Well, there’s been a lot going on in and around the Shimano camp in the time since the MT520 brakes dropped over a year ago (I guess this has now become a long-term test). 12 speed cassettes, loud/quiet/loud hubs with new ways to hold said cassette to your wheel, a dedicated groupset for the gravel set, and a lot of new hydro brakes across a few levels for the dirt and the road crowds. When we got these budget-busting four piston stoppers, they heralded an affordable option for those of us who didn’t want to lay down big dollars for better braking.

Better than what though? Similar priced two potters? Of course they’d be better, you would think. What I’d be comparing them to was a set of previous generation XTR Trail twin pistons, which had been in dutiful service for a good two or three seasons of use and had done everything asked of them, with the usual Shimano consistency, power, modulation and ease of maintenance. All the hallmarks that had kept me on their brakes since, well, forever, or at least the late 90s.

Outwardly, the 520s looked pretty similar out of the box to the higher priced models, with small aesthetic differences and more noticeable operational ones. The same compact lever blade shape, bullet style reservoir and the little bit annoying but not overly inconvenient push pin to actuate the lever clamp for mounting/removing them from the bar. There’s no free-stroke adjustment (not missed here) and no tool-less reach adjustment dial (ditto; set it and forget it), but they do have Servo Wave (yeah, I don’t know if that makes them better either, but it probably does). The plain black anodized finish, no dimples on the lever, and non-series branding isn’t as flash looking as having something with an X on it, but these are all about the way they work, not how they look, like a composting outdoor toilet, or Radiohead.

The calipers are where the magic happens of course, with those extra pistons taking up the job of putting more power to your fingers through the same ceramic pistons found in the X models. Set-up and adjustment is typically easy, just squeeze the lever and cinch down the caliper bolts, works every time, usually. The stock pads are of the resin non-finned variety, but slipping in some finned metal pads upped the power noticeably. I since read that the finned pads needed a trim to make them fit properly, but after some careful inspection and a bit of grinding this didn’t seem to be necessary at all.

I used my existing Ice Tech 203/180mm rotors and the pad contact seemed to be spot on, so I’m not sure if the pad mod is bollocks or I just did it wrong or have bad eyesight. I’ll check with my Shimano guy and get back to you on that.

Got an Allen key? That’s what you’ll need to adjust the reach, and as I said it’s not a big deal once it’s done, but if you want to tweak it on the trail then you’ll just have to get your tool out. After a few months of flawless and consistent performance from the 520s, I thought I’d get fancy and try my XTR levers with the 4 pot calipers for a comparison. Swapping out the levers was a doddle, just unthread the hoses and wind em into the other lever, pop on the bucket and squeeze out a few bubbles, and Bob’s your aunty’s live-in lover. I think there is a slight increase in lever feel with the XTRs hooked up, maybe just a bit of a more ‘solidness’ to them, or maybe it’s a placebo effect. The calipers definitely have given an increase in performance over the XTR twin pistons, so that’s a definite tick for the 520s.

Since their release, they have been spotted on quite a few pricey trail and enduro sleds, so they are not a bit of kit to be sneezed at due to their lower price point (around $130-150NZ depending where you look). Of course a lot of riders will still want to shave a few grams and add an X or two to their bikes, but for all the rest of us who just want their shit to work, these are a great option and a worthy upgrade from any twin piston brake from any brand.