Did you notice that all SRAM mountain bike brakes are all mineral oil based now? In addition to the newly released Motive line-up today, SRAM expands their previous mineral oil Maven and DB lines to offer powerful, low maintenance brakes at all price points. Now, a new Maven Base brakeset trickles down ‘Extreme Duty’ stopping power with simplified internals. Then, DB6 & DB4 brakes do the same for all-rounder ‘Heavy Duty’ braking for everything from cross-country to all-mountain riders.
SRAM MTB brakes all stop on mineral oil now!
First with the debut of budget 4-piston DB8s three years ago, and then last winter’s super-powered Maven brakes, SRAM committed to mineral oil. They described the transition away from DOT brake fluid as a user-friendly upgrade after refining their hydraulic & seal designs to work with the new-to-them brake fluid. Then, today with all-new Motives, SRAM is all-in on mineral oil. And that means riders won’t have to bleed their brakes quite as often.
It also means it was time for SRAM to fill out their brake line-up, bringing their new mineral oil mountain bike brake families to a broader audience and especially to lower price points.
Enter 3 new affordable mountain bike brakesets, plus a new premium limited edition.
Maven Base
The new SRAM Maven Base brakes (simply labelled now as Maven) retail for $185 / 200€ / £ 180 per brake front or rear.
The new Maven Base features a slightly revised caliper design with four same-size 18mm pistons (instead of the 18mm & 19.5mm pistons in the high-end Mavens), a more basic compression hose fitting at the caliper, and a new lever that uses the cheaper/simpler DirectLink system instead of more progressive SwingLink of Maven Ultimate, Silver & Bronze. SRAM says this provides “slightly less overall progressive power, but a very similar feeling in power delivery during most average braking scenarios.”
It still fits into SRAM’s top ‘Extreme Duty’ braking category for the most technical mountain bike riding.
DB6 & DB4
The new SRAM DB6 brakes retail for $95 / 105€ / £ 95 per brake front or rear.
And then, the new SRAM DB6 brakes retail for $75 / 80€ / £ 75 per brake front or rear.
The original DB8 levers are ambidextrous, so you can simply swap levers side-to-side without swapping hoses – useful if you borrow someone’s bike that rides brakes set up moto/UK style. But the new DB6 & DB4 are right or left specific. DB6 levers still use a Matchmaker MMX-compatible clamp. DB4 brakes do not have Matchmaker integration.
All versions use the same brake caliper and pads, and all have identical braking feel and performance.
Maven Ultimate Expert Kit
The strictly limited edition teal splatter ano SRAM Maven Ultimate Stealth Expert Kit brakeset retails for $600 / 655€ / £ 585 for the entire setup, including both brakes, two sets of rotors, 2 sets of brake pads, titanium mounting hardware, bleed kit, multi-tool, and travel bag.
SRAM Maven & DB mineral oil MTB brakes – All available now
In addition to the two new Eagle Mechanical groupsets, three tiers of all-new Motives and the limited edition Motive Ultimate Expert Kit, which also all debuted today… these 3 new affordable mountain bike brakesets and the premium limited edition Maven Ultimate Expert Kit are all available now. Reach out to your local SRAM dealer to upgrade your stopping power. Or head directly to SRAMnation.com to try to grab one of those Expert kits before they sell out.
