylinder and a rag or syringe to catch the fluid at the caliper end. I did manage to get a much firmer bleed on the second set of brakes when I used a universal syringe to pull air from the caliper. Lewis does show an instructional video on their YouTube channel for guidance.

Once they were up and running to my liking, I never observed any oil loss, rattly brake pads, unwinding of the lever controls, or any other mechanical concerns.


Performance

After conducting a proper pad brake-in, I had full confidence in the LHT Ultimate brakes. Becoming familiar with the leverage and power came relatively swiftly and naturally by conducting a few stoppies and skids in the parking lot.

On the trail, the lever functionality delivers power with a light action and a long blade, similar to TRP’s DHR Evo brakes. The pivot is closer to the bar though, which reminded me somewhat of the shape and positioning of SRAM’s Code lever.

Regarding the lever adjustment screws, I wound the bite point all the way out for the earliest engagement and found there was tons of room to adjust the throw. Although the brakes are supplied with a tool to adjust the bite point, it would be time consuming to adjust this on the trail due to the narrow window to fit a multitool in. I prefer to position the handlebar clamp very close to the grip collar to maximize the handlebar width. There could be a limit for some riders, who prefer an even further outboard hand position due to the reach adjustment hitting the grip clamp.

As for the ratio adjustment, there is ample tuning available. When the dot on the pivot is aligned towards the oval shaped markings, furthest from the handlebar, the braking power is more linear. That engages the pads relatively quickly and with little effort.

With the pivot arranged closer to the bar, or matched with the rectangular marking, the lever is more progressive. This increases the overall power, but requires pulling the lever fairly far through the stroke in order to initiate that power.

Either position delivers predictable braking and doesn't switch on too suddenly. I preferred the most linear setting for a more positive, crisper lever feel and quick pad contact.

The trails in Squamish and across the North Shore are some of the best places to test brakes due to the big elevation drops on consistently steep grades. Throughout the review, I never experienced any brake fade, wandering bike point issues, or excessive squealing during wet rides either.


Durability

Extensive material has been removed from the lever assembly and although I never experienced any bending or snapped components, the handlebar clamp does look like the most fragile aspect. Implementing a handlebar clamp with a dual bolt design could deliver adequate grip without needing to over-torque the band clamp and induce any pinch points on the bar itself.

Otherwise, I never experienced any oil loss, lack of power or sticky piston scenarios either. Once bled sufficiently, the brakes retained their power well and withstood hanging vertically from a bike rack for days at a time.

As for the rotors and brake pads, they seem to be going strong and have lots of life left despite prolonged wet and muddy descents.


How do they compare?

Are they identical to the Trickstuff’s Maxima brakes? Well, they don’t have quite the equivalent power. Does this just come down to the difference between the pads and rotors of the Maximas then? It seems it’s not quite as straightforward as that.

Despite playing with the pivot point of the LHT Ultimates, the Lewis brakes didn’t produce an equal initial bite or top-end power. Even with the LHT pivot placed in the most progressive setting, reflecting the arrangement of the non-adjustable Trickstuff lever, the power is strong, but still slightly less than the Maximas. I also switched the friction components (pads and rotors) between the brake sets, which increased the bite of the LHT brakes and lowered the Maximas. Rattly brake pads are a nuisance, and that is one aspect of the Maxima that I noticed immediately. Luckily it was isolated to just one caliper. The LHT Ultimates on the other hand, never made a peep.

SRAM's Code RSC are decent bang for your buck but they don't have the most responsive feel. They can be too linear, delivering power suddenly and not ramping up much, even when you pull harder and harder on the lever. The LHTs have a much lighter lever action that provides a more progressive feel for roughly the same price.

It’s also unsurprising to learn that the LHTs require less force to pull than the new SRAM Mavens. I’ve only had a few rides on the heavy duty stoppers from team red, but so far they are impressively strong, yet function totally different from the LHTs. The main separation is again, the light lever action that the Lewis brakes provide, with the trade off being more travel to hit the brake pad bite point.

When measuring overall power, though, the Mavens win this category even with the LHTs in the most progressive setting. I wouldn’t say that the LHTs ever caused any issues down prolonged steeps, but once engaged, the Mavens do make slowing down less stressful.

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Pinkbike's Take