Anyone with experience of Bikehut Mechanical Disc Brake?

RobGT

Have heard they are rather good, especially at the price and they are BB7's with a different badge but havent been able to compare them.

What your views?

Cheers,
Rob.

clarkson

not bb7's, they're quads. or clarks. i can never remember which. definately not bb7's though!

nicklouse

pics?

link.

RobGT

No pics or link. Not on Halfords website yet!

Had a quick look at them yesterday. Looks like a 180mm disc and very good build quality.

Only £25 too!

The Big Cheese

I am pretty sure that they are Quad brakes.

jairaj

Yup I've been told that the Bikehut hydraulic brakes are the same as Quad too. I guess this would be the same for the mechanical brakes too?

Alex

They're quads.

Waste of money, if you want disc brakes, and you can't afford proper ones new, buy proper ones second hand.

bails87

By proper I'm guessing you mean hydraulic? You're not saying that Quad don't make 'proper' brakes?

Kiblams

Alex wrote:

if you want disc brakes, and you can't afford proper ones new, buy proper ones second hand.

True-dat! (Did I manage to pull that off ok? :shock: )

I got two BB5s on ebay with rotors, shimano levers, brake pads and even the cables themselves for £50 this week. That makes 3 BB5s in my household now

The Big Cheese

TBH - as harsh as it sounds, the above comments are pretty much spoot on. I would scour the classifieds/ebay for either some BB5s or some BB7s 2nd hand. OUTSTANDING mech disk brakes!!! I ran them for a while and they would have stopped a transit van when set up correctly!!!! :shock:

bails87

I'll admit that the BBs do have a particularly good reputation. But Quad do make decent brakes
http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... ting-30792

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/ ... ime--31066

dsmiff

The hydraulic brakes are (at least were) Diatech Ancors - have a set on my son's bike.

Alex

Why are you looking at cable disc brakes?

I'm sorry, but it just doesn't make sense. You'll pay as much for them as for a quality set of second hand hydraulic brakes and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out which one will work better.

daniel_owen_uk

For £50 you could pick up a pair of hayes 9 hydraulics that would be much better. (2nd hand)

Alex

If you've got the opportunity to upgrade to proper brakes, not doing so is the equivalent of going into your car dealer, buying a new car and saying "Don't bother fitting any seatbelts, I'll just attach this bungee cord around my neck to the head rest, that'll work ok"

Sure, but it won't do the job as well as the real thing and when you come to need them, you'll wish you'd made the infinitesimal effort.

Kiblams

Cable disks = not real brakes? :roll:

Alex

Cable disks = half way to a proper braking system, but without getting rid of the deeply unreliable stretchy stringy bit in the middle.

In other words, you'll have spend £00's bringing your bike up to spec ready to take the brakes, and then,at the last minute, when you've had the option of cables or hydraulics for essentially the same money, you'll have opted for the more unreliable, less powerful, harder to set up version.

Madness.

supersonic

It depends on your set up. If you have Vs, and are disc ready, you can pick up cable discs cheaply (£20 total on ebay sometimes).

I still use Vs on some bikes, but cable discs certainly have their place.

And hydros are hardly fault free.

Alex

Cable discs have their place on CX bikes, where drop bar levers make them awesome. Beyond that, they make catalogue bikes look expensive, use a myriad of hard to obtain brake pads and have little place in a world of mud and muck and grid and grinding paste and horror and dirt.

If I can pick up a pair of XTR calipered/goodridge hosed/XT levered brakes for <£50 because, essentially they needed a bleed, then I'm sure that lesser brakes can be purchased in fair nick for similar cash.

supersonic

I agree on not speccing them for specs sake, but they do work for a lot of people on MTBs. They are cheap and easy to maintain. I use them on my GT Ruckus, they do the job perfectly.

You only have to look at the most FAQ in the tech forums - leaking/rubbing/squealing/hard to bleed/different lever bites/suck pistons etc etc. Some people do like simplicity.

Kiblams

I have only ever tried Avid BB5s so maybe my impression of cable disks is better than most due to this? They are so easy to maintain/set-up/adjust and have never had a single issue stopping me (16st+) with just one on the front.

RobGT

I always have my options open.

I'm using Juicey 3's on my current bike and I think they are usless. I'e re-bled them and had them clamped up over night and they are still poor.

My missus' cable Tektro's are better, far better in fact and to be honest I prefer the simplicity of mechanical.

Was just wondering and yes, i'm interested in them if they are good.

Alex

Juicy 3s are piss poor and nigh on impossible to bleed to good effect.

Just get a good quality set of aftermarket brakes. Shimano Deore or Deore LX brakes for example. As reliable as the rising of the sun.

supersonic

I use LX hydros on the carbon Zaskar, and after a pad change they are pretty sharp. Definitely reliable.

The LE gets Avid Arch rivals.

The Ruckus Hayes HMX2

Horses for courses ;-)

RobGT

Alex wrote:

Juicy 3s are wee-wee poor and nigh on impossible to bleed to good effect.

Just get a good quality set of aftermarket brakes. Shimano Deore or Deore LX brakes for example. As reliable as the rising of the sun.

You saying cable are better than juicey 3's then? Well, your right there so cable arn't that bad then?

Raymondavalon

Juicy 3's aren't too bad, by far one of the better budget brakes, much prefer them over any cable discs or Hayes HFX9s. The newer Juicy 3.5 is the entry level Avid hydraulic squeezer

I just bought a set of brand new Avid (4 piston) Code 5s with discs (203mm F/185mm R) for £80 per end or £160'ish for a full set. That's a bargain over the normal RRP which is well over £120/end or circa £240/250 for a set.

Adam Thompson

all i know is my cable bb5`s lock up solid everytime, so i cant see how theyre shit...
i mean if theyre strong enough to chuck u over the hangys theyre alreeet

Alex

The ability to lock a wheel is not a measure of a brake's quality or usefulness.

Raymondavalon

Alex wrote:

The ability to lock a wheel is not a measure of a brake's quality or usefulness.

Correct! What a good brake (hydro/cable disc, rim or otherwise) should offer is modulation, as in lots of feel that provides good stopping power with confidence.

Kiblams

Alex wrote:

The ability to lock a wheel is not a measure of a brake's quality or usefulness.

I am not sure that what Adam meant by (lock up solid everytime" was that; they are not able to modulate, he was commenting on their strength :roll:

I can get whatever baking force I require from my BB5, from 'slow me a little before the next corner' to 'OH sh*t that's a big tree/rock/cliff!'

JamesBrckmn

I have juicy 3's and they are certainly not shoot Robert GT and Alex. Excellent power and modulation, very slight rubbing. Perhaps yours just aren't set up right?