Are $2000 mountain bike brakes THAT much better?

$400 used brakes versus $1,200 top-of-the-line brakes. Does expensive equal better? Let's find out. The last stock part to remove on the two Polygon Siskiyou D5s are the Shimano MT-201 two-piston brakes. Now that these bikes have become majorly upgraded trail bikes, stopping has become a big issue and downright dangerous at times. Now that we have a blank slate, it's finally time for a brake upgrade. The Haibike is getting the most rare and the best brakes in the whole entire world. Trickstuff Maxima. They're the world's strongest brakes. The machining and craftsmanship is unlike anything I've ever seen. How'd you get your hand on those? There's like a 12 to 18 month wait list. Well, I paid a premium to cut in line and I bought them used for $2,000. What? Used? You paid over retail and they're used? Can't you see why? No brakes can even compare. Well, Low Bike is getting something that can compare. I have a set of used Hayes Dominion A4s that I bought off Pinkbike for $350. A brake set that some consider the strongest, most affordable four pistons available. They look like they belong off of 2006 Ellsworth, but I'm installing mine first. First up is installing and doing a full bleed of the Trickstuff Maximas. They came with everything I need to do the full bleed, so I might as well get them running as good as possible. So my brakes are purged, but now I have a problem. Trickstuff uses Bilenol, which is made from like sunflower oil, but they're the only brand that uses that and I couldn't even find any. But I do have sunflower oil. I hope I'm not messing anything up. So I actually read the user manual and they say to bleed the brakes off the bike and on the workbench. So let's get started on the rear. I'm supposed to push the caliber pistons out until they touch the Allen wrench and the damn piston just fell out. At this point, I just hope I can do this correctly. Well, that took way longer than expected, but it's time to finally install the Hayes Dominion brakes. Now that I have the front lever on, it actually feels pretty good. So I don't really see a need to bleed the front. Let's move on to the rear. Oh no, the rear hydraulic line is way too short, but this means I have to install an entirely new hose and do a full bleed. So luckily I bought a spare hose and fittings in case this happened, but this stuff was expensive. I tried to get OEM replacement parts from Hayes, but their website is always out of stock, but that's a major downfall from this brand. Wow, these Hayes brakes are super easy to bleed. The caliber even has two bleed ports. These brakes are definitely DIY mechanic friendly, but it's time to install the new rotors. For the Haibike, I'm installing the all new SRAM HS2 rotors. They have all this new stuff to reduce heat for ultimate stopping power. And for my low bike, I'm installing Hayes D-Series rotors, 180 millimeters front and rear. They're 1.95 millimeters thick and made to use specifically with the Dominion brakes. After a grueling installation, the bikes are finally complete. The low bike with the Hayes Dominion brakes now weighs 33.2 pounds and the total cost is at $3,329, well over the $3,000 total project cost limit. The Haibike with the Trickstuff Maxima brakes is now 30.8 pounds and brings the total cost to a whopping $11,000. But how do these brakes compare? But first they need to be bedded in. So I'm going to take both bikes to the steepest road hill that I know called Westar Road. And while I'm bedding in these brakes, I need to address a big concern from a lot of commenters and that's, why am I always wearing a hat? And that brings me to this video's sponsor, Keeps. Keeps is a subscription service for hair loss. Well, Keeps has you covered with their clinically proven treatment to stop hair loss and promote hair growth. And well, I'm 32 and it's time I finally reveal what's underneath this helmet. Here we go. See, I'm doing okay for now, but there's plenty of guys out there that could benefit from Keeps without ever visiting a doctor's office. Plus, they're delivered straight to your door for about half the price from a traditional pharmacy. Treatment plans are personalized and include 24-7 expert support. Hair loss stops with Keeps. And to save 50% off your first order, visit keeps.com slash EvansMTBSaga or click the link in the description. That's keeps.com slash EvansMTBSaga. All right, I think they're properly bedded in and I can already tell a couple things. The biggest thing that I'm noticing is that the Hayes Dominion brakes have an extremely light feel when you pull in the lever. And the divots in the lever blade have a good grip, but they're pretty uncomfortable without gloves. The Trickstuff brakes, on the other hand, have a really smooth lever feel, but they're definitely more stiff. And I do feel like the lever blade is kind of slippery. So now for the test, I set up cones and I'm going to do multiple attempts on each bike and see how fast that they can stop. So it's kind of windy out here right now and that's kind of a big variable. So I'll give it one more attempt with both bikes, but with no pedaling at the top. So the tests are complete. And even with all the variables, the Trickstuff brakes just have way more stopping power. So Evan, what do you think? Does expensive equal better? The Trickstuff brakes absolutely have better stopping power and the build quality is much better. I actually like the light lever feel of the Hayes brakes more than the Trickstuff. And they're easier to bleed and set up. But with the Trickstuff brakes, they have slippery lever blades and that can be downright dangerous if your finger slips off on a downhill. And because of that, I'd pick the Hayes Dominion brakes. On the trail, both bikes performed well, but my trails are way too tame for a proper test. So join us next episode for the finale of the High Low series. We're taking both bikes to the legendary Highline Trail in Sedona, Arizona for the ultimate high versus low test. And hey, become a channel member for early access to upcoming episodes and project sneak previews. I still can't believe you spent two grand on brakes.