Braking Roundup: Mavens, Saints, and Dominions

Last week Andrew beat me to the punch with his musings on the future of high-powered brakes. So if you’re looking for bold predictions for the future, along with some commentary on the state of the market, give that piece a gander.

What we have here is a more traditional comparison piece, directly pitting three market leaders head to head. When the SRAM Maven was initially announced this February I’d had a few weeks of proper riding on them, but not enough time for a full review. So now, after a few more months, and a bunch more miles, we’ve got a proper update, along with full comparisons to the most powerful stoppers from Hayes and Shimano.

Why these three brakes?

It’s a wonderful time to be a mountain biker in search of powerful brakes. There are so many excellent options on the market. But to keep this piece wieldy, I thinned down the herd to the new SRAM Maven, the Hayes Dominion A4, and the venerable Shimano Saint. It’s a classic SRAM vs. Shimano battle, with a wildcard entry. I chose the Dominion as that wildcard for a few reasons. First, it’s excellent. Second, anecdotally, it’s the brake I’m seeing most often out in the wild on bikes built for big descents. That’s no dig on Magura, TRP, Hope, or any of the other brands making excellent brakes, but scope creep must be managed, so this is where I ended up.

I’ve used all three brake systems with 200/203 mm rotors front and rear, and sintered pads on my REEB STEEZL. I’ve also been using each brake system separately on other bikes on a variety of trails from chill XC wanders to sustained shuttled DH rides.

Review: SRAM Mavens

After a few more months on the Mavens, I’m still absolutely besotted. These brakes are excellent. I stand by everything I said in that first look piece. They feel smooth, intuitive, and so powerful.

That smooth lever feel does come with a caveat though: SRAM recommends a “piston massage” procedure during setup. Do it. If you don't, your brakes might feel really stiff. After nearly five months of riding, the lever feel on my Mavens is lighter than the action on my wife’s year-old set of Code Ultimates. I have had zero lever stiffness issues. No, they’re not quite as light as the Dominion, but they’re completely adequate for my sensitive fingers.

On the trail, two things really stand out to me with the Maven. First, they manage heat really well. I’ve noticed significantly less fade, inconsistency, and noise on long sustained descents than with either of the other options. They just plain work, and keep working, even when the trail continues to plummet.

Second, I’m going to have to eat some crow here: I have never related to SRAM’s “more modulation” claims on any other set of their brakes. I’m a big dude who is not that good at braking, and SRAM’s “modulation” on Codes too often translated into “why can’t I get the wheel to lock dammit!?” on the trail. The Maven lives up to that hype though. I feel more in control with this brake on committing moves, off-camber slabs, and generally scary trails than I do with the Saint or Dominion.

When I get to ride trails well above my paygrade, chasing really competent riders, the Maven is by far the most confidence inspiring brake on this list. When I’m in a make or brake situation, it delivers the best connection between my fingers and my tires that I’ve found. It’s really good. If (when?) I build up a DH bike, it’s getting Mavens and 220 mm rotors.

Other Considerations

While the Maven doesn’t render the Code “unrideable” it is interesting to see Mavens popping up on bikes like the new Stumpjuper . Are Mavens with 200 mm rotors on a 145 mm trail bike overkill? Probably, but they’re dang fun!

Although I haven’t had to bleed the Mavens again after initial set-up, SRAM’s bleed fittings and procedure is excellent, and the best out of the three options here. The Maven’s cockpit integration is good and I like the ergonomics. SRAM would prefer that you use their post mount adaptors, but a dremel is always your friend if not. For my preferences at least, the Bronze version gives up very little to the Ultimate version. Finally, it doesn’t actually matter, but I like 200 mm rotors, and so does SRAM . I’ve also had better luck keeping rotors rub-free in the Maven than in either of the other two brakes.

