I have my second D’Brake on my 26 Downhill Muni and one on my 36" XC.
I broke the original on my 26" about 3 years ago and now use a custom build “Hugo strut” that works well. I think I have the newer reinforced version of the D’Brake on both, but not sure. Unfortunately I have to have an almost 90 degree bend on mine to bolt to the D’Brake and at this point I have now broken 2 struts (I think just from excessive bending when changing tires/brake pads etc,).
Otherwise I have never had chatter. Even when my D’Break fractured and broke I didn’t have any noise or problems. I think about 3 minutes before it broke the pads started rubbing and then it failed totally.
Looks clean, although the disadvantage is that the D’Brake has to sometime handle forces in both directions, foward from braking force and backward when hopping with the brake engaged. I’m not sure how great those forces are but it’s possible that the bending back and forth in oppostie directions also contributes to the fatigue… My strut gives a pretty solid support and should limit bending in either direction, which gives me some piece of mind after cracking my old one.
So far, this has been rock solid on +20 percent grades (several 1/4 to 1/2 mile downhills about 3 times a week). But, it’s a little impractical considering it was custom CNC milled…
