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[brad890]

Has anyone here on hub bought or tried any of these disc brakes from clarks?

I've been reading mixed reviews on the internet, am wanting to use them or XC and marathon riding? anyone out there with any comments?

http://www.clarkscyc...sc-brake-system

http://www.chainreac...x?ModelID=47542

http://www.chainreac...x?ModelID=69601

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[Cav']

They look the part

[brad890]

Cavendish, on 10 August 2012 - 05:34 , said:

They look the part

ja they do, and they come in all sorts of different colors, but bling factor aside I want to know how well they work as brakes lol

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[2Nutz]

brad890, on 10 August 2012 - 05:32 , said:

Has anyone here on hub bought or tried any of these disc brakes from clarks?

I've been reading mixed reviews on the internet, am wanting to use them or XC and marathon riding? anyone out there with any comments?

http://www.clarkscyc...sc-brake-system

http://www.chainreac...x?ModelID=47542

http://www.chainreac...x?ModelID=69601

Checked them out once,was few mixed reviews.On the most part they got the
Some said they had ran hopes before & that these where betta,never had either so who knows.
But they still made in the U.K. & for the price & bling factor well worth a try,your word might even convince me to get a set for the HT

[2Nutz]

Here was the review ;
Ollie from United KingdomOwner 06 March 2010 14:33 Ive run 08 Hope M4s, 08 Formula Megas (ones with a two piece caliper really) and juicy 5's all with either 7 or 8 inch rotors! and in all honesty the power of these is comperable to those and yet a full set will set you back less than one of those ones, which is why i got some for my jump bike i'm building on a budget! quality is good, finish is obviously cheaper but not by much and the performance is as good! had them 2 weeks now and very impressed... i'll report back later but i'm struggling to see the point in buying expensive brakes now!!

[2Nutz]

Few not so happy More recent posts

Dan from United Kingdom 26 December 2010 20:54 I've gone through 3 of these brakes,ALL breaking.Firstly,I had oil leaking from the bottom of the caliper...Secondly,oil leaking from behind the pistons on my 2nd set and on my 3rd set (which one was brand new and the other I had repaired with new connectors) I found the fitments connecting to the main res on the bars was leaking fluid also.
Don't waste your money please.I wouldn't rate these half a star if I could but you have to give 1 star in order for review to be submitted. Save your cash for a little longer and buy some decent brakes,or if really stuggling go back to V-Brakes or Mechanical. Your foot on the back wheel like a school kid is more reliable than these Was this review helpful to you? YES NO 4 People out of 9 Found this review useful. Ian from United Kingdom Owner 29 May 2011 18:31 The workman ship of this brake is apalling! The lever has bite and reach adjustment on it which sounds great, and it would be if the bite adjustment screw didn't round off as soon as you tried to adjust it! (yes the correct allen key size was used). The actual caliper mount screws are also as hard as butter! Then when removing the brake from my bike the thing has developed a leak from the hose at the lever end covering me in DOT fluid! I cannot believe that a brake could be manufactured to such a poor level. I will never be buying a Clarks brake again and have sent mine back under Warranty. The old saying "If you buy cheap, you buy twice" most certainly applies here. Was this review helpful to you? YES NO 2 People out of 3 Found this review useful. NOT IMPRESSED!!!! from Australia Owner 19 April 2011 11:26 These brakes suck!!! DONT BUY THEM.....first time I used them, straight out of the box mind you, the pistons seized and pads locked on. After several bleeds there was no change. Dont waste your money, fork out a bit more cash and stick to Avid, Hayes or Shimano. Was this review helpful to you? YES NO 2 People out of 7 Found this review useful. Oliver from United Kingdom Owner 24 January 2012 20:39 I had read a lot of good reviews of these brakes, however I had heard from lots of different places that the workmanship and build quality was poor on many sets of these. I decided to bite the bullet and hope I would be lucky not to get a bad set. This wasn't the case.
Initially the brakes were good, nothing special in terms of power, but mine hadn't even broken in before faults developed.
On one of the brakes, the lever blade was very loose and had a lot of play in it. It rattled very loudly when commuting to work on the roads, let alone on the trails. This is clearly down to poor workmanship as when I removed the lever blade to see if I could fix it, the mounting hole in the blade was badly scratched and larger than and the other lever blade.
On the other brake the calliper leaked hydraulic DOT fluid resulting in a massive loss of power. I could pull the lever all the way back to the handle bars and this would not apply any force to the discs. On closer inspection I could tell that the fluid was leaking from behind the callipers and is due to poor workmanship and quality control.
The pad contact adjustment also didn't work on either brakes. This is due to the design of the contact adjustment. It is just a thin piece of metal that is bent to make a simple spring, however when the lever is depressed this spring is squashed and returns to it 'original' position with very little movement of the lever.
The reach adjustment pins also undialed themselves after 3 or 4 pulls of the levers.
Overall I would say these are very very poor brakes. Potentially even dangerous if they leak when you're riding, leaving you with no brakes at all. If Clarks made them to a higher standard they could be good, but that would bump up the price and probably why they aren't.
I returned these under warranty and was given a full refund and bought the Shimano Deore M596 brakes instead. They are the same price as the Clarks (although rotors and adaptors are extra) and are far better in every way. They are more powerful, and are made to a far higher standard. Get these instead of going through the hassle with the Clarks! Was this review helpful to you? YES NO 3 People out of 3 Found this review useful. Tallulah from United Kingdom Owner 16 February 2012 13:05 I was going to let these bed in before i left a review but its been 2 weeks now - around 120 miles (admittedly one week of that was in sub zero temperatures, but yeah) and they still haven't bedded in.

