Clarks CRS C4 Brakeset review

This Clarks CRS C4 Brakeset has been one of the products I have been most excited to test for a while. Did they disappoint? Let’s find out…

• Brand: Clarks
• Product: CRS C4 Brakeset
• From: Chicken Cyclekit
• Price: £199.00 (F&R brake set), £37.99 (203mm rotor)
• Tested by: Aran Francis for 3 months

Pros

• Nicely made
• Good looking
• Decent value

Cons

• Not as powerful as more expensive brakes (sorry!)
• Required a bleed early on
• Needs experience to get the best out of them

Clarks is one of the first brands that comes to mind when cheap brake components are discussed. Clarks components usually mean a budget option that most experienced (spendy) mountain bikers would overlook. Yet these C4s, part of Clarks’ CRS series, offer potentially something more than we’re used to seeing from the budget brake brand.

For under £200 you get two floating rotors (180 and160mm), CNC’d callipers, a pair of hoses, a lovely pair of levers with a CNC body and reach adjustable vented levers. On top of all that, the brakes come with finned DH-ready pads and most of the spares/kit to set them up. Pretty well specced then for under £200. For the purposes of this test we also got a 203mm rotor (additional £37.99).

These brakes have been one of the products I have been most excited to test for a while. I’ve heard talk about them, from my mates building up new bikes, to even the kids at my local riding spot who were keen to see what they were like (probably on account of the relatively affordable price tag).

I have heard a mixed bag of opinions and unfortunately a fair few negative. One of the kids even claimed when he put them on his bike that they were a “pile of rubbish” and he threw them in the bin after a week. Something that was not an experience I shared whatsoever.

Once bedded in (which was the step that I suspect the aforementioned disappointed kid overlooked), the C4s do perform pretty well. On steeper tracks the 4-pot callipers are plenty strong enough to lock up the wheels yet can still be modulated well. There is a little bit of ‘dead time’ in the lever feel before brakes start to have some real power but it was something I got used to pretty quickly and wasn’t much of an issue. I didn’t experience any brake fade but, then again, I don’t ride super-long alpine descents.

The overall feel of these brakes is of nice quality. The levers have a nice, fast spring-back when you release them. Thre CNC’d package gives the system a smart feel and from a general stance the whole thing feels tight and robust. The feeling and look of these brakes certainly doesn’t feel budget.

I tested these brakes with the 203mm and 180mm rotors. Although it appears there’s lots of spares supplied, I’d still advise checking with the shop before departing to fit them to your pride and joy to make sure you have the correct type of brackets etc.

Fairly quickly (approx a month into test period) the brakes needed a bleed. Now whilst this is abnormal, I do wonder if this was a factory issue. A decent initial bleed prior to use would get the system running nicely and you could then hold off a second bleed for a more normal period of time.

As for the bleeding process, whilst not quite as simple as the classic Shimano ‘bucket bleed’, the process should be fairly doable if you’re reasonably handy on the spanners.

The other issue is with the callipers. There is very little clearance between the rotor and the pads. You may find that any slight kink in the rotor seems to result in uncorrectable brake rub. I can understand low clearance for a nice instant bite point, yet this here does seem to just cause unavoidable issues. A bite point adjustment would’ve been a nice addition to the set. 

Overall

Overall then, the Clarks C4 brakes are a really good budget option. The performance isn’t going quite as good as some of their top end competitors but, equally, it isn’t correct to write these off as a budget “make-do” choice. If you’re savvy enough with your mechanics (bleeding, aligning and fitting), these could be a perfect option for someone looking for a capable set of brakes that won’t break(!) the bank. 

Review Info