TRICKLE-DOWN OF technology is a wonderful thing when it means you can now buy a brake 95 per cent as good as the excellent Avid X0 Trail for almost half the price. The only real differences are that the lever is alloy, not carbon, and sits on a bushing rather than a cartridge bearing, so the feel isn’t as luxurious. There’s no bite point adjust and you get a utilitarian grey finish but the brake is only 12g heavier.
The mid-range power and excellent modulation from the four-pot calliper is indistinguishable from the X0 on the trail though, with Avid’s lever geometry always proving popular with our testers. The brake-only option is just 156S, giving fantastic feel and control at an impressively low weight and cracking price, but rotors and mounts are expensive.
WEIGHT 418g
POWER 108Nm
PRICE: 242$
