If you’re a motorsport fan, the chances that you haven’t heard of Brembo before are very unlikely. The Italian manufacturer is synonymous with top-tier racing on two and four wheels, and you’ll likely find its signature red calipers sitting behind the alloy wheels of hot hatches to one-of-a-kind hypercars.
And now, those bright red calipers are available for us, the mountain bike (and e-MTB) community, but has the Italian brand been able to transfer its knowledge and legendary performance to pedal-powered vehicles? And has it done enough to steer customers away from established brands?
It has been no secret that Brembo has been working on mountain bike brakes, and its chunky motorbike-inspired levers and four-piston calipers have been spotted and photographed many times ahead of launch on Loic Bruni and Finn Iles’ Specialized Gravity team race bikes. Brembo partnered with Specialized Gravity as the development team for the new brake system, aiming to produce a powerful setup that remains consistent and reliable on a race run, while offering the adjustability that top-performing athletes demand.
The result is the Brembo GR-Pro, a brake system that still isn’t available to customers until July this year, but does come as standard on top-of-the-range Demo 11 complete builds.
If you have read any of the online comments about the Brembo GR-Pro, then you will have noticed that the design of the system has proven to be divisive. They can’t be considered svelte, and when compared to the heavily machined looks of Hope or Trickstuff, they do look positively bulky, but you know what? I kind of like it. Perhaps you need to see them in person (they do look chunky in these photos), but I like the motorbike-inspired lever and the large automotive-style caliper and big Brembo branding. It’s not for everyone, but as someone who likes to tinker with cars, there’s something very satisfying about having these big red brakes on my bike.
At the bar, the brake lever is big and chunky, which gives a sense of reliability to it. I’m not going to be worried about damaging it in a crash, as the levers certainly don’t look fragile in any way. The large red lever body is paired to a long black lever, which helps to increase the overall power, and is slightly textured to enhance grip. Some riders testing the brakes commented that the grip of the lever wasn’t quite as good as they would like, but I found it to be excellent with no concerns or slippage during my time on them. At the end of the blade, there is a nice ‘hook’ to ensure your finger stays in place even in the gnarliest of conditions.
It’s at the lever that we get to play with Brembo’s various adjustments. The forged master cylinder features 3 dedicated adjustments:
- There are three levels of lever ratio adjustment.
- Seven levels of dead stroke adjustment.
- 40 individual reach adjustment positions.
This all sounds like a lot, but I would say the amount of adjustment is similar to or on par with any other high-end brake. It just sounds like a lot as I’ve never actually counted how much reach adjust my Hayes or SRAM brakes have.
The standout feature, though, is that lever ratio adjustment, which is adjusted via a 2.5mm Allen key at the lever and labelled with either an S, M, or H, or Soft, Medium and Hard.
The adjustment doesn’t feel like it makes any difference to the overall power of the GR-Pro, just the lever feel itself – the Soft feeling more spongy and the Hard feeling more wooden. The Hard position actually felt so wooden that I was concerned that it might feel more fatiguing on the trail, but this didn’t end up being the case.
After playing around with the settings, I much preferred the Soft or Medium settings, with the Soft giving the impression of better modulation and control, although I feel that this is actually more of a placebo effect, as each of the settings was excellent on the trail, it just came down to personal preference in the end.
From the lever, the specially developed Brembo mineral oil is pushed to the piston via braided hoses, also made by Brembo, before clamping on the anchors at the caliper end. The caliper is a two-piece forged design, with the bolt heads fitted from the offside, so the body of the brake itself has a cleaner look. Power is transferred to the specially developed pads via four 18mm pistons, which are insulated to help dissipate heat.
Brembo will sell you the GR-Pro kit, which consists of:
- 2 x brake calipers
- 2 x brake levers
- 2 x braided steel hoses
- Mineral oil
- Additional pads
- Hardware
All for €750 excluding VAT. The price doesn’t include Brembo discs, which are available in either 220mm or 200mm for €59.95 each, again excluding VAT. On top of this, you don’t get caliper adapters either, so there’s another €21 each (excluding VAT) if you want to use specific Brembo adapters.
