Hayes Stroker Trail Brakes
Still strokin' after a year?
Words by Ed Snyder.
Date: 2008-10-17
At last year's Interbike, Hayes was kind enough to drop a set of the new Stroker Trail brakes in my bag and tempt me to do my worst to them. Over the last year, I've done just that. Here's how we got along...
The Strokers were introduced after Hayes' failed El Camino experiment, which left most riders less than overwhelmed. Just two short years after developing the El Camino, Hayes started all over again and was back with the entirely new Stroker line of brakes. Early reviews for the Strokers backed up their decision to cut their losses and start fresh.
The Stroker is a completely new animal, designed from the ground up. The first major difference is the orientation of the reservoir at the lever. The piston moves vertically into the caliper, rather than the traditional horizontal-push arrangement. This allowed the engineers freedom to move the lever pivot in relation to the rider's finger and change the leverage ratio. The new design also lent itself to an intuitive and highly effective reach adjustment knob that is integrated in to the lever blade itself. The knob is grooved, easy to turn and has internal indexing that makes finding the ideal reach adjustment for almost every sized hand a snap.
If you use these the right way they should keep you out of the pine tree next to the trail... || photo: Ed Snyder
Hayes also changed the lever blade itself. How a brake lever fits your hand is an issue of personal preference matched only by how your backside fits on a seat. I found the new lever comfortable and capable. My fingers never slipped off and the arc created by the new pivot placement felt natural. I have heard from some people that the lever is too thin for their tastes.
The only time I wished for a little more blade was when I was I tried the levers on my DH bike. The occasional panicked grab for more stopping power revealed that a slightly wider blade might be more comfortable under heavy pressure, but never so much so that it was a problem or interfered with function. I will leave it to simply say the levers are different from anything out there, and to each their own regarding an ideal fit. They worked well for me and despite the odd wreck or two, held up in perfect working order.
If the new reservoir is the first thing that catches your eye, the first thing you notice through your fingertips is the modulation present in this design. Early Hayes offerings were disliked on the Shore for their "toggle switch" feel; the brake was either on or off and not much at all in between. This can present big problems for riders in tricky handling situations that Shore trails heap on a rider in bunches (think wet rock faces, slippery cedar bridges, etc.).
The El Camino brakes made progress in this area, but ultimately not enough. The Strokers are leaps and bounds ahead of their predecessors in this regard and while they may not be the absolute best modulated brakes I have ever laid my riding gloves on, they perform very well in a wide variety of West Coast riding conditions.
The rear caliper still looks just as good as the day I slapped it on. Maybe I should wash it. Nah... dirt is a sign of affection. || photo: Ed Snyder
Having the brakes for the better part of year allowed me to test them in a full range of conditions, from the murkiest depths of winter muck on through the changeable and slippery conditions of springtime and ultimately to the high mountain shuttle trails a hot and dusty summer serves up. The brakes maintained solid, above-average power along with the new softer feel at the lever throughout it all.
They tended to make a little noise when cool, which is not uncommon. Once you punched them once or twice to heat them to normal operating temperature they were almost noise free, save a light ticking as the cooling slots on the rotor passed through the pads.
I only broke their relatively quiet state once hammering a good solid squeal out them on a long shuttle descent on a very warm day. About 20 minutes of uninterrupted descending in very dusty conditions, punctuated by a series of steep switchbacks brought out the inner howler monkeys of the Hayes.
After a quick rest stop/cool down the brakes went right back to their regular tone of voice and never let out another shout. Once in a year, as they say, ain't too bad. Of course if you thermally stress the rotors (say dunking it in a glacier-fed stream crossing and then hammering them to full-lock) you can make them sing, but that type of noise is expected and well within reasonable limits.
The Stokers offered ample power and good control even when the trail tilted down pretty severely. || rider: Skip Szurek, photo: Ed Snyder
The stock pads wore quite well and are still in good shape. I broke them in a with a few very wet and cold rides last November and didn't partake in any special care or cleaning. After a couple of short, wet XC rides the pads were bedded in and performed at full strength from then on. That about sums up the sizable "good" column for the Strokers, so it is on to the mercifully short "Bad" column.
The mounting hardware for the Hayes brakes is quite simple. You just bolt the mount squarely on to the brake posts, adjust the caliper’s left/right position so it is centered on the rotor and tighten the bolts. That works well in probably 90% of cases, but it proved to be a headache with my not-quite-straight RockShox Revelation fork. My fork is slightly off. I am not sure if they pulled it out of the mold too quickly when it was cooling or not, but it has always had a very slight twist in the lower section.
While the sliders are aligned well with the stanchions, the dropouts and the brake post-mounts are not quite perpendicular with the front axle path. When mounting brakes from other companies this has not been a problem as they provide some measure to adjust for any irregularities (a set of conical washers, etc.). With no system present on the Hayes to adjust the angle of the caliper , the rotor was not running exactly parallel to the pads. This led to initial adjustment problems, a noisy brake, the potential for less power and uneven pad wear. All bad things.
The front caliper mounted with some additional non-standard hardware to solve an alignment issue. || photo: Ed Snyder
After diagnosing the problem, I pirated a set of conical washers from some old V-type brakes, swapped out the standard length bolts for a longer set provided with the Strokers (they are labeled for use with Manitou post mounts) and made my own adjustment system. This allowed me enough wiggle room to perfectly align the rotor with the pads and all the problems vanished. I knew the problem was in the fork when I briefly mounted the Strokers on my double-crown fork and they worked without the addition of any extra hardware.
The only other entry in the less-than-favorable column is more of a neutral then a negative. The new lever design places the pivot at the leading edge of the lever, where it looks quite vulnerable to crash damage. While this may turn out to be an issue for pilots who bin it with regularity, it did not rear its head with me. In fact, the pivots took a few direct shots and never deformed or complained in any way. So in classic Mythbusters style, we'll not confirm or deny the issue but instead simply label it "plausible".
Despite a few short unmanned flights after the pilot ejected, the brakes sustained only cosmetic scratches. Nothing bent, snapped or otherwise ceased to function. || photo: Ed Snyder
Lastly, it's worth noting a few things that are neither obviously good or bad, but worth talking about. We'll run through them bullet-style:
- The brakes drew a lot of positive and interested comments early in the testing when they were new on the market. Their decidedly different design drew the attention of more than few fellow riders.
- The brake lines are noticeably thinner then previous versions of Hayes brakes. This made them easier to install in certain areas.
- I never had to bleed the brakes, as I never encountered any bleed-worthy performance issues. I even stored the bike upside down for a few weeks to try and induce a stray bubble out of hiding, but to no avail. The brakes performed perfectly from the first squeeze. Lack of maintenance is a decidedly good thing.
- Style-wise, the white and blue versions have it all over the dark grey and silver ones I tested.
- The Stroker is available in a full spectrum of rotor sizes including 140, 160, 180, 203 and 224mm. I tested the 180mm size on my Enduro and used 203mm rotors when the brakes were on my DH bike.
- Hayes lists a system weight of 406 grams (using the 160mm rotors).
- U.S. MSRP is $185 per wheel.
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