Remarkably, BIKEmagic member Kevin Fairclough seems to have scooped the world with his review of the new Shimano disc brake system

The time had come and I needed a new front wheel and had decided to go for the XT disc hub on Mavic 517s and while I was ordering the guy asked if I wanted the brake to go with it as he had just got some in. So I thought for a millisecond and obviously said yes.

Fitting was a doddle on my RST Mozo Pros only needing a 0.2 mm shim (supplied) on each caliper mounting and just the six bolts on the disc and the bolt locking plates to bend over. So I was ready to try it out and was a little disappointed that there was very little retardation at first but realised that the pads obviously needed some bedding in. So I went further afield and after a few miles and a few slowing-downs noticed a big difference. After some 25 miles the brake started to work really well, beyond expectations even. Now obviously I expected it to work well but the stopping power is just awesome, not in the “stick in the spokes” way that my XT V-brakes work but far more controllable and “feelable”. The amount of stopping power by just feathering in the lever so that the leading pistons operate allows gentle slowing-down but by pulling a bit more the main trailing pistons operate and then you just stop but with no dramatics or wheel locking.Basically I am astounded by the stopping power of this set-up and would recommend them to anyone (and no I don’t work for Shimano) although I haven’t done an “epic” yet to be able to test the fade or lack of it hopefully.