Review: Hayes Dominion A4

Before the Maven was released, the Hayes Dominion A4 was my favorite option on the market, and they’re still excellent. That lever feel is so light, it almost feels like a fly-by-wire system. I could very happily ride Dominions on every bike for the rest of my life and be just fine. That said, there are a few places where I think there’s room for improvement.

First, I’ve had a couple situations where the rear brake has developed a loud shuddering sensation. Both times involved an IS/post mount brake adaptor, but I haven’t had this issue with other brakes on the same adaptor. I’m not sure if it’s a resonance issue or something, but it’s disconcerting.

That light lever feel is So. Dang. Good. Most of the time. But I do think that the Dominion gives up a slight edge in control on lower-speed moves where maintaining traction is an absolute necessity. It’s easy to adapt to, but with the Maven I feel a touch more controlled when my heart is in my throat and I’m trying not to think about the exposure. This is fully a personal preference thing though.

The Dominion doesn’t have any sort of contact point adjustment. Instead, they’re pretty instant, which I like, but some may not.

Other Considerations

In terms of compatibility, the Dominion is great if you like to run discrete clamps for all your controls, and a bit of a pain if you don’t. You’ll also need to make sure that your post mount adaptors clear the caliper. The Hayes bleed kit feels the least refined of the three, I don’t like the metal-on-metal interface of the bleed fittings, and much prefer to use a SRAM DOT fluid bleed kit on them.

The Dominion’s hoses are thicker than the other options here - Hayes says it helps keep them more efficient and consistent. That said, they’re a little harder to push through some internally routed channels than other brakes. Not a big deal, but a reminder of how great externally routed brakes are.

The Dominion’s “crosshair” caliper centering system is cool in theory, but I don’t really find myself using it. And it seems like that smooth, light, instant engagement comes at the expense of some piston rollback - I’ve had more issues keeping the Dominion rub-free than either of the other brakes.

Those are all minor niggles, but they do help explain why I gravitate toward the Maven in some situations.

Review: Shimano Saints

Saints are venerable and still excellent, the elder statesman of the braking world. As I wrote recently, I’m still very much a fan of these brakes. That said, they are ripe for an update.

In my experience they handle prolonged descents and big temperature gains the worst of these three brakes. They start to feel inconsistent the soonest, and get a bit of a spongy feel occasionally. They’re also the loudest, not in terms of pad-on-rotor noise, but with their caliper rattle and the variety of interesting noises the finned Icetech rotors make, it’s a bit of a symphony.

Their lever feel is very similar to the broken-in Maven - not quite as light as the Dominion, but plenty adequate. And their ramp up to power feels similar as well. They maybe offer a little better modulation at low speeds than the Dominion, but it’s not a marked difference.

Other Considerations

I wish Shimano’s cockpit integration was better - even when I have the correct generation of adaptors, they don’t feel quite as refined as SRAM’s system. And I do appreciate swappable levers, which Shimano doesn’t have.

I haven’t experienced the notorious wandering Shimano bite point on the Saints, and I do really like their bleed system. I’ve had finicky non-Saint Shimano brakes, but being able to just crank out a quick cup-only lever bleed and resolve any issues is quite nice. They work with standard post mount adaptors, and pads are readily available pretty much anywhere.

For Now

All three of these options are excellent, and I would be quite pleased to run any of these brakes on any gravity-focused bike. None of them “hold me back” or handicap my riding in any real way, but they do have their strengths and weaknesses.

This spring I’ve found that on scary, feature-heavy trails where the focus is on riding everything clean, as opposed to riding fast, the Maven is my clear preference. It feels safer, more controlled, and plenty powerful. On faster, more familiar trails, there’s much less of a divide though, and all three brakes hold their own.

Over the last five months, I’ve probably spent the most time riding the Maven and the least time fiddling with them. I’ve found the Dominion and Saint to be a little more fiddly in terms of getting a good bleed and keeping them noise-free. Neither has been especially frustrating, but it’s been awesome to spend more time on the trail, and less time in the garage, with the Maven.