Best Front Brake Option For Me?

Darkstalker420

Hi managed to trash my old RST forks and managed to replace them with...... Another pair of RST's :roll: . The new (second hand) pair are Gila T6's (ok once i removed one of the spring stacks :roll:).

This left me with a bit of a problem as my old forks had V Brakes the ones that replace them are minus the bosses (but has the option to fit them). SO at the moment i have:

Tektro IO caliper
Shimano V Brake/8 speed shifter (old Acera.... i think?)
Tektro 160mm rotor.

You see as it stands at the moment the disk setup is VASTLY inferior to the V Brakes it replaces. I have set it up to the best of my ability but even using two fingers im unable to"lock" the wheel (even tried three). But my old "V's" had much more "raw" power it feels (two finger endo's EASY). The only problem with the setup is that the outer brake cable to be frank is rubbish (not even lined) but this alone won't be the issue... Will it???

The pads are ok same for the rotor no scoring/dings/warps etc so this has left me with an interesting option as follows:

1. Buy 180mm rotor DECENT cable/outer (i have the 180mm rotor IS mount already) do you think this combo will give me a front brake more powerful than LX V Brakes (the original ones!) OR.

2. Buy Bosses for front (having trouble to be honest!) and set my old V Brakes back up.

It would be cheaper to just buy the bosses i think (if i can find some..... Not on eBay!) BUT as i have the disk brake essentially it would come down to this:

Option one or two which will give me the better front brake???

Thanks.

thelonegroover

I upgraded my V brakes to Avid BB7, I have the same Shimano lever as you. I don't think I can lock the front wheel with one finger, but then I wouldn't want to. But I can with two fingers. It seems to be more to do with the shape and position of the lever, than the stopping power. I think you can get a single caliper for about £50.

supersonic

Both will work! But I can't say which will be best.

I'd try new pads too.

Darkstalker420

So you think a better idea would be to buy a new caliper (Avid BB7?) BUT to keep the same 160mm rotor? can't say i thought of that (figured that upping the rotor size would be easier and cheaper).

So would you say your setup (front) with the Avid/Shimano is more powerful than the V's you had on there before?? I have looked on Chain Reaction and priced up:

Shimano 180mm rotor (XT i think??).
Shimano XT brake cable set.

Comes to about £32. Should of mentioned this has to be done on the "cheap" if poss and to be honest the Tektro caliper/pads are in good condition so it would be "wasteful" not to at least wear the pads out. My girlfriends bike has 160mm disks front/back made by "Unique" (cheap i guess??) and hers are noticeably more powerful.

BUT again locking the wheel at slow speed is not possible (brake seems over progressive with no real "bite").

Thanks.

leaflite

I would swap the caliper to an avid bb5 or bb7.

Darkstalker420

Just thought of an idea. Purchase the XT cable set and install this with the disk to see if the flexing cable outer is the issue. IF NOT either then get a larger rotor and hope OR get the bosses for the V Brakes cut the outer down and use the cable for the V's (would of needed to purchase a new cable/outer anyway as forks are longer/bike higher at front).

Supersonic do you think just purchasing new pads would REALLY make that much difference (the ones on now are nearly new as far as i can tell and i have "lapped" them with 800 wet and dry on a glass sheet and to be honest they look ok).

Thanks.

jimexbox

If you want a front BB5 caliper, PM me and you can have one.

The Rookie

IO are (IMHO) rubbish, the power my daughters had and also the other daughters BF was nowhere near that of V's or Hydro's, the Ds BF now has BB5's and they are massively better.......

Simon

Darkstalker420

Well the very kind donation by jimxbox arrived this morning (cheers mate ) so a quick swap for the Tektro "thing" and i'm now set .

Thought i should post a pic now be nice my baby's getting on a bit purchased in 1996. For me it still does what it needs so will be rode until it don't seen a few upgrades since purchase but still feels as good as the ride home from Halfords in '96.

EDIT: Ok this forum makes no sense?? i can't seem to add images/pictures and from what i can find out you have to upload to somewhere else THEN link?? never been on a forum you couldn't post pics directly on..... Seems rather "daft" :roll: no idea how to do it/don't want to "sign up" to some host as i will be the only time it will be used!? so you will just have to take my word for it IT'S MUCH BETTER

Thanks.

The Rookie

Posting to an external host is what all the forums I use (bar 1) use....I use photobucket.com

Simon

cooldad

Saves the forum having to have massive storage capacity to store Supersonics collection of tennis girls.