SHIMANO Shimano SMRT86L2 - bicycle accessories, Aluminium, Black

The XT SM-RT86 disc boasts IceTech technology which significantly reduces heat build-up in the braking system. This reduction in turn allows us to limit wear, ensuring constant high quality, even on long descents. Equipped with a central layer of aluminum between two layers of stainless steel, to dissipate heat more quickly.

Construction Shimanos compact XT brake lever and parallel double-barrelled reservoir is derived from the well-regards XTR brake, and comes with an adjustable cam system. This Servo-Wave design pushes more fluid at the start of the stroke (affording the pads more clearance) before smoothing out the force on the rotor when you apply the brakes more firmly.The stubby, hooked-lever assembly comes with a free stroke screw (we ran this fully in) and a tool-free reach adjuster

Performance Weve already tried the mega-powerful XT brakes with the metal pads and found them slightly too grabby, so we opted for the resin (F01A) finned pads. With these in place, control and modulation were excellent at low speeds and on sketchy, steep sections in both wet or dry, but still equally capable of scorching to a rapid halt on high-speed fire roads and downhill tracks.The short lever blade fitted our forefinger perfectly

Verdict The latest Shimano XT brakes are hard to fault, with true one-finger operation whatever the conditions. Awesome, manageable power is combined with rotors and pads that keep on performing consistently. Our only small gripe is that running the levers very close to the grip exceeds the optimum leverage position of the cam - a XT lever without the cam, as found on the XTR Race brake, would be a 10/10 for us.

Ice-Tec rotors achieve long pad life, less noise and less fade due to improved heat dispersion