Just picked up a set of Hayes Dominion brakes

[Al Boneta]

There is a lot of hype surrounding these new stoppers from Hayes. So I thought I’d try them out. Brakes are a personal preference thing for most riders. Right now my favorites are SRAM Codes. I love the lever feel, modulation and stopping power. Far from perfect, but right now they’re my go to.

Saints are what most of my friends use and they seem to go through tires a lot quicker and I really don’t like the on/off feeling to the bite point and the lack of modulation.
I love how simple they are to bleed and that mineral oil is safer for the environment but most importantly my paint

The last new set of brakes I tried were the TRP G-specs. But they were nothing but problems and I just sent them back again to the warranty department.

Hayes were the brake to have 15 years ago and while the rest of the braking world caught up and surpassed Hayes, I always have a soft spot for them.

So I’ll see how this goes and I’ll detail out the installation and bleed process tomorrow and then I’ll do some rides and give my review.

 

[Witte300]

I’m just worried that the sram guide i have now on my levo will suffer the same problem I have had with my other sram braken. The sticky piston problem.
For feeling I love the sram brakes.
Keep us informed with your results

 

[Al Boneta]

I’m just worried that the sram guide i have now on my levo will suffer the same problem I have had with my other sram braken. The sticky piston problem.
For feeling I love the sram brakes.
Keep us informed with your results

The sticky piston issue was a tolerlence problem SRAM remedied.
It was also easily fixed if the initial assembler would take the time balance the pistons before it left the shop.
Still there shouldn’t have been an issue in the first place.
The failures we mostly saw in Southern California were the stuck levers. It’s HAF in the summer here and the levers couldn’t contend with the heat.

I just started the installation of the Hayes Dominion brakes.

I almost cried when I removed a perfectly good set of CODEs

 

[Al Boneta]

I think unboxing videos are pretentious. But I thought it should known how poorly these were packaged. Not much in the box and no manual to speak of, but it did come with extra pads.

So I installed the new Hayes Dominion A4 today. They went on pretty easy, the bleeding process was confusing the first time, but it went pretty smooth after that. Lever feel is amazing. It’s as if Hayes decided to take the best attributes of a Sram guide and a Shimano Saint and meld them together. All the insane power of the Saint and the modulation of a Guide or Code

Hopefully I’ll get in some trail time tomorrow

But so far these brakes are no joke

 

[Al Boneta]

After two super hot days of riding with these new brakes, I thought I’d share what I thought of them.
Best brakes period
I can’t believe how much I love these things.
Time will tell how they hold up over the long haul, but after a couple of days I am ready to install them on all of my bikes.

 

[jazzanova]

After two super hot days of riding with these new brakes, I thought I’d share what I thought of them.
Best brakes period
I can’t believe how much I love these things.
Time will tell how they hold up over the long haul, but after a couple of days I am ready to install them on all of my bikes.
View attachment 3499

How do you find them for 1 finger braking?
Is the shifter in proper place?
I am afraid the shifter will be pushed too far for me... I believe Hayes should be coming with a machmaker foe sram and shimano shifters.

 

[jazzanova]

Also, did you use hayes calipers?
I am wondering if I couls use shimano ones.
I am planning to use 180mm hayes D rotors.

 

[Al Boneta]

Also, did you use hayes calipers?
I am wondering if I couls use shimano ones.
I am planning to use 180mm hayes D rotors.

The Hayes Calipers are designed to use their new rotor which is 1.7mm thick. The thickness gives the rotor better cooling and stiffness so the rotors stay in true. That’s a good thing because there is not a whole lot of gap between the pads and the rotor.

You wouldn’t be able to use a Shimano rotor.
I am using the the 203mm rotors.

 

[Al Boneta]

How do you find them for 1 finger braking?
Is the shifter in proper place?
I am afraid the shifter will be pushed too far for me... I believe Hayes should be coming with a machmaker foe sram and shimano shifters.

The levers are two finger levers but they are fine for one finger braking. They have a match maker mount but none of my distributors at present have any. Going to call them direct in a half hour to get the correct brake adapters and extra pads.

The brake come with two sets of different compound pads.

I was in such a rush to get out to beat the heat yesterday morning that I didn’t torque the pad retention bolt after I switched pads.

So I lost one of pads on my ride and had no rear brakes. So I had to limp out on just my front brakes. I can’t believe I did that, I am such an idiot.

I ended up putting the spare pads in and by the time I got back out it was 98 degrees. That’s my punishment for being so damn stupid.

 

[jazzanova]

The levers are two finger levers but they are fine for one finger braking. They have a match maker mount but none of my distributors at present have any. Going to call them direct in a half hour to get the correct brake adapters and extra pads.

The brake come with two sets of different compound pads.

I was in such a rush to get out to beat the heat yesterday morning that I didn’t torque the pad retention bolt after I switched pads.

So I lost one of pads on my ride and had no rear brakes. So I had to limp out on just my front brakes. I can’t believe I did that, I am such an idiot.

I ended up putting the spare pads in and by the time I got back out it was 98 degrees. That’s my punishment for being so damn stupid.

Thanks,
I will look for the matchmaker.
One more question.
Did you need the hayes bleeding kit to do the bleed?

 

[Al Boneta]

Thanks,
I will look for the matchmaker.
One more question.
Did you need the hayes bleeding kit to do the bleed?

Yep and dot 5.1 brake fluid. I used Motul from my local motorcycle shop

 

[Topov]

I cant seem to find anyone that stocks them, where did you buy them?

 

[Al Boneta]

I cant seem to find anyone that stocks them, where did you buy them?

One of my favorite parts distributors that we use for our shop got some of the first ones available in the country. There were only 6 of each in stock when they first got them in stock and I ordered the last set they had this morning.
My timing was just right. Hayes doesn’t even have in stock themselves

 

[HeatproofGenie]

How's the modulation?

 

[Al Boneta]

How's the modulation?

It’s pretty amazing. It has Saint power, but the modulation feels like cross country brake. Best lever feel of any brake I’ve ever tried.

 

[HeatproofGenie]

Wow.

I like that they take a thicker rotor as well. Maybe that will help with warping issues?

 

[Al Boneta]

Wow.

I like that they take a thicker rotor as well. Maybe that will help with warping issues?

Yes, but since there’s less gap between the rotor and pads even a slight wiggle from the rotor can rub. This is my only real complaint

 

[Dax]

Good review, thanks Al. Please update after you've ridden them a bunch of times, be good to know how long until they need bleeding.

How hard are they up bleed?

 

[Al Boneta]

Good review, thanks Al. Please update after you've ridden them a bunch of times, be good to know how long until they need bleeding.

How hard are they up bleed?

Not that hard, but I was confused by one of the steps. What I found worked best for me was to bleed the brake twice for each side of pistons and then bleed the pistons.
Not hard but Kyoto are essentially bleeding them three times.