Getting them aligned and set up is a faff, they wouldn't align on my rigid fork at all (admittedly it was a bit close on my old brake) which solved my 'suspension fork or not' conundrum for me! The teeny tiny grub screws for reach and bite round off really easily and the bite adjuster does nothing.

I don't know if its a hydraulic vs cable thing but the general feel is nasty, no progression, just on or off. I bought this to replace an avid BB5 with a broken spring (after 3000 plus miles and 2 years of abuse) and i expected it to be an upgrade.

I'll be buying a BB5 as soon as i get paid. Was this review helpful to you? YES NO 0 People out of 1 Found this review useful. Anonymous from Australia Owner 12 October 2011 13:00 These brakes seemed pretty good for the money for about 9 months, then I needed to try and bleed my rear end. It simply isn't possible to return it to anything like as powerful as it was out of the box. It's an incredibly messy process and no matter how many times I re-bleed them the result is the same. I swear the bleed kit is pushing air into the line. I can get enough pressure in the system for the brakes to work but after about half an hour on the trail they're absolutely shot again and the lever pulls all the way into the grip. DO NOT buy these, they are rubbish and you'll regret it eventually. Was this review helpful to you? YES NO 0 People out of 2 Found this review useful. Lars from Denmark Owner 31 December 2011 18:44 just got the packet ( use to have sram x0 ) after 200 meter on my new MTB with the new clarks skeletal the front brake was empty of oil ( so no brake at all ) okay that i can repair ( extra cost to me in Denmark ) :-( i went riding only to use my rear brake. After 10 minutes on a rute i normal ride 4 times a week i had to stop... the brake power was not eaven 50% of my old sram x0 :-(

So dont buy this set waist of money.. Was this review helpful to you? YES NO Ken from Ireland Owner 18 June 2012 13:49 i got these to replace some avid mechanical discs i got a few years back. decided to go for the 203mm option, uprating from 180mm i had- totally not worth it! brake pads completely came off on the rear after less than 2 hours in he wet meaning my bike sounded like a train for the entire trek. had a loan of piston tool to put in the new pads (supplied) only to find now the rotor needs truing and there is a distinct "click click click" for half of every wheel rotation. now im operating it on 180mm rotors, it seems ok but still squeals like crazy if you try to stop at any speed. i just ordered some deores to replace them Was this review helpful to you? YES NO Anonymous from United Kingdom Owner 28 July 2012 17:23 At first these were great brakes until the pistons on the front brake failed and locked on. The back brake started leaking fluid too. These haven't even made it one year! shyte brakes. Better off paying a few more quid and getting a proper set! AVOID THESE BRAKES

[cpt armpies mayhem]

Those negative reviews were what led to me pulling the trigger on a set of elixir 5's...

