Review: Hayes Dominion T2 Brakes

In pursuit of shaving every last gram, Hayes has tricked out the T2 with a Reynolds-made carbon lever, titanium hardware, a composite reservoir cover, aluminum-backed pads, and a good deal of machining to take off excess material. The resulting form is sleek and function-driven, giving you the sense that only the critical elements have been left behind. Luckily, when it comes to on-trail performance, things aren't quite as minimalistic.




Setup

When it comes to getting things dialed in, the Dominions are easy and consistent to work with. Having swapped them around on a few bikes at this point, I've had to go through the line-cut and bleed procedure more than once, and have never had it give me any trouble. Thanks to the dual bleed ports on the caliper, you can always be sure the system is free of any hidden bubbles. With the ingenious Crosshair Alignment screws, pad spacing is much easier than just about every other brake design out there. Simply snug the caliper bolts most of the way, then use the 2mm grub screws to push the outboard pad away from the rotor until you have even clearance. As far as I see it, this should be a requisite design element on all high-end brakesets from here out.

The only negative in the setup process - and with the brakes in general - are the delicate little screws used to adjust the pad contact. The reach screw has just enough material to it to allow for safe adjustment with the 2mm hex, but the pad contact screw is very easy to strip while also requiring a good deal of force to move. Luckily you shouldn't be messing with the latter all that much, and it stays put over long periods of use without shifting position. Compared to the very well-integrated reach adjust on the A4/A2 models (which don't use a carbon lever), this mode of adjustment feels much less robust, and less convenient. That said, handle with care, and all should be well.


Performance

A lot of folks will automatically default to using a 4-piston brake, regardless of the purview of the bike, but I'm here to say I think the humble 2-piston counterparts have their place. What you give up in pad modulation, you gain in initial bite, which might suit certain riders and applications. I'm thinking of folks who like to quickly stab the brakes on and off, ride areas that don't have seriously long descents, and those who fastidiously weigh their bike parts.

What has impressed me again and again about the Dominion T2s was just how consistent they've been across long runs and extended periods of use. I've used the 4-piston A4 quite a bit as well, and don't find these lacking in comparison when it comes to fade performance. The primary feel difference between the two is the overall power, which seems to have no ceiling with the A4. The T2 has plenty of power for many situations, but doesn't keep giving you more as you reef on the lever. For some, this snappier bite point could seem like a turnoff, but the Dominions have a trick up their sleeve: the impressively light action at the lever. This allows you to actuate the brake with much less force, making the contact point all the more distinct and easy to feather. I've found that with both the A4 and the T2, this ultra-light lever feel leads to less arm pump over the course of a long run, and allows you to be more precise with your braking points.


Ultimately, the A4 (or newly released T4) are going to be the choice for folks looking for all-out stopping power balanced with easy and consistent modulation. The smaller 2-piston options will serve many very well though, as the crisp bite point and lower overall power can suit certain bikes quite well. I'm torn as to whether I believe in the all-the-brake-all-the-time mantra, or whether XC / light trail bikes warrant a less massive anchor.

It's worth noting that although Hayes strongly encourages the use of their D-series rotors, I've had great luck with plenty of other options out there. Magura Storm HCs, SRAM Centerlines, and SRAM HS2 rotors were my typical choices, primarily because they're what I had hanging on that nail on the wall. While the thicker options did seem to have better feel, the Centerlines didn't fall short.

My one setup suggestion is to skip the semi-metallic pads, and go straight for the sintered option. Thanks to the relatively small mass of the caliper, the pads heat up rather quickly, which is a boon to the performance of the sintered options, but causes the semi-metallics to struggle. The semi-metallics have a tendency to overheat, where I never really faced that issue with the sintered pads.


Durability

To further assuage any concerns you might have about an ultralight brake, I present my long-term abuse test: years of use on a trail bike, followed by a full through-ride of the Colorado Trail this past summer. They were reliably slowing me down for months on Bellingham's steep trails, so I figured the T2s would be a good choice on my bikepacking rig. After 550 miles of unrelenting ups and downs on a roughly 70lb bike, the sporty little Dominions were unfazed and still working the same as day one.

Some of the descents along the trail rack up as much as 7000' of elevation loss in one go, and even after burning down that entire run, they still had strong bite and a relatively firm feel at the lever. Part of this sensation might be the fact that the brakes seem to feel the same as each other no matter how far you are down a run, where others tend to get softer or weaker in the rear before the front. This sensation is typically due to the additional fluid line length, which can create sponginess. When both brakes are functioning and degrading (as all naturally do with use) at the same rate, you get less of the unsureness felt in other "less reliable" systems. The way I see it, consistency is key, and the T2s have proven to be just that.


Comparisons

It can be hard to draw direct comparisons between different brake brands, as they depend so much on one's individual setup and ride style, but here goes. The Dominion T2 is more aligned with the digital feel of brakes like the Shimano 4-piston series, but with a crisper feel at the bite point. Not more digital, but the relative difference between the very free stroke of the lever and the bite point makes it a brighter line that you cross.

Compared to the SRAM G2, which is a closer competitor than the Code, I prefer the feel and performance of the Dominion, as you need much less force at the lever to get full power out of the brake. The G2s require you to white-knuckle pretty hard to feel like you're really closing them down, where the full-power point on the Dominions comes much sooner.

Magura MT7s feel fully different, unless you're running the Loic Bruni lever. The power is incomparable, hands down going to the MT7s, but the bite point is similarly sharp and easy to find.

Ultimately it comes down to preference, and the unfortunate reality is you're going to have to commit to something without fully understanding the system. I've found over the course of testing multiple brake systems that you adapt pretty quickly to whatever you're running, even if they occupy polar opposite ends of the spectrum. Just spend the time to set them up right, learn the feel, and you'll have a great ride.

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Pinkbike's Take

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Reviews and Tech Reviews Brakes Hayes Hayes Dominion