Describe your brake upgrade experience

Shimano XTR Race on my RIP (finned pads for extra "cool" factor .. pun intended). Have had these for 3.5 years and zero issues, no maintenance other than pads. I like the quick grab feel of the race version.

Magura MTS (made for Specialized version of MT5's I believe). These were spec'd on my HT Stumpy and I did like them until I got my XTRs. Levers are huge and they feel weak compared to my Shimano's. Looking to replace with XT/XTRs, whatever is on sale. I'm actually looking to replace these before embarking on my SS conversion for this bike.

The Maguras were my first set of disk brakes so not much else other than the crap that came on my 90's bikes which I don't even remember.

 

Haha...V-brakes. I bought the XT's when they came out from Supergo. They blew my mind when I first used them. They killed the cantilevers they replaced. The last new set I saw went on an old Klein that was brought in for some TLC.

I remember reading in MBA saying that they worked so well...why go disc?

 

Deore canti's - came off soon as I could scrape up the cash for v's

XT v-brakes - decent brakes, kept me alive. Still have that same pair.

Hayes Mags - solid, reliable, consistent brakes. Not the best power but good enough.

Misc formula and avid brakes - Would work ok for a while. Lots of noise, lots of bleeding, and random loss of pressure or would pull to the bar right after bleeding. The dark ages of brakes.

XT / Zee discs - reliable, consistent, cheap. Being so easy to bleed and no dot4 is the biggest seller.