rockshins Posted November 1, 2020 Share Posted November 1, 2020 So my daily driver is a 160/150mm all mountain bike. Came specced with Shimano XT 8000 2 piston brakes. The 8000’s are not bad brakes but lack the power and modulation (for shimano brakes) of their 4 piston offerings. Having ridden Shimano Zee’s there is a noticeable difference. To save some money I initially upgraded just the front brake with a Shimano XT 8020 4 piston brake. Big improvement. Braking has been decent but on the steeper stuff and Spider Mountain the rear is lacking. 230lbs fully loaded so I tend to like powerful brakes and only looking at 4 piston options. I have been trying to source the XT 8020 calipers but having a tough time and they are not as cheap as they were previously. I want to be able to use the same brake pads front and rear, so I have found the Shimano Zee caliper and a new cheaper option a Shimano Deore 6120 4 piston brake. Looks like the only downside is the Deore only takes a non finned brake pad. I could care less about the finned pads. Does anyone have experience with the 6120’s? Should I shell out a little more money for the 8020 (to match my front brake) or Zee calipers? Or should i just save some money and go with the 6120 calipers? Can’t imagine there is a huge advantage to the more expensive options. Thanks for your advice. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
circuitbreaker Posted November 2, 2020 Share Posted November 2, 2020 i think you've answered most of you own questions. Reading some quick reviews, it sounds like the brakes will feel the same as XT. Just don't use the included resin pads. Maybe XT weighs less? so if you are inclined to same money go Deore. My OCD would not allow me to have mismatched calipers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockshins Posted November 2, 2020 Author Share Posted November 2, 2020 Yeah I guess I did. Going with 6120 will save me about $55 as the brake lines are about $10 cheaper on these models. It will drive me a little nuts to have mismatched calipers but as long as the performance is similar I will get over it. Still holding out on a finding a deal on the XT's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATXZJ Posted November 3, 2020 Share Posted November 3, 2020 What size rotors are you running F&R? Also looked at buying the new deore 4/2 piston kit off ebay. As I recall, the pistons were a little different in the older models but not sure of the newer stuff. I'm sure there's a ton of info on MTBR about this but they seem to be having some malware issues at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockshins Posted November 3, 2020 Author Share Posted November 3, 2020 I am running 203mm F&R with metallic brake pads. I think 4 piston front and 2 piston rear would work really well for riders who weigh less than me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockshins Posted November 11, 2020 Author Share Posted November 11, 2020 Ordered Shimano Deore 6120 caliper for my rear brake. $50 savings over XT 8020 caliper! Will report back on the performance once installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.