Disc Brakes Useless in wet and foul in mud.

NeilM3

I've been so happy for years on my old Sarecen with a rear c brake, but alas it all fell to bits, so I did my research and bought a Rockhopper about a month ago. First time out today and what a let down. 5 miles in wet, sand and mud, something the sarecen just did without complaint, so here's a list;

Fork no longer locks off.
Cateye light fell off, useless bracket, I had one permanently bolted to the Saracen for 10 years, what happened to cateye?

But here's what worries me most, the brakes, Avid Juicy 3, crap. In the dry they are great stops dead, perfect. One puddle and they fade off, make horrible noises due to the fact that the opening at the back of the caliper is in line with mud spray. By the end of 5 miles the rear lever is touching the bar and feels so spongy that if my car did it I would take it off the road until it was fixed.

This is my first disk bike, and this is my first outing am I doing something wrong, or are disks really that crap?

Anyone know of a guard I can put over the caliper to stop the mud getting in?

Thanks,

Neil.

boingboing12345

Disc brakes are far superior in the wet and mud etc, I think your brakes need bleeding if the lever is pulling to the bar.

The only time you will get any fade is if you get them super hot and boil the oil!

I

Anonymous

i would recommend checking to see if both of your pistons are moving an equal ammount, what sometimes happens is that one piston will be doing all of the work and this means the disc gets pushed towards the other piston and one side will wear alot quicker then when both pistons are doing equal work.

this can explain why the lever moves too far too. this all happened with a set of formula brakes i had once before.

supersonic

Some hydros can be awful in the wet, but does sound like a set up problem. Or pads.

NeilM3

Thanks guys, I was told by the bike shop it was all set to go, I will check and take it back since it's brand new. The forks def don't work properly anyway so they can fix them as well.

Neil.

supersonic

Bikes do bed in, and sometimes need a readjustment. Hopefully they can sort all the problems out.

impished

I've got Juicy 3's and apart from the "Avid Mating Call" (cheers for that one PittPony ) I find no real difference between wet and dry performance.

NeilM3 wrote:

Anyone know of a guard I can put over the caliper to stop the mud getting in?

Not needed. My calipers get covered in mud and, during 2 South Downs Ways attempts, Sheep poop :shock: without affecting the performance at all.
Don't let the shop fob you off about the brakes. One of the main advantages of discs are their ability to continue tearing your eyeballs out even in the wettest of rides.
Definitely something needing adjusting if they're giving up in the wet.

NeilM3 wrote:

Fork no longer locks off.

Do you mean there is no difference between unlocked and locked? Or are you getting a smalll amount of movement when locked? If you are getting a small amount of movement, say 20mm(ish), then this is what is supposed to happen to protect the fork internals. What fork is it? Tora?

stumpyjon

Yep, deffo go back to the shop, sounds like caliper alignement or the brakes need bleeding. Discs are generally excellent in the mud and wet, only takes one wheel rotation for them to clear.