So if you were to choose to buy a full Brembo setup, you would be looking at a complete cost of €911.90, or around €1094.98 with VAT (depending on where you live). That’s quite a chunk of change, and before you think that you can save a little money using the discs you already have, I have a word of caution for you there. At the launch event, we were told that the discs are a specific 2.3mm-thick design and they must be used with the Brembo system; however, at Sea Otter, I was told this wasn’t the case. I’m waiting on a reply to clarify this.
Brembo GR-Pro Performance
This is just an initial first ride review, and although I did spend almost five full days riding on them, I didn’t have to set the brakes up or bleed them, and the trails we rode them on, while fun, weren’t exactly the steep, full-gas type of terrain that would cause brake fade on many brakes.
What I can say is that it didn’t take long for the Brembo tech team to swap the hoses around on the demo bikes from EU to UK arrangements, and ensure they were correctly bled, so either the mechanics had everything down to a T or they’re much easier to live with than, say, the Lewis brakes I tested earlier in the year.
I can also say that each of the adjustments on the lever does make a noticeable difference to the feel of the brake, but importantly, not the power, so regardless of how I had them set up, the power remained consistent and predictable, which is exactly what we want. Nobody wants an unpredictable brake system, do they?
Once I had the levers dialled in to where I wanted them to be, I had a quick initial ride around the gravel parking lot, which acted as our pits, and was instantly struck by just how much power is on tap. The slightest pull of the long lever instantly turns into impressive stopping power. It’s aggressive and surprising the first time you feel it, and I was initially concerned that they may feel grabby on the trail, but this wasn’t the case. In fact, far from it. Once on the trail and hitting descents, I quickly realised just how controlled the power is, and how easy it was to scrub off speed without locking up the wheels and losing traction.
It might sound counterintuitive, but the power and performance of the Brembo GR-Pro actually made me a faster rider. I was more confident to ride into trails at a faster speed and brake later, knowing I could slow down exactly where and when I needed to. Even braking in corners, which I know you shouldn’t do, was possible at speed without losing traction or speed, thanks to the impressive lever feel and the modulation available.
Throughout the week of riding, I rode the Brembo GR-Pro on an Amflow PL Carbon trail bike and Orbea Wild, and on both bikes, they felt incredible. The only issue I encountered was on the Orbea Wild, which couldn’t have the brake hoses swapped around due to the frankly stupid through-headset routing, so I had to ride for one day with Euro brakes. I only accidentally yanked on the front brake by mistake once; the rest of the time, I rode just as confidently and quickly as I would with UK brakes, as I knew I had plenty of power on tap and didn’t need to worry about locking up the brakes and risking an over-the-bars situation.
Overall, I was really impressed with the GR-Pro. While they didn’t feel much more powerful than the Mavens I’m currently using, the lever feel and consistency did feel more predictable, and I instantly felt at ease with the big red stoppers.
Brembo GR-Pro – Early verdict
So has Brembo successfully produced a top-tier MTB brake system? For me, the answer is a resounding yes so far. The GR-Pro offers incredible lever feel and modulation that is up there with the best of them. The power that’s available from a light pull of the long moto-inspired lever isn’t hugely different from, say, a Hayes Dominion A4 or SRAM Maven, but the modulation is the standout here. This combo means incredible stopping power and the ability to maintain traction while riding in various conditions. It’s as close to what I imagine a cycling version of ABS would feel like without having to rely on all the complicated electrical systems.
The sticking point is the price. Brembo has designed the GR-Pro to be its flagship brake set, designed for World Cup riders, and that comes with a serious price tag. We’re also told that we must use Brembo’s own mineral oil, and we’ve had mixed messaging about whether we must use Brembo’s own 2.3mm-thick discs, so they might not be quite as easy to live with as a SRAM or Shimano system.
However, if Brembo has been able to engineer in the levels of reliability that they’re capable of with automotive brakes, then the proposition becomes a little easier to swallow. If I were to purchase a set of GR-Pro, I would consider them an investment and hope to get five years of use out of them. In all honesty, I’m tempted.
I’ll wait to receive the Brembo GR-Pro for a longer-term test before giving a final verdict, but so far they’ve managed to impress me in every aspect, from their chunky looks and high price to their impeccable on-trail performance and reliability. If they manage to keep running as well as this, and they prove easy to live with, then they’ll easily become a top contender. Keep posted for a complete review later this year.
