Avid’s big four-pot downhill brake lacks the power and reliability to back up its looks. Granted, the lever body and calliper mean it runs cool even at high loads, plus the blade pivots on super-smooth bearings and gets easy bite point adjustment via a thumbwheel, but otherwise it’s a letdown.
Dyno performance was disappointing – we’ve used some highly powerful Codes but they always ramp up rather than modulating well. Setup is awkward too, with the cup-and-cone washers and long, deep calliper, because it needs aligning in 3D not just 2D.
Add high weight, the massive pads’ limited availability and poor reliability, and we’d struggle to recommend these. From what our spies say though, prototypes of the new Code brakes are absolute belters.
Dry brake test graph
Dry brake test graph for all brakes tested
Wet brake test graph
Wet brake test graph for all brakes tested
