Apologies if this has been covered at length before...
My Mondraker Crafty R came fitted with the ubiquitous Sram db8 brakeset, although a lot has been said regarding poor performance of said brakes, I found a change of pads made them ok, my main gripe was the levers, I've always had Shimano brakes and didn't like the shape or feel of the Sram offering.
I found a few mentions of riders changing levers to Shimano and thought I'd give it a try, I managed to source a pair of M6100 levers for £50 from Amazon, removed the Sram levers installed Shimano barb and olive, fitted the levers and bled these using Magura blood mineral oil (what I had available) I can honestly say, these are the most powerful brakes I've used, they feel more on/off like Shimano not as much modulation as with the Sram, this isn't an issue as I'm more used to the Shimano feel.
If your new bike is fitted with Sram db8, don't discount them straight away and spend hundreds replacing them, a £50 Shimano lever swap will give you all the brake you'll ever need.
My Mondraker Crafty R came fitted with the ubiquitous Sram db8 brakeset, although a lot has been said regarding poor performance of said brakes, I found a change of pads made them ok, my main gripe was the levers, I've always had Shimano brakes and didn't like the shape or feel of the Sram offering.
I found a few mentions of riders changing levers to Shimano and thought I'd give it a try, I managed to source a pair of M6100 levers for £50 from Amazon, removed the Sram levers installed Shimano barb and olive, fitted the levers and bled these using Magura blood mineral oil (what I had available) I can honestly say, these are the most powerful brakes I've used, they feel more on/off like Shimano not as much modulation as with the Sram, this isn't an issue as I'm more used to the Shimano feel.
If your new bike is fitted with Sram db8, don't discount them straight away and spend hundreds replacing them, a £50 Shimano lever swap will give you all the brake you'll ever need.
