SRAM DB8 Test and Review
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- čas přidán 26. 03. 2023
- Today I took out a brand new set of Sram DB8 brakes to my local forest for a quick test.
I see more and more of these brakes coming with bikes now and haven’t seen any reviews so I thought I would get some and give them a go myself.
They where easy to set up, much better than setting up Sram Guides for example with the dreaded sticky piston issue they pretty much all have. This was quick and straightforward to do.
I didn’t cut the hose down or anything as they are not my own brakes to keep but if I did you would need to have a DB8 specific bleeding kit for them as they intentionally have a different fitting so you don’t bleed using DOT fluid. Remember these are Srams first Mineral Oil brake, which need to use the green Sram Mineral Oil if bleeding.
I feel like the brake was powerful enough for me, I am 90kg plus my bike about 12kg or so. So over 100kg on these. Using a 200mm front and 180mm rear, I never felt any lack of power.
They got me stopped and slowed on the steepest of tracks in the area so if they can stop me there I am more than happy with the sheer power of these.
They would be more on off brakes than my Hope but the DB8 still offers good modulation, better than my previous set of Shimanos and no wandering bite point.
Overall as a budget brake they are excellent and I would recommend for sure. Only down side I feel is the horrible noise you get, you should be able to hear it in the video.
I will get another test day done on these and upload a day 2. But for now I am more than happy with them and if you got a set instead of a shimano deore for example you will be well surprised.
Hope you liked, please feel free to drop any questions and I will try add it in for part 2. - Sport
Thanks for the video man. These brakes came stock on my emtb and working good so far except for the reach. Came here and learned they have reach adjustment - made my day 🤘
Came with my scout, love them
Got db8's on my bike. Got trough a set of front pads in 2 days of riding gravity. Modulates easily but the power is not there. I burnt the front 203 rotor. My hand gets tired much more than on shimanos for example.
Got mt5's, whole nother ball game.
Thanks, not so many reviews. I'm running these in my Trek Rail 7. I love soft feeling, great modulation and good stopping power. Noise is good, people hear me! Shimano Ice Tech rotor would be nice to try with these. In my fatbike I have a Shimano rotor in front and Sram back. The Sram is there for noise! It's like a horn, very loud and I have no issues with people walking in front of me because of not hearing :-)
I’ve hopefully got a part 2 of this coming again soon. I was surprised by them, would take them over any guide brake that’s for sure.
I think the Guide RE brakes are pretty powerful. I had them on my emtb 5 years ago and they worked great on that 23kg heavy weight & I did go down some steep descents in the Lake District. I have recently fitted some new RE brakes to a Nukeproof Mega I've built as I think they are that good.
I just watched this review as a lot of mtbs I'm looking at have the DB8 brakes. If they are more powerful than the RE that sounds great! Just a shame you have to use an allen key for the reach adjust instead of the knob on the RE.
I have them on my recently bought Trek Fuel EX 8 and so far I love them. For sure an upgrade to the Shimano Mt500/501 that came on my Canyon Neuron.
Only thing i might do is swapping the original pads to the purple Galfer's.
Buy shimano deore/slx if u want real braking power, got this db8 shit on just bought top fuel 8 2022 and will replace them with Deore 2 piston version. Sram brakes= crap for me.
Thanks for the video- what size is your frame? Did you have to cut them to size? Only asking because the bleed nipple is an odd size, can’t use the Shimano funnel to bleed if I have to cut the hoses. Thanks!
This is a XL frame. I didn’t shorten the hose on these as they are just for me to borrow and test. These have a unique fitting for the bleed port so you will need a sram version if they have one or just the official DB8 bleed kit
@@RichMTB thanks! Yeah, after shortening the cable I did lever bleed, it did help, but not perfect. It sucks, but now I need yet another bleed kit just for these brakes.
Hey can you say anything about the free stroke of the db8? I am currently running Shimano M6120, and the stock freestroke is awfully much, and I am thinking about swapping them for the db8
Sorry for the delay, haven’t been on the bike so I didn’t know. I feel they are better than the Shimanos. It’s definitely shorter than the Shimano Deore brakes on my nephews bike.
👍got them on my ragley, took a while to bed inn though🤔
Do you like them? I usually hate brakes from Sram but these are good. Much better than my old Guide RE brakes.
@@RichMTB 🤔to be honest not a huge fan, prefer shimano, but they are ok, until i upgrade them👍
I don’t suppose you know if the actual blade of the lever can be replaced? I have bent mine and don’t want to have to buy the whole lever set
I’m not 100% sure. I’ve not seen any spare levers for them put it that way.
🤘🏻🤙🏻
hi mate, how you think these would compare to the clarks m4 (budget 4 pot that came on my vitus sentier VR)?
I’ve not used them Clark’s M4 but I would say it’s an upgrade on them for sure.
Im using in it on an ebike, im a heavy guy , any recomendantions on a better brake sets ?
What size of rotors you using? And what kind of rotor also? I find them to be very powerful for me. A shimano RT76 or Hope Rotor would be my vote.
@@RichMTB Front: SM-RT64 CL 203mm / Rear: RT-EM600 CL 203mm , on my setup actually i feeling them so weak braking! , maybe ill try new linings
@@gastonice5203 the last trail I went down there on my test I crashed beside it once and had to have a traverse line tied up with mountain rescue to get me down (broken leg) So it’s proper steep ground, just doesn’t look it from the GoPro effect. I never felt like I had not enough power once and could have been even harder on the brakes if needed, they had a little more to give. Or at least they felt like they did. Could possibly be a set up issue or if you are a little extra total weight than what I would of been there…
I usually hate Sram brakes with a passion, after I wrecked myself there I had Sram Guide RE brakes and I said never again. But these did surprise me, just the noise I don’t like.
I wouldn’t buy them personally, if I had a set of tekro brakes for example I wouldn’t look to upgrade with DB8s but if they came on the bike I would feel confident with them.
🤔can i ask what bar an stem sizes are you running?
35mm stem length, 800mm wide bars with 38mm rise.
@@RichMTB 👌nice combo👍
@@RichMTB 🤔been thinking about changing my 25mm riser bar to a 38mm rise😏not sure if it would weight the rear too much🤔Mmm...
You need to tilt this cam up or get a chest mount. Connect it to your phone to make sure your not staring strait at the ground before you start if you can. This video is so hard to watch
Yes agreed the camera in this video is poor. There’s hopefully a part 2 coming soon.
2 downsides to these brakes - very heavy and the banjo at the caliper end is not adjustable.
Avevo i DB8 nella mia nuova Trek, eliminati il giorno stesso...terribili
The other guy is so bad lol
Aye he’s just learning the sport haha we all have to start somewhere.
@@RichMTB I'm kidding he wrote that don't worry