Lewis LHT Brakes Review: Haters gonna hate.
Funding
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Thanks, Paul.
Introduction
In the ever-evolving world of mountain biking, braking performance is one of the keys to confidence. Confidence in knowing exactly when you can stop is crucial, and once you get used to high-performance brakes, anything sub-par can make yours fade.
The Lewis LHT brakes have garnered significant attention recently. Are they just a Chinese copy of Trickstuff brakes? Did the designer from Trickstuff flee to Lewis because he couldn’t achieve what he wanted in Germany (hearsay!)? Do they work as well as influencers with freebies claim, or are they the real deal? One thing is for certain: these polarising brakes spark heated debates in online comments.
I bought a pair with my own money and have had them for a while now. Overall they’ve been excellent.
Test rig of choice.
Lewis LHT Details:
Two-piece caliper
4x 17mm pistons
Unique leverage ratio adjuster
Titanium bolts + pistons
Mineral fluid
639g pair
Price: £480 / €530 pair
Design and Build Quality
I opted for the Lewis LHT as they were the premium model at the time of purchase. The "T" stands for titanium, as they feature gold titanium bolts throughout and titanium/ceramic pistons to save weight. (Not that I’ve ever cared about the weight of a brake). Despite all these golt Ti bits, the cheap black caliper bolts were a bit boring, so I swapped them for stainless steel bolts to keep the look consistent. The pad retention pins use a flat-head screwdriver, which is a bit annoying when all other bolts are Torx or hex.
The LHT model over the LH model boasts the exclusive leverage ratio adjuster which changes the overall feel/modulation of the lever which I don’t believe exists on any other brake. The LH model is significantly cheaper at £335, the difference being they but don’t have the leverage ratio adjuster or any Ti-parts.
The lever pivots on a cam that can be rotated to move the actual pivot point and change the feel. Explained nicely in this post from MTB-Progress.
Dem rotors are hype! The flat-head pad retention bolt annoyed me more than it should have, though.
Sitting pretty on the Ti-Ton-A-Tron!
The rest of the brakes are nicely machined from 7075-T6 aluminium and bear a striking resemblance to Trickstuff. On this premium brake, reinforced kevlar hoses come as standard.
The stock sintered pads were noisy and caused noticeable vibration on the rear brake when paired with my custom rotors. This could have been because the pads didn’t look to be perfectly flat judging by the wear on them after a few rides. I swapped them out to some UberBike E-Matrix rear and Race Matrix front to try out and they were excellent.
Another interesting feature is the anti-leak hose system is the ability to swap or remove hoses without fluid loss—handy for re-routing or flipping the brakes for left-hand riders if your mates riding Euro style and need to borrow a bike.
The Matchmakers could leave a little extra room for the T25 key
The sintered pads didn’t seem super flat from the start
Bleeding
Bleeding these brakes became extremely frustrating. I’m no World Cup-level mechanic, but I’ve got a solid understanding of most MTB maintenance. Despite following the official Lewis/EZMTB instructional video to the letter multiple times, I kept encountering the same issue:
The brakes felt perfect on the first pull. Release the lever, pull again and the bite point would pull back by around 1cm. Pumping brought it back to the original bite point. This would also constantly happen when riding - as I mentioned in the opening paragraph this faded confidence and fun.
I tried various other techniques—bleeding up from the caliper, gravity bleeding from the lever, and more—but couldn’t solve it. Eventually, I stumbled upon a solution from Bee_kay77’s Instagram reel, which explained the root issue and a fix. After following his advice, the brakes were finally bled perfectly. I’d heavily recommend this to riders struggling with the same issue.
I also reached out on instagram to my followers and had numerous riders saying they had struggled with the same issue. Hopefully, Lewis can squeeze out this problem in the future to help everyone easily get a solid bleed.
Performance
Once set up, the Lewis LHT brakes were excellent.
The lever feel is incredibly light and smooth before hitting the bite point, possibly even lighter than the weightless feel of the Trickstuff Direttissima. The lever throw angle is very similar to Trickstuff and feels very natural.
They have massive stopping power on par with the best brakes available. I don’t think anybody moving from any other brake will have a problem here. Even with this power and heavy use, I had no issues at all with any heat problems in the brakes,
The modulation is adjustable with the leverage ratio adjuster making a noticeable difference. I preferred maximum modulation, which felt closer to the Hope Tech4 V4 with a softer feel and a less aggressive bite. At the other end of the adjustment range, they resembled the Direttissima. This adjuster combined with a really wide range of lever reach and bite point adjustment means that literally, any rider should ba able to get the feel they want.
Conclusion
After working through the initial setup struggles, the Lewis brakes have been excellent. The main question is, are they better than Trickstuff?
As someone who has used both, I’d be hard-pressed to recommend my friends to spend over £1,000 on Trickstuff when the Lewis LHT costs £480. While they aren’t exactly cheap, (Lewis LH versions drop in at €359 but lose the leverage adjuster and Ti parts) the performance-to-price ratio is much more palatable. Personally, and probably because I’m British, if I was going to buy one pair of brakes for myself I would still go for the Hope Tech4 V’s. They work out to be the same price, with a chunkier and more robust look, and have Hope’s eternal spare parts availability for everything from a caliper to the smallest seal.
But, Lewis is clearly here to stay and are expanding rapidly into the market. These have been excellent brakes which I will happily continue to ride (and i’m chomping to splash out on a pair of the 8-piston Sur-Ron brakes!). I know you will be divided, some of you will love them despite being “Chinese copies” and the rest can put their money where their mouth is and support Trickstuff.