Hayes Dominion Disc Brakes [Rider Review]

Our "Rider Review" article series features the honest reviews from verified purchasers of Worldwide Cyclery. They contain the photos, thoughts, feedback & overall review you are looking for.

Hayes Dominion four piston brakes were made with Downhill and Enduro racers in mind. The lever pull feel is VERY light, however the power modulation has a bite! See what our customer thinks about the brakes!

Overview

I have been running the Hayes Dominion A4 brakes on my Pivot Mach 6 for about a month now – enough to get in a handful of local rides, but nothing epic yet. I bought them to replace the SRAM Code R’s that I’ve been running on the bike for the past year. I also paired these brakes with 200mm SRAM HS2 rotors, which work great.

I weigh in at about 215 lbs all geared up, so I really want my brakes to feel powerful and not spongey. I was not happy with the Codes, especially on longer and steeper descents. I felt that I was needing to use between 60-80% of their braking power on my normal rides, so it didn’t take too long before it felt like I was pushing past 100% of the Code’s capabilities. I could notice the fading quite a bit on steeper and longer rides, but maybe that was more to do with the Centerline rotors I was using before the upgrade. Either way the stopping power and feel of how the power is applied is vastly superior with the Hayes brakes. I haven’t even played around very much with the adjustability – I’ve dialed in the reach a bit, but it’s felt fairly comfortable right away. I might experiment a little more as I ride more.

The lever feel (the parking lot squeeze test) with the Hayes Dominion A4 brakes is phenomenal.

I think it’s a combination of how the spring works with the sturdy material of the level itself. The construction quality and finish of the brakes is top quality, and they look really good on my bike. I did have to ditch the matchmaker mounts from SRAM for my dropper lever and shifter, and that did cost me almost $50 for the new “SRAM proprietary” mounts, but I’m OK with the outcome. One other thing that has a dramatic effect on the lever feel (both at standstill and while riding) is the Kevlar reinforced brake hoses. With the Code brakes, I could feel the swell or the ballooning effect of the brake hose, and I think that’s what led to a lot of the “spongey” feeling with the Code brakes. Not so with the Hayes Dominions! They feel firm and direct, and it doesn’t take much pull force to achieve a great amount of stopping force – now I need to get better at my body position and weight distribution so I don’t fly OTB every time I grab a bunch of brake!

I did previously spend time on Shimano XT brakes (before the Codes), and I would say that so far the Hayes Dominion A4’s are about equal in stopping power to the XT’s… while actually maybe a little more powerful. The Hayes brakes definitely have a smoother action and modulation, and in my opinion they look better as well.

Final Thoughts

One feature I really appreciate, but haven’t spent much time with yet, is the sideways adjustment bolts in the mounting system. While getting a caliper to line up with the rotor wasn’t impossible before, it is really nice to see a simple but helpful design to give a systematic approach to making sure there is no brake rotor rubbing against the brake pads.