SRAM Maven Bronze Review

[@avastmick]

Love the editing of the “soft hands” comments and riding shots wearing dainty pink gloves. Nice touch.

[@RedRockMTB]

Good review. Mavens have worked awesome for me. I can often get in over my head and the confidence these provide when I do are 👌

[@rafaelespinoza]

NO problems at all with mine! More than six months in a YT decoy and they can calm that monster down in an instant. Just bought a new Tues and swapped the db8 for them. Incredible, had to downsize to 200mm rotors. Best bang for your buck.

[@finroddd]

very good review and one valuable insight - it is not the initial lever pull that is causing arm-pump. It is the last part of the pull - with some levers one should squeeze them as crazy in order to stop and this excessive effort is causing the arm-pump.

[@MTBCoop]

You got soft hands, brother! Soft hands. Great chat as always!

[@gpearce11]

I definitely agree that the number of heavy lever bad reviews vs. overall positive reviews does imply that it's a minor issue at best for most people. That said, I will admit the recent Loam Wolf review gives me pause. While they did briefly mention the lever weight, their biggest issue was that 5 of their 6 pairs suffered with reliability issues. Considering that I'm a really big and heavy guy, I'd have no issue adapting to a heavy lever, but I also need something I can trust.

[@SnowShackboy]

I’ve got a test group of 2 between my father and I. We’ve been on the Maven Ultimate LTDs for a few months now and they’ve been absolutely fantastic. The initial set up and bleed was super easy. The piston massage was kinda a pain but I did it once and they’ve been great since. Using them is great and yes, the lever feel is a harder pull for sure. That said I barely have to pull them to get a lot of braking power. They don’t fade on long descents too so I can squeeze an even amount all the way down. Overall we are pretty stoked on them.

[@MrSupermugen]

Loam guys had air in the caliper.... The review is void instantly if they cant setup products properly....

[@gpearce11]

@@MrSupermugen On the one hand, yeah, maybe. On the other hand, if people who literally ride and review MTBs for a living struggle to make them work reliably, I honestly don't love my own chances.

[@stv9042]

@@gpearce11exactly, I don’t expect I can tune and bleed brakes better than loam wolf guys, so how the hell would I get a better result than them?

[@MrSupermugen]

@@gpearce11 just because they ride mtb for a living doesnt mean anything.... But Its a simple thing to resolve so not sure why people either refuse to do it or puts them off.. It's funny as i've had countless issues with TRP's, so many warrantied calipers, some will never balance etc... but Vacuuming a maven caliper is the problem... lol.

[@budddy1]

I just ordered these to replace my g2's. If the contact adjustment really gets to me, I can swap the levers for shimano. Cant wait to try them out!

[@Seebema]

My man thank you. Couldn't agree more, absolute powerhouse brake.

[@mtbextreme01]

i got the chance to feel the levers of these on that exact same bike in a bike shop and compared them to the feel of codes and it is unexplainably how amazing good they felt. I think people just tend to hate on anything they can these days

[@FOTB407]

Maybe diff things work for diff ppl?

[@mtbextreme01]

@@FOTB407 very true. also didn't test them much

[@mikecox135]

I have the Maven Ultimate, the stopping power is great but brake contact point seems to vary, rear at one time sucked a bunch of air and needed to be bled, the front is fairly consistent but the rear i m struggling with i have bled in multiple ways but while riding its a double pump to get it in the spot it gives you comfort but its like that every other corner you get it pumped up and feeling ok then have along straight you better be double pumping to get it to engage. for the money i paid vs the maintenance i have had to do i cant say I'm thrilled with them.

[@johndef5075]

My XT 4 pots have been flawless. With none of the wandering bite point bs. All the power I will need.

[@testtesttesttesttest884]

Why are we accepting so much work to get these things going when we have things like hope brakes out there

[@DC13333]

You keep buying it.. 😂. Some of you people also like getting whipped that's on you.

[@abelbankuti901]

Because these are less than half the price of hope brakes

[@fen2453]

Especially when Saints still exist

[@lexusstefan927]

Hopes aren't as powerfull as these, my absolute favorite pair of brakes ever and I'll keep mine forever but I have put on Shiguras for few months and they've been amazing power wise, honestly wish hopes had more of that initial grunt just like a moto brake does

[@michaelgoodwin593]

I have the new tech 4 v4 on one bike and love them. But not as much as I love the new code rsc ultimates, which I have on another bike. I prefer srams, hope that's OK. 😮

[@maffin2917]

The thing with the arm fatigue depends on how one Brakes and how the terrain is. On the maven you have a high leverage that turns the pull of the finger into braking power. On the other hand you need to pull harder on the lever to get the lever moving. Compared to a hayes Dominion for example, witch has 15% less leverage but very light freestoke, you need to brake hard and short with the maven to have less fatigue. When you brake light and longer the Dominion will be less fatiguing. I assume you have to pull with more than 4kg to have the Maven be better than a Dominion. (unfortunately I dont have a Lab to test it out) I belive a Brake with a very light freestroke and a high leverage ratio would be optimal. Maybe there will be ways to tune the Maven for a lighter freestroke in the future.

