REVIEW: AVID X0 TRAIL BRAKES
January 9th, 2013
By Factory Jackson in Reviews
The constantly evolving landscape of mountain biking is in part due to the arms race that exists between the terrain and the technology. As trails get steeper, faster and more technical, the parts we adorn our bicycles with must reflect the severity of the harm we intend to introduce them to. With these superior products come heightened levels of reassurance and with that, the self belief to push both our abilities on the bike and the obstacles we choose to put in-front of our front wheel! Some may say Avid haven’t had the best run of late, but we’ve always had a soft spot for what can be the nicest ‘feeling’ brakes on the market, but hey, lets not dwell on the past…
Words: Olly Forster | Photos: Nathan Carvell & Olly Forster
2013 is going to be a good year for the American brake company, who have listened to both their critics and indeed their stalwart fans to design, manufacture and release a rather special brake system. This brake is the X0 Trail and if you want to know more, keep on reading!
Lever Detail
An area where the competition could certainly learn something is the co-operation of components and the resulting de-cluttering of the cockpit area; something the Sram corporation has pretty much mastered with the Matchmaker X clamp. This great addition allows you to combine a single clamp to house both the clamps for your shifter pod and brake lever, as well as your Rock Shox Reverb, Xloc and Poploc – depending on your set up of course.
It can be fiddly at first as there is a nack to lining the bolt up, but once you’ve got it, you’ve got it – the clamps on the X9, X0 and XX1 get you a hinged clamp, which is pretty neat making installation and adjustments that much easier.
Aside from the initial response these brakes get, which is “they look awesome”, they also feel awesome and continue a theme Avid have had on their brakes for some time, and that’s excellent lever geometry; they just feel right – “We designed our levers with the pivot closer to the handlebar, in fact, closer than anyone else in the industry. The resulting lever movement has less inward travel, an arc that’s closer to your fingers’ natural motion and delivers more force to the brake. The cool part is, every Avid lever has it.”
Attached to the polished aluminium body (you can also have black if you want) is a carbon lever blade sitting on sealed bearings, and much like it’s larger brother, the Code, has done nothing but feel amazing ride after ride…
The X0 Trail’s have two ‘tools free’ adjustment points. First up: ‘Contact Point Adjustment’ – this allows you customize the point in the lever’s throw where the brake actually engages, helping you to do two things: Pick the position you’d like your fingers to be in when your brakes grip (meaning you can perfectly match your fingers’ comfort with the brake’s power, without having to move the pads) and being able to balance both brake levers so they make contact at the same point. Contact Point Adjustment is not a reach adjuster (see below +1), but what it does do is help with the modulation of a longer throw, the instantaneous power of a short throw, or any thing in-between.
The second adjustment on the X0 Trail’s, accessed by the dial poking out in the picture below, allows you to tune where your levers are in relation to the bars and when combined with the contact point adjustment, allow for your brakes to feel both even from left to right, but also in the way they deliver power and power is something these have in droves…
Pads & Rotors
Below we have 3 sets of Avid pads from their 2013 range: starting with the Elixir’s at the bottom and the big ‘ol Code’s at the top, with the new Trail in the middle. As you can see, it’s a totally new pad and a totally new brake. Sitting in between both brakes, the X0 Trail combines the weight of the Elixir, with the caliper being only a few grams heavier and with a level of braking power that’s not far off the meatier Code. Sound good? Well, if you push your 140-160mm travel trail bike where and how it was meant, ride DH trails on your regular ‘XC loop’ or ride big alpine terrain, this is exactly what you want.
The HS1 rotor design was introduced last year with noise reduction and heat dissipation in mind – which it’s pretty damn good at, but 2013 sees the introduction of two new sizes, including both a light weight 140mm rear specific size for the weight weenie/XC crowd and a new mid-sized 170mm option. I opted to run the 180mm option front and rear over the more popular 200mm front and 180mm rear set up. I did this for two reasons: these brakes are bloody powerful anyway and I generally think 200mm’s are too big for 90% of what I ride and the 180 front and rear set up looks really neat.
From Installation to the Trail…
Fitting brakes seems to be a headache for some, which I guess is understandable, but only if you loose the instructions or don’t have the necessary tools for the job. Tools? Like all brakes, these are pre-bled, but I always re-bleed brakes from the ‘factory’ just to be sure and cut hoses to suit the bike they are going on. Avid have two after market bleed kits, but I’d recommend buying the pro kit as it will pay dividends over time, trust me!
