Shimano Saint Disc Brakes

The Shimano “SAINT” groupset is Sh!tmano’s no compromise, strength and stiffness over weight groupset, aimed at heavy freeriders and DH racers. The cranks can be seen on both my bikes, and just about any body who is serious about going large, the hubs are pretty good too, as is the front and rear mechs + stubbie levered shifters…. but all that stuff is for propelling you forward… what about when you need to stop? (picture from RideSaint.com)

THE STORY OF THE STOPPAGE, AND THE NOT SO....
I’ve had numerous brake systems on the Chameleon, starting with Hope Minis (old style) and the Mono M4 system. I bought the M4’s for two reasons: More power and looks - they do just look so damned good, don’t they ?

About a year ago, when I decided to give this DH lark a go, I built myself up an Orange Patriot for messing on. I wanted to avoid M4’s again, as I’d had no end of trouble with them on the Chameleon (I’d upgraded the hoses, replaced seals, replaced Pistons, replaced bore caps, and the damn things still wouldn’t work reliably), I didn’t particularly like the feel of Hayes (on/off) and Magura Gustavs are just plain weird, with all that floating calliper business (Work very well though). These also came in slightly cheaper than all of the above too, so I thought I was on to a winner.

REVIEW OF THE STOPPAGE
I rode a full season (numerous races and lots of practise/mess about days) on these anchors, and for the first time, I could just get on with worrying what I was riding over, not about whether my brakes will work or not. Riding that bike was a pure joy (helped no doubt by it’s rear end!). Their sleek 2-pot mono bodied calliper hides an amazing amount of power and control. I got on with them so well, I binned the Hopes on the Chameleon and stuck some of these on, and I’ve not looked back.

While they don’t have quite the modulation of an M4 (there’s only so much you can do with only 2 pistons!), the power (and I know I’m opening a can of whoop ass with this) shames the Hopes. In all fairness, they shame the Mono 6Ti too.

CONTROL OF THE STOPPAGE
Controlling the power is a little bit of a handful to start with, (my dad jumped on my bike to ride it up the drive and almost came off after grabbing a fistful, which was highly giggleworth!) But you soon learn where the feather point is, and I was following a guy down Mortimer Forest today where his back wheel was locking but mine just kept rolling. (Yup-means you actually have more traction and don’t create braking bumps fellas)

I now have complete confidence to ride with the brakes off (anyone riding behind me will testify!) knowing when I need the stoppage, it’s there in great big crate loads.

RELIABILITY OF THE STOPPAGE
I’ve still not had to touch the Saints on my DH bike (now the wonderful Gemini), and have only changed the pads due to contamination!

OK, SO NOW YOU WANT TO FIT THEM TO YOUR BIKE, RIGHT?
Tis worth noting that Shimano don’t do pre-assembled systems like Hope and just about everybody else.

Sold as: Calliper + Disc + 2 sets of pads (yes, that’s 2!) + levers + hose and oil.

Ok it’s a pain, but it does mean this: you have ultimate choice over what lever you want (Cheap as Deore, as good as the specific Saint Levers, or even floppy shi(f)t, if you’re that perverted). It does mean that you can get the correct length hose, and get it routed through your frame if you have a Orange or something that routes the hose through the swing arm.
The Standard hose is also excellent, better than other hoses on other systems, but Goodridge is so tarty ;)

Fitting the calliper is an absolute doddle thanks to the one post mount style calliper with adaptor affair, eliminating the need to get your mounts faced if your fork is I.S. and allows for a bit of scope if you’ve bent your rotors like me :D

Only downside with these brakes is the limited Rotor sizing; they only come in 203mm mega-stoppage size or 160mm “My rotor is smaller than yours” size. However, if you can source a suitable 180mm rotor, you can buy a rear 160mm calliper+mount set and run it as a front 180mm as long as you have I.S. Mounts. (I.S. mounts are 10mm closer to the dropout on the rear than they are on the front!) Shimano and Hope make adaptors to allow you to fit a 20mm bigger disc to your I.S. setup, so you can run a 180 rear like me. They also currently only offer the supplied rotors in Oversized Centerlock fitting, which means you can only sling em on Saint hubs, or various other “freeride/DH” hubs made by companies such as DT Swiss and Sun Ringle. I think Mavic also do hubs to suit too. Ok so the rotor situation sucks, but Sh!mano are reported to be offering more options for 2007 so sit tight!

TO SUM UP THE STOPPAGE:

• Saints are THE best brakes I’ve used.
• Hayes are great, but are a little to on/off for me, and the cheaper HFX’s have a habit of breaking.
• Hopes just dick around with you (ducks salvos from Farqui and Rob – sorry guys)
• Avid are great, but have a habit of breaking, full stop.