hydraulic brakes verses mechanical and v

shitfabraynz

hello all

im looking for a bit of advice about hydraulic disk brakes,i am a mtb noobie and hav no experience with hydraulics, my problem is my wife shes tagged along aswell and isnt able to pull the brakes on hard enough(shes got front mechanical disc and rear v brake set up,)this is knocking her confidence on the bike, as it should,
if i put hydraulic brakes on for her, will she be able to lock the brakes up easier?
i only have a small budget so im looking at second hand, i dont really want to pick a specific brand to discuss, just general advice,but i am watching some on ebay and they are shimano lx,
any advice much appreciated
best regards
joe

ma9mwah

hydraulic brakes are far easier on the fingers than compared to mechanical ones, and would make a big difference to your wife. I had some shimano LX brakes on my old bike and they were decent, though not top of the range.

shm_uk

Hydraulic disc brakes will be a massive improvement as they require a lot less physcial effort to apply compared to mechanical disc's or V's - your wife will find she can pretty much lock the wheels just using one or two fingers ..

peter413

Depends on the brakes, a decent well setup V or cable disk will be much better than a cheap crappy hydraulic

mea00csf

agree with the above, problem is that mech disk brakes are a pain to keep set up properly needing constant readjustment. I found that one decent hard ride in the peaks would mean i'd have to adjust the brakes :shock: Hydraulics will make it much easier

Chunkers1980

That's if you even have all the correct fottings - wheels, mounts ect....

UncleMonty

One of the best things about hydro brakes is the position at the centre of the wheel, they can handle mudd and water anyway but tucked out of way they tend to stay pretty clean. In wet & muddy conditions rim brakes can quickly get clogged and this does affect performance.

Northwind

peter413 wrote:

Depends on the brakes, a decent well setup V or cable disk will be much better than a cheap crappy hydraulic

That's true but there's not many really bad hydros out there these days (and ironically those that are, tend not to be cheap!)

supersonic

Mechs work fine for many people. They may lack the ultimate stopping 'power' and need a little more adjustment, but at least they can be adjusted and fixed easily. Cheap hydros usually just have lever reach, and if go wrong at home are a pain to fix usually.

Both systems have pros and cons.

.blitz

All good advice but as said above, if your mrs bike doesn't have a disc-compatible hub and there are no mounts on the frame, fitting a disc on the back will involve some work; not impossible but prob not worth it.

V-brakes can be very powerful and very light - there's only 30cm of cable on my Proflex's front brake - but generally speaking hydraulics are one- or two-finger operation unless there's something wrong with them.

BTW try to avoid locking up it creates braking bumps

shitfabraynz

wow, i cant believe how many responses i got to my question in such a short time, thanks everybody, ill add a bit more info now then,

i just bought a 14" carrera vulcan frame which im hoping will be here tomorrow, it as disc mounts and ive got a tektro mechanical brake caliper which i can use for now,the frame will be quite a bit lighter than the one i originally got for her, so that should help. ive also got a rear wheel with a disc already,so hopefully, by tomorrow night ill have the bike built up with mechanical brakes,the front mechanical brake is a grimeca i think.
looking at all your advice i think ill be going down the hydraulics route, but she will be able to use it like that whilst im looking for some half decent hydraulics.

i would really appreciate it if you guys can keep your eye on this post to advise me on the brakes im watching on ebay.but keep in mind that im on a tight budget.

any body had any experience with hayes sole brakes?
thanks again
joe

shitfabraynz

hi supersonic, im just up the road from you at birdwell,
what do you mean by lever reach?

shitfabraynz

forget the Q about hayes sole, i just googled it and wont be bidding on them!

supersonic

Many brakes, infact almost all I know have, have an adjuster that swings the lever in/out.

diy

most mechanical brakes use only one side to brake, while the other is adjusted as a back stop against the disc. This is not really a great solution and you tend to constantly have to adjust the brakes to be optimum.

With hydraulic brakes (even cheapies) you get both pads biting the disc and the pistons will self adjust to a large extent to keep the pads close to the discs. In addition, since many mechanical brakes have Resin only discs, you get a better choice in both discs and pads.

Personally i would look for some avid Juicy brakes or similar. The only downside to hydraulics is the need to bleed them every once in a while and properly clean the pistons to stop them seizing.

