The Dash Carbon is the flagship brake of Tektro’s Racing Product range. The carbon lever is a few grams lighter than the £40 cheaper Dash, with a new lightweight 180mm rotor taking the brakeset below 400g.
Tektro’s brakes are generally excellent quality and very reliable, and if you do need to bleed them it’s relatively simple. The sintered pads last well and compatibility with old-style Shimano XT pads makes finding replacements easy.
A slippery finish on the rotor means random initial feel though, so patient bedding-in is essential if you want to get the consistently smooth, progressive control they can offer. This makes them great on technical singletrack, although power is slightly lacking hauling down from higher speeds.
This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.
