PMK

Yes, they are easy to bleed for the most part, but if there is any air in the caliper, all bets are off. My warranty set had air in them. PK

Have had the Guide RS on the Inspired for a few weeks now. Initially, the first set had one brake with more lever travel than the other. Obtained another brake assembly under warranty. This one also had more lever travel than, similar to the first but not quite as bad. Last night I had time to mess with it again. What I found disappointing is that using all the proper Avid tools for bleeding, and following the Avid procedure, this still left air in the system. To bleed these brakes to fully remove the air can test your patience. It seems that since the bleeding does not flow fluid through the caliper, it is easy to trap air inside the caliper. The Avid, bleeds at the caliper hose. Others do also like the Saints, but for whatever reason, these held air trapped. I want to say that since the fluid does not pass through the caliper, the fluid is dead ended and holds air pockets. Even when new, as supplied from Avid, the levers traveled different amounts. This now indicates that in production they have some problems removing the air. In the end, I now have both levers with the same travel and the brake works well. I don't expect a lot of heat in these to degrade the fluid. If on a MTB where it is a good idea to bleed the brakes frequently to remove old fluid that has been overheated or absorbed moisture this will be pretty much impossible without disassembling the calipers. Brakes work well, but the maintenance is not easy. For others bleeding these, without doubt, degas your fluid in a glass jar under high vacuum. Use the degassed fluid in the syringes. If you are brave, work the caliper piston outward and then force them back in. This is the one way to move fluid in the caliper and it is a PIA to accomplish. FWIW, none of this is in the Avid bleed instructions. PK

FWIW, the rear looking camera does offer a different than most perspective. The video you got is cool, but tough to really see the full action of some moves. A few years ago, we set up the camera aft facing on the Ventana mountain tandem. I was not sure what it would be like or capture. When we viewed the recording, it was kind of cool to see the bike sliding a bit through corners, The shock and suspension linkage working it's butt off. Some roost coming off the tire and so forth. Overall though, I found the rear looking setup best for capturing video of riders behind you. It does get boring after a bit. I have done a couple of videos capturing simultaneous forward and aft footage. Those can be cool, again in more of a group ride setting. I should have done these as a split screen, but two different model cameras made it not work. Honestly though, it seems the best videos are a mix of footage captured away from the bike, some helmet cam video, some frame video, and a bit of effort to give a good edit. This takes time and can be a pain if you are not into that kind of stuff. PK

Sounds like progress. The MT7's and 5 sure look the part caliper wise. Not from Europe, but often wondered why Brembo is not into the bicycle arena, at least not here in the US. Even the Japanese Nissin is not on bicycles. Maybe they are just sold under a different name. PK

Had a photo posted on FB showing the riders in Magura lab coats working on and shipping out brakes. Guessing they will be on the Magura MT7 series. Any comments or thoughts on the brakes, other than sponsorship why the change. PK

Took the time today to troubleshoot the longer lever travel on the rear brake. Took a silver permanent marker and applied a dot to the suspect master cylinder and rear caliper to ensure each was traceable. 1) Swapped master cylinders left to right, right to left. Problem continued to remain with the rear brake, same as before. 2) Moved rear caliper to front and front to rear. Problem moved to front, so it appears the caliper has some sort of issue. Not sure what since they are pretty basic, but something is making the lever stroke longer. Called the shop and spoke with my friend that owns the shop. We talked about the brake and a replacement should come as warranty. In his words, as far as brakes, Shimano has it sorted out and in his opinion perform the best for mtb riding. I mentioned the Saint 820 series and if they were not on back order I would have ordered them and used these Guide RS on one of my other mtb machines. PK

Doing it again, I would agree. Also, they advertise the RS as having a ball bearing lever pivot. It does not. So the cost difference from R to RS is a waste. I did speak with my friend that owns the shop I bought the brakes from. Plan to warranty most likely the rear master cylinder assembly. Want to swap MC from left to right and right to left in order to verify it is the MC. No time tonight, maybe by the weekend. Still rideable but attention grabbing with the long through before brake engagement. Since I do have the DB5 MC assemblies, I may test them too since they do not have any mechanical multipliers in the lever movement. Basically old school moto style. The will work based on the same piston size as the R and RS. PK

I swapped out the DB5 brakes to RS Guides. I have run both with sintered pads and the Guides are stronger. New and with the SRAM bleed, the rear brake lever has more travel than the front. Tonight I installed the shortened hoses from the DB5s, bled both brakes with degassed Motul 600 fluid using the SRAM bleed tools. Both levers are solid with no air. Still the lever travels, or engagement points from front vs rear are noticeably different. Also a bit of a let down since the RS brakes are advertised to have bearing at the lever pivots. They do not, only the RSC has the bearings. The RSC also has the engagement adjustment. Undecided what the plan is next. Probably see about a warranty master cylinder to even up the lever travels. Brakes work well, but the lever travel is a bit bothersome. PK

FWIW, I gave a call to a good friend that is an MTB dealer for many years in Alaska where these are made. They have been building fatbikes long before they became what they are today. He mentioned that he has tested many of the fatbikes including these and from is comments the fatbike of choice for best handling and fun is the Ventana. They apparently have all the good traits of a skinny tire mtb in regards to handling, but with the big tires they float over the soft terrain. Not sure on the weight, no doubt the build will be a huge factor. PK http://www.ventanausa.com/bikes/el-gordo/

This is the one short video from Pat Smage that just keeps me motivated to ride this trials bicycle I have. They have posted others videos, but many are moto trials. PK

Always enjoy watching Pat Smage videos. Yes he is very good, moto trials also. PK

I am certainly no economics major or financial person, however, can someone explain to me, how if it costs x amount of Euros to build a bike, very few parts if any come from the US, how can the bike be costing Monty more to build, to justify a price increase? I'm guessing Disney World does not raise its price based on currency conversion. Simply a day in the theme park is costing x dollars, and you pay your entry based on that. If a Euro is strong you get a better value, if the Euro is weak, your value is not so good. PK

The street trials bike works fine for all the riding I do currently. A friend has an Echo MKII stock. We were talking about building some features at his house and some at mine. Not the type of stuff you normally see a street bike on. Both of us just want to have fun with this, be safe and do nothing crazy. No doubt it will also help with mtb skills too. Myself I have 25 years on the mtb, plus a bunch of years racing mx. My friend probably has close to the same number of years on the mtb. The Echo I asked about is pretty steep on the asking price. If the bike is a decent build, and you guys with experience know this stuff, give me an idea on what you figure it is worth. Whatever I get, new or used, I'll never ride it to the full potential or limits. While I don't plan to get hurt, that is always a risk, and as for the bike, no plans to trash it, but it does happen. PK

From the list you posted, the street trials is out since I don't need one, the mods are not what I am really wanting, one bike is local sale only in Canada, the two left are the Norco or Handbuilt bike. Was more after a more typical current style stock trials bike, so the Norco may not be a great choice and the idea of the homebuilt frame did not excite me. Sorry for being boring about it, just not what I am looking for. Thanks though. Probably easier to just buy a new bike and be done with it. PK

I have a look at PB Buy/Sell every few days. I posted about the Echo primarily to gain opinions from those that may have experience with that year / model. As for his asking price...The other cool thing was the bike is 20 minutes away. The older Crescent seems pretty cool and I know nothing more about it. PK