SRAM Guide RS Disc Brake

While the Elixirs were excellent performers, SRAM felt they could do better, so it hit the drawing board and spent countless hours testing and revising a new braking platform from the ground up, resulting in the new Guide brakes. The SRAM Guide RS Brake falls in the middle of the new Guide family, offering an upgraded lever design over the Guide R, but not quite reaching as far as the Guide RSC (the "C" signifying "Contact" point adjustment capability). Whereas the more basic Guide R brake relies on the proven DirectLink lever design, the RS and RSC models step it up with SwingLink. SwingLink utilizes a specially shaped cam that not only requires less travel and force to produce proportional amounts of pressure, it minimizes the "deadspot" of lever travel. Paired with the new cup-seal timing port closure system, this means that you receive perfect modulation immediately, in that once the lever is squeezed, a cup seal swiftly passes this area and closes the port, pressurizing the system and forcing the pads to the rotor. The caliper paired with the Guide RS is the powerful 4-piston, dual 14- and 16mm diameter model used in the current Trail Brake systems, and it comes with SRAM's steel-backed organic pads. The forged aluminum construction means long-term durability and ease of pad removal via the top-loading design. The SRAM Guide RS Disc Brake comes as a Front/left or Rear/right lever and caliper configuration, with the package-completing Centerline Rotor sold separately. Additionally, the lever assembly is Matchmaker-compatible, meaning you're able to run your various controls off one tidy lever clamp. READ OUR REVIEW