203mm disc upgrade.....

beany123

hey guys,

Ive been riding xc @ cannock for some time now and have been improving week by week, i started thinking about areas on the bike i wasnt quite happy with and decided to upgrade my brakes, ive been running my avid juicy carbons with 160mm rotors and have been finding myself having to brake harder and harder to get the quick response i need when tearing it up, i decided to upgrade the rotor size and without research just went straight to the beasts and purchased some avid g3 203mm babies! rotors and mounts arrived yesterday and i thought id have a quick peek at what most peeps were saying about the 203mm upgrade..... to my horror most people were saying they are total overkill and that un less you are 16st plus you will be flying over the bars!! I thought sh*T im gonna come a right cropper out on the trail today but thought sod it I have them now.....

went out today and had it large!!! I loved it... the braking power i wanted is there in just a tap of the lever and exactly what i was after, just goes to show its all about the individual and what suits you best, it doesnt always work like this but for me im buzzin!!!!

supersonic

If it works for you then not much more to say! Some people, with some brakes and riding can find them too grabby and actually lose control. Some like you, it adds to it.

nicklouse

203mm discs at Cannock. God help you if you find some real hills.

biff55

nicklouse wrote:

203mm discs at Cannock. God help you if you find some real hills.

if he does he'll have the braking power to deal with it though.

Anonymous

nicklouse wrote:

203mm discs at Cannock. God help you if you find some real hills.

(In recent namby pamby forum trends)

How DARE you insult newcomers to the forum with your sarcastic attitude. Who the hell do you think you are, and what makes you so special

nicklouse

biff55 wrote:

nicklouse wrote:

203mm discs at Cannock. God help you if you find some real hills.

if he does he'll have the braking power to deal with it though.

but will not have the technique to manage it.

yeehaamcgee wrote:

nicklouse wrote:

203mm discs at Cannock. God help you if you find some real hills.

(In recent namby pamby forum trends)

How DARE you insult newcomers to the forum with your sarcastic attitude. Who the hell do you think you are, and what makes you so special

well he joined last year.......

me special Nah, but i an sure that i have a bit of paper saying i am allowed to leave the building.

Anonymous

I lost my release papers, not they say they'll never let me out of the asylum.

Raymondavalon

I run 203/F & 185/R with Avid Code calipers at Cannock and no overkill IMO, big rotors combined with two fingered braking works very well indeed. (The factory spec was 185F & 160R)

What I am curious about is did you go 203mm both front and rear?
Also did you go for the Clean Sweep G2 or Clean Sweep G3 rotors? I upgraded my G2 rotors to G3 and found a remarkable difference in feel and it wasn't just down to worn rotors either, the overall feel of the brakes were quite different

beany123

nicklouse wrote:

biff55 wrote:

nicklouse wrote:

203mm discs at Cannock. God help you if you find some real hills.

if he does he'll have the braking power to deal with it though.

but will not have the technique to manage it.

yeehaamcgee wrote:

nicklouse wrote:

203mm discs at Cannock. God help you if you find some real hills.

(In recent namby pamby forum trends)

How DARE you insult newcomers to the forum with your sarcastic attitude. Who the hell do you think you are, and what makes you so special

well he joined last year.......

me special Nah, but i an sure that i have a bit of paper saying i am allowed to leave the building.

lol soz lord nick seems the sun shines only out of ur as* and no one elses!! just cos i aint been typin on forums for long doesnt mean i aint been wreckin it on the trails for years!! but hay ho who cares!!!

beany123

Raymondavalon wrote:

I run 203/F & 185/R with Avid Code calipers at Cannock and no overkill IMO, big rotors combined with two fingered braking works very well indeed. (The factory spec was 185F & 160R)

What I am curious about is did you go 203mm both front and rear?
Also did you go for the Clean Sweep G2 or Clean Sweep G3 rotors? I upgraded my G2 rotors to G3 and found a remarkable difference in feel and it wasn't just down to worn rotors either, the overall feel of the brakes were quite different

ive gone for the 203 up front and a 160 on the rear, think i will be purchasing the 185 rotor soon tho for the rear, i was running the G2 160 front and the 203 ive upgraded too is the G3 but i couldnt really say whether i noticed the difference between the two as the 203 in its selfs transforms the front end!! do you think the ride will chance again with the 185 rear??

