Interbike - Hayes

Although Hayes has been advertising it's new El Camino brakes for months, my first real sighting of the new brakes didn't happen until last weekend's Nationals at Mammoth Mountain. According to Hayes officials, there are less than a handful of the elusive new brakes in existence. Aside from WTB's infamous tough guy Mark Weir and current downhill world champion Fabian Barel (both have been giving Hayes tons of feedback), we'll all have to wait until after Interbike to ride the hyped hydraulic brakes.

Fortunately, I was able to snag the brakeset from a toolbox at Giant's team trailer. Before the appropriate personnel snapped the goods from my hands, I took a couple pictures and man-handled the El Caminos long enough to learn the following:

Power can be adjusted by a lever-mounted dial. The easy-to-turn dial allows finicky riders to alter modulation on the fly, even while blasting down steep trails. The dial's indexed clicks change the lever's mechanical advantage. It's sort of like installing longer or shorter levers for more or less leverage, but it only takes a few quick turns.

The caliper is forged from a solid piece of 6061 T6 aluminum. Although the new calipers take more time to manufacture, the design drops weight and adds stiffness.

The brake fluid reservoir is hidden in the brake clamp. It's the same master cylinder design as previous models, but it looks much sleeker and should make bleeding the system easier.

I promise I'll move faster at Interbike and bring deeper pockets. That way I can sneak 'em home, beat the hell out of them and give you, the readers, a full, long-term report on the new El Caminos.