[@justin_niemi]

Overall I think the brakes work well, but compared to other options out there I find myself having far more arm pump on sustained DH trails where I’m braking a lot.

[@eaze7324]

Maybe its possible to replace the lever spring to a lighter one?

[@tst09]

I've made the mistake and bought maven ult, I won't believe all the bad reviews but they are all true. They have ultimate power but my hands are tooo soft, also no consistant bite point. So I'am back on my hope V4, much better brake.

[@skankwave5245]

Whats your take on the TRP-Evo? I feel like those and Dominions are the best out there when they are working proper just by looking at what people value

[@briancahal]

Still probably my favorite brake. Not as much power as the Maven but is probably a more well rounded package for most situations.

[@Cassienope]

A4s win for light lever feel, TRP DHR evos have been pretty set and forget. But I have not been able to make them feel as good as the A4s. However, A4s were on a 36 lbs bike and TRPs were on the same bike and an eBike. It's possible it's the extra eBike weight I am feeling.

[@tommyg611]

I've got the same stumpy 15 expert and am going to try running a 180mm rotor on the front to calm the power down a little bit

[@noControl556]

I got to find something, these DB8's are getting dangerous when pointed downhill. I tagged a tree and the lever bent like hot butter and no way to replace just the lever blade and it's just folded stamped aluminum so you can't bend it back either, have to replace the whole lever assembly for $70+ just to pull the lever off. Since it's both mineral oil can the Mavens use the same brake hoses as the DB8's? I can swap them and bleed no problem but not looking to re-run the rear hose on a full suspension ebike

[@budddy1]

Depends on the type of hose used. If you have a double compression fitting on the rear caliper, you should be able to use the same brake hose.

[@danytheunicorn95]

Maguras for me but hey, im glad sram has improved

[@MarkusFinholt]

If you could choose a brake to come with your new bike, with price not mattering, would you choose the DH-R, or mavens?

[@briancahal]

Tough question. Maybe still lean towards the DHR evo but it would be close.

[@waldchiller4695]

Have Maven Silver. Insane Power. Bolts were not torquerd correctly on the caliper. Otherwise no issues. Brake way less and shorter thant with other brakes.

[@leomartinez1213]

So how long would you say a new bleed lasts?

[@briancahal]

I mean probably depends but in this case I'm still on the stock bleed on the front brake. The rear hasn't needed any attention besides the first bleed.

[@matth8924]

Overkill is under-rated

[@mravocadoman2999]

It’s sick they work and pretty cool to finally see Sram putting out a brake that does what it has always needed to do. I just think we shouldn’t be giving all props to sram without acknowledging the fact that they have been making trash entry level components for the past however long. Sure, mavens are sick but why did it take them that long? I mean how is a company not ashamed to make stuff like G2’s or Levels?

[@marcobribiesca9697]

Try the doninion a4...

[@lukassebian]

I see you're on some Schwalbes. Is there a review coming out on those at some point, too?

[@briancahal]

Yup riding the radials at the moment. Pretty interesting, impressed so far.

[@aaronblonden6774]

​@briancahal immediately went all in and bought Albert's for a couple bikes. Pnw dream tire. Have a shredda front too but by god is it overkill. Have heard a rear on the front backwards is secret sauce.

[@323johnnybravo]

The hand pump on these is brutal, the floating grab point is horrible. Stick to TRP or Shimano and save yourself the headache.

[@asifitmatters1]

Sorry to disagree but SRAM delivered a massive pile of horse crap! When over 50% of the brakes out there don’t work properly, have massive issues with bite point wandering and leaking calipers you can’t call that a success. The real world experience of more than half of people appears to reflect that there is either a serious manufacturing issue.

[@cryx4]

Cool to see a good rider ripping on 'normal people' components. Great review :)

[@fen2453]

Saints are still the best brakes out there. And have been for 12 years.

[@DandyHippo]

Brian Cahal and Peter Jamison are the best in the algo cuck game at the moment. Some names that have been doing stuff for longer have good content but I feel like its more directed to people plus 40. For younger people (I'm 33) but yetl lot of the content from bigger channels feel more fake and a bit cringe. Keep it up fam (Y)

[@ethanrevitch]

Them other reviewers got soft hands. I like how stiff the lever feels. It makes the lever feel more solid.

[@hummer694life]

This guy gets it! Dale Stone has baby strength hands.

[@brianl.2104]

Why do people say “Shram” instead of “sram”?

[@gbrox17]

What do you shmean?

[@brianl.2104]

@ 🤣

[@GHinWI]

Sooo much skidding in this video

[@tonkshred]

Sram is one thing in my mind, 9 speed grip shift. That is all it ever was and will be. The ugliest aesthetics for 25 years. 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮. I would take a deore v brake over an sram aids

[@DandyHippo]

:Dd

[@MTMXBL]

even if these were the most powerful and most reliable brakes on the market, I still wouldn't buy them for being so ugly.

[@DC13333]

Sram is the worst brake on the market Zooms and Nutts are better. Ummm there are as good as your cameras focus. 😅😂😅😂😅😂😅😂 i remember my first time with a camera.

[@bfranco1519]

Those brakes are junk. Nice try dude..