SRAM Maven Base Disc Brake [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.

The SRAM Maven has received a lot of attention for being one of the most powerful brake sets on the market, bred from downhill racing. See what our customer thinks of the brake set! 

Overview

The initial lineup of the SRAM Maven was the Bronze, Silver (with contact point adjustment), and Ultimate (with titanium hardware and a contact point adjustment). All three used the Swinglink lever design, which helped create that progressive buildup of power that some liked and others disliked. Then in came the SRAM Maven Base relatively under the radar. The Base alone has two main differences compared to the Ultimate, Silver, and Bronze, and that’s the caliper contains four 18mm pistons versus two 19.5mm and two 18mm found on the other three, and the biggest difference is the use of a Direct Link lever design. The Direct Link lever design uses a rod compared to a cam, which creates a more linear brake feel. A minor difference is that the Base lever pivots on a bushing, while the other three pivot on a bearing.

Who/What/Where

I’m 5’9”, 160lb, dad and weekend warrior. I consider myself an intermediate rider who prefers the technicalities of riding over jumping or big lines. I ride a 2023 Ibis Ripley AF V1 with an aggressive build spec suited to my terrain and my type of riding. I wouldn’t consider the stock Ripley AF a featherweight by any means, but I’ve done a terrible job of making it any better, choosing performance over weight. I ride in the Midwest United States, and before you consider my review null and void due to not being in the mountains, I do ride a hidden gem that allows me to have 100-200ft descents over 0.5-1 mile long sections of trail.  The terrain contains harder-packed dirt with rocks and roots scattered about.

The V1 Ibis Ripley came stock with SRAM G2 brakes, with organic pads and 180mm rotors front and rear. The first ride on the G2 provided disappointing braking power. A switch to metallic brake pads and a 200mm rotor up front provided better braking performance, but nothing worth noting. After many unconfident miles on the G2 brakeset, I desired real braking performance. My very extensive search for new brakes led me to the SRAM Maven Base brakeset due to the ability to run Matchmaker, the smaller piston sizes, and the Direct Link lever design, which was similar in feel to my outgoing G2 brakeset. At $205 a piece, I would not classify them as budget, but they are very competitive when it comes to cost-to-performance ratio. 

Out of the Box

Receiving the brakeset I was very surprised to find that the rear brake came with a, T25/T10 Torx Allen wrench, Bleeding Edge attachment, a bleed block, a Matchmaker clamp, SRAM Stealth-a-Majig barb/olive, a piston massage tool and a SRAM 20P-2 post mount adapter which is for converting 180mm or 200mm post mounts to 200mm or 220mm. I decided to run 180mm rotors front and rear, and had to acquire an SRAM 20P-1 post mount adapter to convert my 160mm rear post mount to 180mm. The front brake came with the T25/T10 Torx Allen wrench, Matchmaker clamp, SRAM Stealth-a-Majig barb/olive, piston massage tool, and a SRAM 20P-2 post mount adapter.   It’s apparent that SRAM wanted you

Setup

This was my first time doing any sort of brake work on SRAM brakes. Trimming the lines and installing the SRAM Stealth-a-Majig barb/olive were relatively straightforward. The bleed I found to be slightly finicky. Using all the resources provided by SRAM, I failed to get a good initial bleed on the bike. What I found was that pressing the lever what as explained in the service manual and available YouTube videos, produced quite the fountain of oil and allowed air to be introduced into the system. What ended up working is following all the steps up to pressing the lever. I kept the Bleeding Edge syringe attached. I closed off the lever as explained in the instructional video and manual, but then opened the Bleeding Edge and vacuumed out any remaining air in the system. Once I was confident there was no air in the system. I then pressurized the system from the caliper, then closed the Bleeding Edge port. All my trial and error of bleeding these brakes occurred on the rear brake. Once I figured out the process, the front brake took less than 30 minutes to bleed with little to no mess. I achieved almost identical bleeds on both brakes. I completed piston massaging on both calipers beforehand to eliminate any future headaches. 

Ride Impressions

My initial setup with these brakes was the stock organic brake pads, with 180mm SRAM Centerline rotors front and rear. I’d consider this setup the lowest-powered option you can run. 

On the trail, right off the bat, these brakes had great power. The lever has a smooth, linear feel to it with great modulation. They are not grabby; they don’t have that on/off feel as the Shimano counterpart has. Overall, power even in its tuned-down state has allowed me to brake later with much more control. Something I’ve also been able to accomplish with the light modulation is using the rear brake to steer without breaking traction. I experienced no fading, but I’ll have to admit I don’t have the terrain to really prove anything of that nature. I have had no wondering bite point or mushy brake lever feel that has plagued others. I’ll also note I had zero brake pad rattle, which I know can be an issue with other brands.

An issue I did find with the SRAM Centerline rotors was due to the power of the Mavens; they did flex under load. Not only was this noisy (a clicking noise during an initial bite), but it did caused a rotor to come out of true. I’ve since moved to the SRAM HS2 rotor, still in 180mm front and rear. This change has provided more modulation, no noise, and the rotors have stayed true after hard braking.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I’m extremely pleased with the SRAM Maven Bases. I think they provide light linear modulation with great consistent power. They have been everything I was looking for and then some for the money. I think the performance-to-cost ratio is a hidden gem that offers a lot. The only thing I’d like to see out of these brakes is a bearing lever upgrade that would allow the brakes to be even lighter. The SRAM Maven Base might seem like overkill to some, but I think these brakes would be a great addition to any trail, enduro or downhill bike!