Author Topic: Your views on 901 Dia Compe Brakes (Read 2971 times)

Swivel · « **on:** November 11, 2009, 08:36 PM »

Would any of you not install these on your bike? I know MX 1000's and 900's are the rage with builds but 901's came out (Mark J told me the other day) around late 84/85! So did the pro's not use them as they shite, what's the deal with that? If I look through the museum on here or on other sites, I see so many builds with MX 1000's etc.. but hardly any from 85/86 builds with 901's on them. I'm debating whether to install a set on my 85 master due to this reason only. Let me know your thoughts....

Matt

magna13 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 11, 2009, 08:44 PM »

well its like any caliper brake, spend time setting it up and it'll work a treat. gonna install one on my new bike i've bought, twas a £5 jobbie off Jai complete with DC blocks and Weinmann 'Semi-Adjuster'

HUTCHMAN · « **Reply #2 on:** November 11, 2009, 08:47 PM »

Haven't got a problem with em,i've got them on two of mine...Trickstar and XL24,dated early enough to be era correct and tbh i think they work every bit as well if not better than MX1000'S.

daz bmx it! · « **Reply #3 on:** November 11, 2009, 08:50 PM »

I agree with the Hutchman

In my opinion MX's are overhyped,overpriced (now anyway) and dont work any better anyway,they just look quite nice and we all remember them from bitd

JT Smooth · « **Reply #4 on:** November 11, 2009, 08:55 PM »

Hi Matt, I have sold a ton of 901 sets and they have all been stamped 84.
I have found they work better than 900 or 1000s on any race bike I have
had them on. I seen some bellend on ebay has a set of black for £99

ozone · « **Reply #5 on:** November 11, 2009, 08:56 PM »

The rears are fine on a freestyle bike but the fronts will hit the downtube if you try to spin the bars. There's also an issue with cable routing as the adjusters and anchor are on the opposite side to MX1000s.

901 brakes work fine and look OK so so use em if you want to

monkian · « **Reply #6 on:** November 11, 2009, 08:58 PM »

I think it just comes down to aesthetics for me (I guess price might have a say as well).
A completely personal thing but I don't think they're as tough looking. Elegant though for sure.
However if they're era correct on a build I doubt anyone can have a major problem with them.
Whatever floats your boat brother

As for how they work I couldn't really say.

rollin72 · « **Reply #7 on:** November 11, 2009, 09:00 PM »

ive used them on all my builds the main reason being the cost, i cant justify paying £150+ for a set of 1000's for a bike im never going to use, and i dont give a toss about what anybody thinks, if your bothered by what other people think get the 1000's then you wont look like a cheapskate, they're all sh1t anyway they dont work half as good as n/s brakes. its all down to how you think a build should be,top of the range parts, era correct or within what you can afford, hope this helps, nice1 gaz

brass monkey! · « **Reply #8 on:** November 11, 2009, 09:01 PM »

MX901's are cheap as they are in plentiful supply, and as there are a lot about they're not as desirable. They fall into the same catagory of Shimano SX Pedals - which were mid 80's pedals, but as they're are a lot of em still boxed they're not that desirable?

Both IMHO a decent part...

Don't mean they're not as good as MX1000's as the other said, however if you go back to say 2003 MX1000's could be bought for less than 40 quid for a NOS Set,

Personally I like a nice set of Shimano DX's, but they are also cheaper than MX1000's and are also not that plentiful, it's a stange old game

My opinion Matt is, if you like them, use them...it's your choice - no one elses.

magna13 · « **Reply #9 on:** November 11, 2009, 09:10 PM »

As of most above, MX1000's and 900's are pretty nice brakes but i'd have no issues setting a set of 901's to a build, i really like them and thing they work quite nice

Dia-Compe caliper brakes rule!

Mattdub · « **Reply #10 on:** November 11, 2009, 09:14 PM »

Like Ozone says ^^^^^^ , a good rear brake but not a good front brake

.

Racebike only IMO ( as in rear only ) .

bobafett · « **Reply #11 on:** November 11, 2009, 09:43 PM »

I like a mix in my collection but try to keep fairly era correct unless it's for a rider

Therefore I'll use 'em all 890 / 1020 / 900 / 1000 / 901 etc. depending on the build.

I've got 901's on my black cali and another set earmarked for another cali so I'm quite happy with them on 84+ builds

As mentioned above though it's all about how you see the build Matt

As for useability I've got them on my supergoose rider and I'm happy with 'em

JT71 · « **Reply #12 on:** November 12, 2009, 09:17 AM »

as has already been said, the 901 is far superior brake to the MX1000/900 and costs less.

so for any build after 84 it's useful.

but sh1t for potts mods.

ideal for riders, as they work better than the massively over priced 1000/900s

however, so far, no bmx forum has come out and made the mx901 the MUST HAVE brake, so prices have stayed reasonable!

moley · « **Reply #13 on:** November 12, 2009, 09:33 AM »

Quote from: JT71 on November 12, 2009, 09:17 AM

as has already been said, the 901 is far superior brake to the MX1000/900 and costs less.

so for any build after 84 it's useful.

but sh1t for potts mods.

ideal for riders, as they work better than the massively over priced 1000/900s

however, so far, no bmx forum has come out and made the mx901 the MUST HAVE brake, so prices have stayed reasonable!

