Hydraulic vs Cable Disc Brakes

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Comments

  • Ryan Jones
    Ryan Jones Posts: 775
    Ran the Avid BB7's on an old GT Ruckus and they were definitely the best ones i've ever come across, however they were only as good as my worn out Tektro Auriga Comps on my last bike, the current Juicy 3.5's are way ahead of either which sums it up really for me.

    Incidentally shimano deore's were some of the most powerful brakes tested on the dyno, and they can be had for very reasonable prices.
    My Nukeproof Mega TR
  • blister pus
    blister pus Posts: 5,780
    I'd take Hayes MX 4 monobloc caliper over juicy 3s any day of the week.
  • nickel
    nickel Posts: 476
    unixnerd wrote:
    There are two very different types of cable brake. The old / cheap ones only move one side of the caliper, when the pads wear it pulls the disc very slightly to one side when you brake. This eventually causes the pads to wear at a slight angle. Unless you keep manually adjusting non-moving side your pads won't wear evenly. If you adjust the caliper once the pads have a good angle of wear you'll find you have much less braking power as only the tip of each pad is contacting the disc. My old Tektro brakes were like this, fine when new and awful once they'd worn a bit.

    You can now get mechanical brakes which, just like their hydraulic brothers, move both sides of the caliper. A much better idea and with no need to bleed hydraulics.

    This definately, I had a set of tektro's on my bike before i replaced them with juicys and despite fairly regular adjument the pads still wore unevenly (one end of the pad was thicker than the other).
  • tomtomthepipersson
    tomtomthepipersson Posts: 138
    I've had BB7s on various bike for many years and as good as they are they're certainly no match for any hydraulics brakes I've ever owned (hope, avid, hayes). Even with new pads and well maintained cables they just don't have the same stopping power. They are however massively adjustable so they're easy to set up and maintain. Mine have been relegated to my less-used bike (the one with a big heavy child seat strapped to the back).

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