Anonymous

beany12 wrote:

lol soz lord nick seems the sun shines only out of ur as* and no one elses!! just cos i aint been typin on forums for long doesnt mean i aint been wreckin it on the trails for years!! but hay ho who cares!!!

huh?

shm_uk

beany123 wrote:

Raymondavalon wrote:

I run 203/F & 185/R with Avid Code calipers at Cannock and no overkill IMO, big rotors combined with two fingered braking works very well indeed. (The factory spec was 185F & 160R)

What I am curious about is did you go 203mm both front and rear?
Also did you go for the Clean Sweep G2 or Clean Sweep G3 rotors? I upgraded my G2 rotors to G3 and found a remarkable difference in feel and it wasn't just down to worn rotors either, the overall feel of the brakes were quite different

ive gone for the 203 up front and a 160 on the rear, think i will be purchasing the 185 rotor soon tho for the rear, i was running the G2 160 front and the 203 ive upgraded too is the G3 but i couldnt really say whether i noticed the difference between the two as the 203 in its selfs transforms the front end!! do you think the ride will change again with the 185 rear??

Minor correction for you

You probably won't feel quote the same transformation changing the rear from 160 to 185 as you did upgrading the front.

Under braking most of the stopping forces/power is provided by the front brake, the rear brake is mostly for stability.

shm_uk

I will also say, I have just upgraded my discs to 205mm front & 185mm rear.

Why?

Because I can.

You know you're a proper biker when you're making unnecessary upgrades and spending unnecessary money on your bike(s)

Chunkers1980

I don't see bigger rotors as an upgrade per se. Yes you're theoretically getting an upgrade in out and out power but what are you scrificing?

An upgrade would be a better braking system.

Anonymous

shm_uk wrote:

IYou know you're a proper biker when you're making unnecessary upgrades and spending unnecessary money on your bike(s)

wow, just... wow.

ride_whenever

Chunkers1980 wrote:

I don't see bigger rotors as an upgrade per se. Yes you're theoretically getting an upgrade in out and out power but what are you scrificing?

An upgrade would be a better braking system.

It is far easier to adapt to less modulation than it is less power

Anonymous

true. If you have a shortage of power, then the only answer is to go slower. Which, seeing as you quite often need your brakes to go slower, is not always an option!

I have to admit, I never had a lack of outright power with smaller discs, but i did run into brake-fade issues on long steep descents, or very fast runs with tight corners.

timpop

I have to admit, I never had a lack of outright power with smaller discs, but i did run into brake-fade issues on long steep descents, or very fast runs with tight corners.

Me too. I had 160 on my rear Hope M4 and had the same issue. Changed to 183 and it's sweet. No fade issues and better braking. I'm very happy.

I used to have Avid Juicy 7 183 rear and Carbon 203 front. I loved that set-up and didn't have any issues at speed or on technical terrain. I didn't get rid of them though, some idiot nicked them off my bike. :evil: He left the rotors though so if you want to buy them off me you're welcome to. I should probably put them on ebay at some point, it's been ages.

Paul 8v

i'd rather be overbraked than underbraked to be honest. I run a 180mm on the front of my Kona and I'm bloody glad I've got a bit of power otherwise riding a new trail my mate found the other day it would have been Tree O'Clock for me!

Northwind

I just like the way the big front disc feels. It's not like it's a switch, with halfway decent braking technique and brakes you can still get tiny amounts of power out of a powerful brake. Got 203mm front, 160mm rear on the mmmbop Works a charm.

Bike Bloke

I've been meaning to put 203mm rotors on my FS for years - only got puny 160's!! After riding Whistler with a full Saint groupset & 203 discs, there's no going back!!! Gonna be awesome!