901's work better than 1000's.

Freestylers always use the 880/901 combo to fix the problems with the front brake arm which gives good leverage but always spoils the frame. You can also buy the 880/901 combo as a set so Potts mods could be used.

I've always thought 1000's were overhyped!!

beard1973 · « **Reply #14 on:** November 12, 2009, 09:42 AM »

I used a 901 on my Robinson Amtrac and found it worked a treat.

The Amtrac was a 92' frame and forks so the brake was probably a bit early for the bike but looked stunning IMHO... and it worked.

Zippy · « **Reply #15 on:** November 12, 2009, 11:38 AM »

When I had my Team Aero pro as a kid the first thing I changed on it was the brakes. Got rid of the 900's and replace them with 901's.

Spen69 · « **Reply #16 on:** November 12, 2009, 02:03 PM »

Matt - I think everyone's made their case bud, they're a cracking brake unless you want them on a freestyler you're gonna ride and then you have the pots mod issue and the adjuster does hit the frame. I've build loads of bikes with them and they work great, just watch the fresh podercoating on the downtube...... $:-\$

Spen

meticulous · « **Reply #17 on:** November 12, 2009, 03:36 PM »

am i the only one who is going to admit to being a mx1000 snob....

tbh i dont remember the 901's they came out after i jacked it all in....

my fave brakes are 890/1020 really just because they are so old school, and are quite cheap too....

but i do use 901's on my rider... my retro quad..... with pitbull rear

kirk · « **Reply #18 on:** November 12, 2009, 04:10 PM »

How many of us back in the day put them on because they were new and did work better with the 880 front? I then moved on to the Nippons when they came out and they were in a different zone to the 1000`s and 901/88 0 set ups.

mark 2 · « **Reply #19 on:** November 12, 2009, 05:42 PM »

BMX was like anything else as a kid , you'd always try and have the latest thing and be up to date . By 85 MX1000 would have been old hat, also Tech 3's. 901's and Tech 4 were the latest thing and kids and pro's alike would want to be moving forward with the "technology". So I'd say an 85 bike most typically would have that gear on and be more authentic to the time.

Bob_Acid · « **Reply #20 on:** November 12, 2009, 06:16 PM »

I rode till 86 and only had MX1000 or 890, tbh though by then i'd stopped reading the mags and had a lack of cash so it was more about what i could lay my hands on.

paulgray · « **Reply #21 on:** November 12, 2009, 06:44 PM »

Quote from: Swivel on November 11, 2009, 08:36 PM

Would any of you not install these on your bike? I know MX 1000's and 900's are the rage with builds but 901's came out (Mark J told me the other day) around late 84/85! So did the pro's not use them as they shite, what's the deal with that? If I look through the museum on here or on other sites, I see so many builds with MX 1000's etc.. but hardly any from 85/86 builds with 901's on them. I'm debating whether to install a set on my 85 master due to this reason only. Let me know your thoughts....

Matt

Mx1000 and Mx890 were very popular but in a word, CRAP! Never tried a 901 though, but it looks like it uses a small diameter shaft like the others so it's probably similar. I was using some Perigrine brakes in 88 which were better but still not good, got a Pitbull and an ACS Boa on my old bike now and they work well.

dannywhiteley · « **Reply #22 on:** November 12, 2009, 07:18 PM »

I had a set of 901's with tech 4's on my TA but decided (probably through subconsious peer pressure

) that I would swap them for MX1000's and tech 3's. I was never aware of the differences until relatively recently as I was a bit young in the 80's to really care about specific parts (as long as the brakes stopped me) but I now think that despite 901's probably being the better working brakes, 1000's just look so much better.

Then again, on a TA they are more 'era correct' anyway.

currio · « **Reply #23 on:** November 12, 2009, 07:25 PM »

As Sam's point earlier, this thread seems to have found a lot of 901 fans.
After reading the thread through, I thought, maybe you're parts choice (BITD and now) would vary more by the era you remember.

I think maybe '82 to late '84, maybe early '85, that's the time when I stopped buying the magazines', started losing interest maybe.
This was my era, it was MX1000's, they were top of the range, with the cheeky semi automatic going on.
Saying that, this 'upgrade' was coming from 1020's or 890's, so maybe that's another reason why they are sought after.

Author Topic: Your views on 901 Dia Compe Brakes (Read 2971 times)

magna13

daz bmx it!

ozone

monkian

magna13

JT71

moley

kirk

mark 2

paulgray

dannywhiteley

currio