Downgrading....

Cluelessbiker

I know you will all see this as rather silly. But my nice new bike after not so long in my ownership, has had a slight problem with the brakes. They are the all singing-dancing hydraulic brakes, first it took time for them to bed in and they have never had that 'sharp' feeling. Then after its first service, an oil leak appeared on the handlebar mounted resovoir (Rear Brake) Ok so that was down to a badly fitting seal. Now I have heard reports of Hydraulic brakes popping seals and it seems my worst fears have come true, it does not inspire confidence at all really. Secondly after the afforementioned service, the front disc seemd to get a grinding noise, again now fixed, but the rotor was out of line even though it had not been knocked or bumped at all.

This of course had me think about something someone once said re: Disc Brakes, they look fancy but are harder work, with that in mind, plus the fact that for V and cable operated disc brakes, the cables stretch, I am now really wondering if I should just have stuck to the V brakes, or has it ever been known to downgrade from hydraulic to cable operated discs.
I presume each camp will have their likes and dislikes about whichever brakes they prefer but I am rather worried that I may have 'splashed out needlessly.' The bke in question is a Diamondback Response sport which got a good reveiw on Bikeradar. Sadly its all rather off-putting of cycling.

warpcow

Was it the rotor that was out of alignment or just the caliper?

I've only had disc-brakes for about 4yrs now, but all 3 sets I'm currently running have been faultless (that includes 1 set of Avid BB7 cable brakes). I also have V-brakes on my commuter. Tbh I hate setting up rim brakes, but I imagine that if something does ever go wrong with my disc-brakes it'll be a little more 'involved' to fix them. Ultimately the extra power and control of disc brakes makes them worthwhile for me, but maybe not for you.

I can heartily recommend Avid BB7s. They offer a little more adjustability and can be stripped down without worrying about seals,etc. They are also equally powerful with most hydraulic sets I've tried (better than some in fact).

nicklouse

Sounds like a numpty is working on them.

They require less maintainence than V brakes.

What brakes are they.

corshamjim

[cough]use drum brakes[cough]

Cluelessbiker

Lol at drum brakes The brakes on my bike are made by Shimano thats all I know, with more use in the summer I am hoping they will get better. Also I maybe a little hamfisted with them, I'm not sure, but as I have had a chain snap on me too on this bike, it does not look promising, but onwards and upwards.

shouldbeinbed

V's are a PITA compared to discs 99% of the time. its harder to stop disc squealing in the cold but that's about it for the downside IMO. I have bikes with Discs, V's and caliper brakes. The V's give me the most set up trouble for less stopping than the discs and no appreciable difference to the roadie calipers.

I did once have a set of Magura hydraulic rim brakes, they were brilliant, that idea never seemed to catch on though.

Cluelessbiker

So a downgrade to Cable operated discs rather than Hydraulic one are a no go then? I am not overly impressed withthe the hydralucs brakes at all due to bleeding issues, and they are certainly not as sharp as the V's on my Marin were, in fact I am severly dissapointed with the fact I seem to have been 'dazzled' by all that looks good, and am still in the frame of mind that pushbikes today are far too complicated. I am not enjoying it to the extent I thought I would.

davis

It sounds like you've had some really, really bad luck.

Hydraulic discs are genuinely fundamentally reliable; if they weren't then people wouldn't be using them for downhill races.
Maybe you've got a not particularly good model of brake, but Shimano hydro discs are well proven and I can't imagine they'd let something that bad get out of the door. FWIW I run some flash Shimano hydraulics and they're scarily good.

Have you always had the same mechanic working on the bike?

Cluelessbiker

Yes I have as I have only had the bike since January. am now looking at getting a bleeding kit for the bike as I really need to figure out how to do things myself. Also everytime I use the rear brakes, there is an awful grinding/squealing noise, when the pads are checked I am told they are usually glazed over. Whats more annoying is my freind who takes bikes to bits and fix's them for fun, and has forgotton more than I will ever know about them, just laughs at me for getting the hydraulic brakes as he did warn me about them, his preferance is for cable operated discs, hence the this thread.

cooldad

Bleeding is probably the last thing they need after a few months.
Currently have 3 hydraulic braked bikes in the house.
One is 3 years old, never been touched apart from pads. (Hayes Stroker Trail)
One is 8 years old, ditto except for a fluid change a few years ago. (Shimano Deore)
One is god knows how old with early Hopes. Ditto except for a few changes of fluid.
None have ever needed bleeding in between.
A good regular rinse with water is all they ever need as maintenance.

Compared to various V's, Cantis, U brakes on other random bikes lying around, and whatever the rubbish things are called on my road bike, hydraulic discs are a pleasure.