Call me a sucker for fashion over function, but I run my bike 1 x 10 and utilise the MMX mount on the Caliper Detail – The all new 4 pot design is not your everyday offering featuring differentially sized pistons – the leading piston is 14mm in diameter, while the trailing piston is 16mm and under pressure, forces the smaller front pads to engage the rotor before the rear piston translating into what I can honestly say as superb feeling brakes, due in part to the increased modulation and control over what some would consider excess power in a ‘trail’ specific brake. Anyone familiar with Avid brakes should instantly spot something different or missing in this photo? The somewhat annoying CPS washers have gone and although they were sometime useful for troublesome alignment, the X0 Trail’s went on without any bother or issue. The adjustable banjo (the black bit) makes a return so all you perfectionists can get dialed hose routing. I should also point out that all the hardware, rotor bolts and all, are ti. These brakes are mint! Bedding the X0 Trail’s in on the first ride was no bother at all and I never had that ‘first ride’ twitch and felt more than comfortable pushing the bike as hard as I did on the migrating and nicely bedded in X9’s. Talking of the old brakes; I loved those too, well I did until these went on… It’s funny how you get used to component characteristics and adjust your technique accordingly, and that’s exactly what happened when I went from a two pot X9 to a 4 pot X0 Trail – literally coming into corner hotter than I would have before and being far more aggressive in the way I look at the trail. Too Much Power? This is something I’ve heard from within the industry and also from the public when talking about the X0 Trails and an understandable topic when talking about trail riding and 4 pot brakes. But what these brakes represent, is a choice for the consumer and that’s exactly what the market needs at this price point and the ever expanding grey area where capable 140-160mm travel bikes are quickly (quite literally too) taking us farther and into gnarlier terrain. Avid are still offering a 2 pot X0 brake, so if your weary of the power the Trail’s have, but want to pop some X0’s on your bike – no problem! So who should run these bad boys then? Read the conclusion below… Conclusion Good? Hell yeah, these brakes are awesome! I’m an Avid fan anyway and I’m also well aware of the faff in the workshop that’s often needed to make them perform in a manor some of us know they can and I still think, ‘that faff’ is well and truly worth it as Avid brakes, when set up correctly, feel absolutely amazing! While the X0 Trail’s have so far proved the easiest Avid’s to install, bleed and run with, they are certainly no Shimano when it comes to ease of set up, but then what brakes are? Once done, it’s done and I can honestly say its worth it ten times over when you hit the trail hard… When you ride on the edge and like to push hard, brakes that not only perform to their maximum, but also reassure you that you are in control, are a must and that’s exactly where the X0 Trails come in to play. Lever feel, like most Avids, is lovely and the modulation is spot on, but the X0’s take this to a new level and something that is certainly a result of the new dual chamber caliper design. Overheating and loss of power from brake dragging on long descents has not been an issue so far and being 180 pounds, I can usually cook brakes quite easily at speed. Talking of 180, the 180mm rotors have been spot on and I’m seeing more and more riders spec their bikes with uniform rotor sizes and with so much power, the 200mm option would be just too much for anything with less than 200mm of travel and sticky rubber tyres. If you’ve read this far, your well aware that I like these brakes a lot and for good reason. At a smidgen over the weight of a standard X0 system and with enough braking power to keep all the factory racer boys happy that we spotted at Leogang worlds running these brakes, there is no issue when it comes down to their aggressive credentials. So who will get the most from these awesome stoppers? This is a question only you can answer, but you’ll only get the most from these if you steer away from what many of us consider ‘normal’ trails and head out into the wild and get wild in the process. Modern ‘trail’ or AM bikes are not that far off DH bikes in many ways and when you ride them to their true potential, and if you regularly do to that matter, then these are the brakes for you! Representing a new chapter for Avid, these are truly great brakes. In the polished option we tested, the admiring glances came in thick and thin as they look awesome and will certainly add some flair to your rig! Coupled with the titanium hardware and carbon lever, and of course the performance these emit like it’s going out of fashion, your already justifying the £220 price tag and remember, that price includes the rotor size of your choice and mounting hardware… Not bad for a premium product that delivers as good as it looks! Avid brakes and Sram Components are exclusively distributed in the UK by Fisher Outdoor Leisure and for more on the X0 Trail and the Avid range, hit the big logo and see what’s up! Happy trails, Olly. 
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