Carbon fiber is truly an amazing material. Combine the right layers of cloth with resin and shape and the material can probably do everything better than metal. We’re just seeing the proverbial tip of the iceberg with what engineers can do with the stuff. By adding a carbon fiber brake lever blade to the Stroker Trail, the Hayes Stroker Carbon Disc Brake was created.

Yes, the carbon fiber is just in the brake lever. Yes, it isn’t a good idea, at this time, to put carbon fiber in the master cylinder or the brake caliper. But Hayes also upgraded the look of the Stroker to meet the bling style of carbon fiber so the overall package has the flash factor appropriate to carbon fiber. The rest of the Stroker Carbon is identical to the Stroker Trail. Same master cylinder, same caliper, same pads, same hose, etc.

The Hayes Stroker Carbon Disc Brake can be applied to most any genre of mountain biking -- just change the rotor size to accommodate the different tasks. The master cylinder is a symmetrical two-bolt mount that can be flip-flopped for either the left or right. The cylinder is made of gravity-cast aluminum with a 6061-T6 aluminum cylinder inside the reservoir. The lever blade is made of carbon fiber with aluminum at the pivot for durability. The hose connecting the lever to the caliper is a Kevlar wrap design for minimal expansion in heat. The brake fluid is Hayes high temperature DOT 4 fluid.

The caliper is forged from 6061 aluminum. It has a Caliper Positioning Window (CPW), an opening in the caliper that allows the rider to check on the positioning of the caliper and pads without having to turn the bike over. The pistons that push the pads on to the rotor are made of Phenolic and have a stainless steel post behind them. The piston diameter is 24.12mm. They push 535mm square pads (total surface area of pad). The pads are made from a sintered metallic compound. Semi-metallic replacement pads are available as well; the aluminum-backed pads can save 13g over the others. The pads can be installed and removed without tools by simply removing the wheel and pushing or pulling the pad tabs. The caliper is designed to mount on 74mm post mounts -- adapters to attach the brake to other mounts are also available.

The lever and caliper body is available in Slate Grey Metallic. The lever is available in carbon fiber with a red anodized adjuster. The logo is laser etched. It is packaged with your choice of rotors: V5 (140mm, 99g-recommended for rear brakes only) or V6 (160mm, 114g),

Please note: almost all hydraulic brake lines need to be cut to size before a bike is properly shod with hydraulic disc brakes. You'll need a quality cable-cutter like the Park CN-10 and a spoke to first cut and then de-crimp the housing.

A quantity of one means you are purchasing lever, hose, caliper, rotor, fluid, mounts, and bolts for one wheel. Weight for the brake, 75cm hose, 140mm rotor, 6 rotor bolts, 2 mount bolts and 2 mount washers is 372g. The same with 160mm rotor is 381g.