Comments on: Review – 2009 Shimano Saint – DH and FR Mountain Bike Components

By: Troy

Troy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 03:35:42 +0000

The new Saints are definately the best damn cranks ever made!!! Insanely strong for how lightweight they are, I run ‘em on all my bikes now.

As far as brakes go, Avid all the way. Shimano has never been able to touch their brakes, everything from Saint to XTR is too spotty in their modulation. Aside from the Saints, they’re all pretty low-power too imo. Elixirs or Codes and you cant go wrong!

By: Doug Brummett

Doug Brummett — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 18:15:52 +0000

Yes, mtbr is an interesting place full of a wide variety of riders (from soft spoken racers to mouthy people who spend more time online than on their bikes). I think that the majority were coming off the usual suspects (m800 saints, juicy7, codes). Funny thing is every time in the last few years that mfgs have come out with powerful brakes there has usually been a major backlash over how poor the modulation is (code, formula, and brembo had this). I think that Hope Moto V2 and Magura Gustav are the only ones to make it out alive. Arguably a niche market, fighting with those heavy weights for bragging rights.

At any rate, do post back after some more miles. And/or if you decide to put resin pads or a mix of pads in for testing.

By: 198

198 — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 17:05:28 +0000

Doug…that could be…

I normally find pretty contrasting opinions between mtbr.com riders and racers. After posting this, I talked to a couple of guys I know and they are saying that the circuit is saying a lot of the same things I am about the brakes. I wonder what the gushers on mtbr rode before the Saints…

By: Doug Brummett

Doug Brummett — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:57:25 +0000

Interesting findings on the brakes. I have been lurking and reading up on them over at MTbeer. Everyone has been gushing on them saying way more power and tons of modulation. I ended up going with some code5 brakes for now, they work well and have decent modulation IMO. I think the majority of the modulation comes from the organic pads, because people gripe about codes having that on/off feeling with the metalic. Sounds like the saints could use the resin compound pads. That is likely the solution to both the noise and the overbite you are feeling…

By: 198

198 — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:22:13 +0000

I didn’t notice any significant fade. The braking ramps up so fast that it is difficult to apply 1/2 braking power. If they improve the modulation throughout the stroke of the brakes, then their incredible power would be more controllable. Overall weight is down over the previous generation. I would strongly consider using the cranks on an AM rig.

I would want to have the dual ring setup for AM applications.

By: andrew

andrew — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:17:45 +0000

How is the fade on the brakes? Is there even the slightest spot were it applys some braking force without locking up? How was the over all weight of the kit? Could it do a AM/DH rig?