are XT shifters compatible with Hayes brakes?

Question

Are shimano XT dual control shifters (w/ hydraulic brake levers) compatible with Hayes HMX Mag hydraulic disc brakes?

are there any dual control shifter that are compatible with these brakes?

do i have to use shimano brakes only with dually shifters?

Answer 1

Shimano sells the hydro brake levels and shifters separately, you're not forced to use the dual controls.

If you have the XT dual controls and hayes separately, you will need to decide on which one to ditch out. I have the Hayes HFX-9 on one bike, and on another some XT. The XT have better modulation and stopping power than the hayes, so probably take that into account on which component to ditch out.

You can get this LX lever from pricepoint for 145 bucks:
http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/13892-035_SHILB5-0-Search--/Shimano-LX-M585-Disc-Brake-Lever-Set---Hydraulic.htm

The shimano brakes without lever can be from 80 to 110 bucks each (depending if they are LX, Hone, XT or Saint). You need to add the hoses to consideration, and, generarily, Shimano sells the rotors in centerlock, so you might need to check if your wheels are centerlock or not (well, you're looking for a newer wheelset, you might take this into consideration), or buy the standard 6 bolt rotors separately (around 25 bucks each).

A friend told me that maybe I could use some Magura Marthas brakes with my dual controls, since they use the same type of oil as Shimano, but I'm not sure on this.

Answer 2

Nope sorry not gonna happen, the seals in the XT levers are desighned for mineral oil the dot 3-4 that Hayes requires will destroy the seals in the master cylinder (very corrosive stuff) best just to find the Hayes levers. Cheers