I bought my mrs a new bike of ebay recently (a 2008 Rockhopper) and she has gone from V-brakes to avid Juicy 5s. Even though she has contaminated cheap pads, she still finds them incredibly good at stopping. I jumped on her new bike and found them really awful and then jumped on her old bike and nearly killed myself

you do get used to the extra power very quickly.

Once she gets used to the stopping power of the new brakes - I will change the pads for her. But right now contamination is a good thing

BigmechUK

I really like the hope minis and any of the shimano brakes work well and are cheap!

animatedadam

I;ve got the avid bb7's and they are better than most hydrolics I've used on other bikes

shitfabraynz

animatedadam wrote:

I;ve got the avid bb7's and they are better than most hydrolics I've used on other bikes

nice bike, bb7 are mechanical i see, im keeping an open mind here so they are still an option,are they easy to pull on,(even for someone who isnt very strong)
I also see that you are using bigger discs so that must make a difference, how big are they?

and how much better do bigger discs make them?

vanamees

Mechanical brakes are better then no brakes.

shitfabraynz

ive got mechanical discs on my bikeand im very happy with them, easy to fit, easy to maintain so far, plenty of stopping power, cheaper, im not knocking them, but my original post was-

"im looking for a bit of advice about hydraulic disk brakes,i am a mtb noobie and hav no experience with hydraulics, my problem is my wife shes tagged along aswell and isnt able to pull the brakes on hard enough(shes got front mechanical disc and rear v brake set up,)this is knocking her confidence on the bike, as it should,
if i put hydraulic brakes on for her, will she be able to lock the brakes up easier? "

I realise that you shouldnt lock the wheels up for the sake of the tyres, but doesnt it take you back to being a teenager flicking the back brake on and spinning the back wheel round,

I got the frame this afternoon, and it looks quite good, but theirs no headset fitted so ill start sorting it tomorrow!

Philz0r

i've never had hydrolic disk brakes, do all hydro's self ajust or is it just the top banana's?

diy

all of them do its the nature of the way they work. I'm not aware of any single piston hydro brakes, but its technically possible. The difference between basic hydros and top end hydros are things like pad contact adjustment, different materials etc. more gizmos on the lever.

5pudgun

I have magura louise on my bike and they're amazing. Magura also do the hydraulic rim brakes which are very light to use and have great stopping power

Anonymous

shitfabraynz wrote:

any body had any experience with hayes sole brakes?
thanks again
joe

Not personally, but reviews oftern mention that Hayes lack modulation and can feel a bit wooden, think, on-off switch.

Disc brakes are one of those things that are a very personal thing, you'll get some people raving about a particular brake, were as other will hate it.

My favourite brake is my current Hope X2, some say they lack power and are heavy, good enough for me and they feel like they would outlive a tank.

For your wife, I'd have a look at these -

http://www.merlincycles.co.uk/Bike+Shop ... KE-SET.htm

ride_whenever

Avoid hayes soles, even budget dual pistons are better than a single pot break!!!

shitfabraynz

they look great RichardSwt, i would have bought them a couple of years ago, but my budget wont stretch to that, i saw a nice shimano set go for £50 on ebay i think that'd be pushing the boat out!

i am a seized up engine

shitfabraynz

DIY mentioned contamination, that might be the problem as none of the brakes on either of our bike are new to me, so maybe if i put new pads on it will be a different story, that along with the newer bike (thats now half built) weighing half as much as her other one. its looking good aswell,
she loves it!

shitfabraynz

has any body used magura julie?
or magura clara?
what do you think to them?

shitfabraynz

or what about Quad QHD?

i was going to buy a matching pair, but now im wondering whether to buy front and rear seperately because there are so many mixed reviews.

also there are some that use dot and some that use mineral oil, would mineral oil work in a set that is designed for dot.

i dont fancy using dot!

shitfabraynz

i just found a great deal
front and rear with dual control levers ready to fit for £85
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=13754

as any body got any experience with these

bennett_346

shitfabraynz wrote:

also there are some that use dot and some that use mineral oil, would mineral oil work in a set that is designed for dot.

i dont fancy using dot!

Absolutely not, completely incompatible. Why don't you want to use DOT?