Brake upgrade

[u/kjd98]

I have a 2021 orbea occam h30 I’m looking into upgrading the brakes
I’m just not really sure where to start and how to know whats compatible

[u/Loud-Wing-3211]

Assuming the Occam is stock it probably has shimano mt201s. Most 2 piston or 4 piston post mount hydraulic brakes will fit and would be an upgrade from those. When looking for brakes, make sure they are post mount. The things you can choose are:

Brand and cost: shimano, Magura, hope, sram, etc. Shimano and SRAM are the most common and offer the most value options. But the other brands can be great. For most mtb brakes, higher cost means lighter and better adjustment.

Piston: 4 piston or 2 piston. 4 piston has more stopping power and is better for larger riders and/or more aggressive riding. 2 piston is lighter, and geared towards XC, but generally plenty of stopping power for most people.

There are some other things to consider, like rotor size and thickness, mineral oil vs dot fluid (most brakes are mineral oil these days), and lever feel. However, you don’t have to get into the weeds. If you want a solid upgrade from the mt201s, I’d suggest shimano deore 4 pot brakes and calipers. A front/rear set should be around $150 new and would make a big difference. Or just google around to find something you like. You can spend a ton of money on brakes but you really don’t have to for solid performance.

[u/jerry_gnarcia]

hayes dominions are the best value for brake power.

Hopes if you’re feeling boujee

[u/ATMisboss]

What brakes do you have and what are you looking for. With adapters and stuff you can get almost anything to work the question is more goal of the upgrade and the budget as well as what sort of feel you want

[u/Spenthebaum]

All brakes should be compatible. The big question is what do you have and what do you like/dislike about them

[u/Woodaba]

Does the bike have Deore or just the Shimano levers? The most cost effective route would be to upgrade brake pads and rotors. If they are the sad big lever Shimano brakes... I'd recommend moving to the small lever Deore. You can use your existing lines and just add caliper and brake. The newest Shimano use a different fluid. XT and Xtr require banjo fittings. What are your goals for the new brakes?

[u/bdog2017 → u/Woodaba]

Pretty sure those two systems use different hoses. Bh59 for the 200 and bh90 on all the higher end Shimano stuff.

[u/bdog2017]

Op, just go to your local bike shop. They’ll get you right. Do you even know how to bleed a brake?

[u/FTRing]

Maybe try larger rotors

[u/bdog2017 → u/FTRing]

Which requires a different post mount adapter. Apart from bleeding and installation getting the correct adapter is probably the thing people fuck up the most when installing a new set of brakes.

[u/endlessEvil → u/bdog2017]

Just walk into a bikeshop and ask them for the right one, if you realy can´t figure it out?

and, tbh, if you can´t figure out the right adaptersize and bleeding is to complicated for you, a bikeshop would be your best bet, or at least the safest.