HAYES DOMINION A4
£199.99
SPECIFICATION Weight: brake 303g, rotor 186g • Rotor size: 180, 203mm • Contact: hotlines-uk.com
In a world of rising prices everywhere you turn, it’s pleasing to see that the Dominion A4 costs the same as it did the last time we tested it, two years ago. The A4 is still sold without rotors and adapters, so adding a D-series rotor and adapter is going to add about £55 a wheel, but it’s still great value and top quality. In terms of weight, the Dominion A4 lever/caliper is heavier than the SRAM G2 Ultimate, but Hayes claws some of that back by using a lighter stainless-steel rotor.
To match different hand sizes, the lever gets a dialled reach adjustment, which is also indexed, so it won’t work loose or migrate. Hidden behind the lever is a contact point adjuster, but it’s set to be as close as possible out of the box, and we never really wanted the brake to pull further, so we left it there.
The lever has a broad, comfortable shape for one-finger braking, but it is a little bit short, and during testing we had to move the shifter farther outboard to reach it.
One of the unique features on the Dominion A4 is the Crosshair caliper centring, which is essentially two tiny grub screws on the caliper tabs that push against the fixing bolts, allowing you to precisely fine-tune the caliper position. This is a clever feature, but we never really needed to use it because the brake has really good pad clearance. The Dominion A4 uses standard 1.95mm thick rotors, but the lever pulls in quite far before the pads actually bite. The knock-on effect of that is it also renders the reach adjustment less than useful – if we brought the lever really close in, it’d bottom out on the grip before the brake fully activated. It did bed in really quickly, and with cartridge pivot bearings, it has a light lever action. The power delivery is good too and, when you really need it, there’s plenty in the tank. Some of the adjustment features are a little superfluous, but they are there if you need them. Overall, it’s a top stopper; solid, reliable and great value.