front fork and disk brake question

lukesaddy

hi guys, first of all, my front forks on my bike are reely stiff, i can only get maybe 1/2mm movement on them with all my weight on the handlebars.
Secondly, how do hydraulic disk brakes work, and how are they compared to mechanical disks or V brakes?
all replies welcome, thanks in advance luke:)

nicklouse

what forks?

digdug

Wikipedia it?

Hydraulic brakes work on this principle:

Pull the brake lever, and a piston is squesszued in the lever, the exerts pressure on an oil, which cannot be compress, so therefore pushes through the tube, to the caliper. Inside the caliper are pots, ( sometimes only 1 ) and the oil pushes these out ( they have a pad at the end of them ) The pads rub against the disc and hence stop the wheel.

Em, what make are your forks?

lukesaddy

the bike and forks are actually not mine, its my dads, just a cheap one from a LBS, so they are just cheap forks, is there anythig i can do to them or are they Fu**ed?

danny654

well have ya thought of going to hamsterley forest near middlesbrough to try the route down there heres a link for all mb routes near there and other places.
http://www.moredirt.co.uk/trail/North-E ... Forest/55/

hope it helps

lukesaddy

so dont hydraulic brakes have cables?, is it oil in the pipes from the brake lever to the caliper?
do they need a lot of maintenance?
how much are pads for them?, because i priced up some pads for mine, and it would be £15 (promax disk)

lukesaddy

danny654 wrote:

well have ya thought of going to hamsterley forest near middlesbrough to try the route down there heres a link for all mb routes near there and other places.
http://www.moredirt.co.uk/trail/North-E ... Forest/55/

hope it helps

thanks for the link, the only places i have been riding are the industrial estate near thornaby / ingleby barwick, preston park and a field on ingleby barwick near my house

nicklouse

what forks?

if you want help then answer the question as there are many many forks out there and each is different.

lukesaddy

nicklouse wrote:

what forks?

if you want help then answer the question as there are many many forks out there and each is different.

i dno what forks they are, they are standard on a £200 full sus Nebraska bike (yeah...i have never heard of it either lol)
The bike is called a Nebraska Supertrack Mega Oversize
The forks have Zoom written on them, nothing else

nicklouse

most likely full of water.

not worth doing anything with.

digdug

lukesaddy wrote:

so dont hydraulic brakes have cables?, is it oil in the pipes from the brake lever to the caliper?
do they need a lot of maintenance?
how much are pads for them?, because i priced up some pads for mine, and it would be £15 (promax disk)

If you search the word "hydraulic" in wikipedia you can learn all about hydraulics. So to answer your question, yes, all hydraulic disc brakes use oil between the brake lever to the caliper.

They do not need a lot of maintenance if you treat them right, ie dont take apart for no reason.

Pads range in prices from £5er each to anything above £20. The pads last longer than V brake pads, and are quicker to replace.

General maintenance for hydros is to bleed them and to change the pads. Your LBS can bleed them for you, although they will need it very rarely ( Ive had mine for 2 years, and they still run fine.

Bleeding the brake is when the old oil is replaced with new oil. The idea is to have no air bubbles inside the cable, as air can be compressed, so it _can_ be a tricky process for beginners. ( hence the LBS recommendation )

There is two types of disc brakes, and if you believed that they had cables, then you might have the other type.
There is Hydraulic disc brakes, and mechanical disc brakes.
As I've said, hyrdaulics use oil, whereas mechanicals use a cable ( the cable pulls a lever on the caliper that pulls the pads together to rub against the disc.

Usually its better to buy a cheap set of hydraluics over a descent set of mechanicals, as mechanicals are more high maintenance.

You can get a relatively good set of hydraulics on chainreactioncycles.com for around £50 each. These are the Shimano Deore LX Hydraulics.
If you already have hydro's, then you can get new pads for them as well.

Hope this helps, apologies for any typos.

lukesaddy

thanks for that mate, i am getting a new bike hopefully tomorrow and it has hydraulic disk brakes.