[brad890]

2Nutz, on 10 August 2012 - 06:21 , said:

Here was the review ;
Ollie from United KingdomOwner 06 March 2010 14:33 Ive run 08 Hope M4s, 08 Formula Megas (ones with a two piece caliper really) and juicy 5's all with either 7 or 8 inch rotors! and in all honesty the power of these is comperable to those and yet a full set will set you back less than one of those ones, which is why i got some for my jump bike i'm building on a budget! quality is good, finish is obviously cheaper but not by much and the performance is as good! had them 2 weeks now and very impressed... i'll report back later but i'm struggling to see the point in buying expensive brakes now!!

thanks 2Nutz, ja I read all of the CRC reviews and some people loved them, some hated them.

was hoping that someone here on the all knowing hub had tried them out, as I'm REALLY tempted to get myself a pair, the magura Louise bat brakes that I have have just been giving me continuous problems, from leaking hoses, to now a cracked front caliper which I'm now going to use as an excuse to get myself something else

[brad890]

cptmayhem, on 10 August 2012 - 06:32 , said:

Those negative reviews were what led to me pulling the trigger on a set of elixir 5's...

I've heard the elixir's can also be high maintenance sometimes? and sometime under-perform especially if not bleed properly?

[cpt armpies mayhem]

Get yourself a set of slx brakes. I'm an Avid fan, but the slx are hard to beat...

[brad890]

cptmayhem, on 10 August 2012 - 06:41 , said:

Get yourself a set of slx brakes. I'm an Avid fan, but the slx are hard to beat...

the SLX brakes are other brakes I'm also looking at, and have also heard good things about them, but need to think about it and see if I can stretch my budget a little.

[PeterF]

Hi Brad

My son has the Clarks Skeletal's on his BMC.  I actually bought them to use on a singlespeed that I was planning on building, but did not get very far.  The brakes look far better than they perform.  They are pretty much budget brakes, after a short while they start rattling quite a bit, and the reach adjust bolt keeps on turning itself out, sorted by a bit of loctite though.  In terms of stopping power I suppose that they are not too bad.  Anyway my 13 year old son thinks they are cool.

[cpt armpies mayhem]

brad890, on 10 August 2012 - 06:52 , said:

the SLX brakes are other brakes I'm also looking at, and have also heard good things about them, but need to think about it and see if I can stretch my budget a little.

Afaik, there are specials on crc & merlin cycles atm. Check them out...

[brad890]

PeterF, on 10 August 2012 - 07:00 , said:

Hi Brad

My son has the Clarks Skeletal's on his BMC.  I actually bought them to use on a singlespeed that I was planning on building, but did not get very far.  The brakes look far better than they perform.  They are pretty much budget brakes, after a short while they start rattling quite a bit, and the reach adjust bolt keeps on turning itself out, sorted by a bit of loctite though.  In terms of stopping power I suppose that they are not too bad.  Anyway my 13 year old son thinks they are cool.

thank you for the reply that's the kind of info I'm looking for

so guessing you wouldn't recommend them for a 6ft 83kg person then?

[2Nutz]

Ye bro maybe just go with shimano,even the deore pretty good for like 520ea,slx next best & the 2011 Xt seem to b the beezneez for 2k.
Think i saw SLX the main lineup for next year,taking over XT's role in the budget department.

[2Nutz]

Shimano Deore M596 Disc Brake
Avg: 4.8/5 Read Reviews
From 488.94 ZAR