Brake upgrade

bigman1976

I'm currently riding a 23" Rockhopper with Rock Shox Recon Silvers. It has Tektro Draco brakes currently with 160mm rotors all round. Being around 20 stone, I find the current setup a little lacking so I am wondering if I'm better off getting larger rotors (I was thinking 203 front and 180 rear) or getting Shimano SLX brakes with larger rotors?

symanoy

180 front, 160 rear is plenty for most peoples needs, 203's are only really necessary for DH use. SLX disc brakes are fantastic stoppers, highly recommended! Maybe start with the bigger rotors as thats a relatively cheap upgrade and see if that provides enough power, then if not get some SLX.

dry664

I'm 14st and found that Draco's werent strong enough for me, even after trying new pad suggestions from Superstar and Nukeproof. I replaced them with M675 SLX's and the difference is night and day.
You could try new pads and/or bigger rotors all round but in my experience it will be money down the drain. Suggest SLX's and maybe a 180mm on the front.

.blitz

If your brakes are otherwise working OK some bigger rotors would make a noticeable difference.

203s have their uses if you are big/heavy and/or enjoy caning it downhill. Some people will say you lose modulation with a bigger rotor but imo they have a proper big-bike feel. You can brake like you can with a 180 but squeeze a little more and it brakes really hard they dont feel overwhelmed like smaller brakes do.

Shimano's RT76 rotors are not cheap but they are most excellent

bigman1976

At 20 stone I need something better! My wife (who weighs about 8 stone) has 180mm rotors on the front of her Cube. I just find the Tektros overwhelmed quite a lot of the time. That's the reason for this thread - is it better to get larger rotors and keep the Tektros or Shimanos with possibly smaller rotors? Thanks for the replies so far. Reckon the Shimanos are edging it...

dry664

Whats your budget and what kind of riding are you doing?

bigman1976

I do a lot of trail riding as well as longer XC riding. I don't really have a budget but want something that will stop me when I need them too!

dry664

In my experience no matter what you do with the Draco's they wont be good for much more that canal paths if you are a bigger lad :-) I really love the SLX's and would suggest you do both brakes and 180mm discs.
You could get the lot from Rosebikes for under £150 (you will need adaptors as well) but will have to shorten and/or swap the levers over yourself.

dry664

You could always nick the 180's off the front of the Mrs' Cube! Doubt she will notice :-)

symanoy

I've been after a set of SLX brakes ever since I used them on a hire bike, but everywhere has been sold out of the 2012 model for a while, not come across Rosebikes before but the prices on the SLX brakes seem too good to be true!! does £58.65 get you the complete brake i.e. lever, hose and caliper??

bigman1976

dry664 wrote:

You could always nick the 180's off the front of the Mrs' Cube! Doubt she will notice :-)

I bet she would! Reckon I'd have to unwrap the frame from around my head if I even attempted it. It's her pride and joy.

dry664

Those prices are correct, thinks its a bit of a combination of a weak euro and rip off Britain. If they're in stock it should take around 5 days to deliver. Only problem is that they come in Euro spec with rear brake on the right and front on the left. Sometimes when you swap the hoses the brakes will require a bleed.

symanoy

fantastic! Why has no one pointed me their way sooner!! :P however i can't see any option to choose front or rear option? any idea how to do that?

Jomox

Rather order from CRC or Merlin for peace of mind, you get free delivery and you need to add £5+ at Rose, often things even out after delivery cost and with CRC / Merlin your getting UK spec (Levers the right way round) and usually much faster delivery.

symanoy

However, no one in the UK seems to have any 2012 SLX left, I've looked everywhere, and 2013 stock doesn't seem to be in this country yet either. When I emailed CRC about it they weren't expecting any in till at least September. But when a single XT brake is £89.99 from CRC and £67.75 from Rose bikes it seems a bit of a no brainer to me even with having to swap the levers round!

symanoy

ok I stand corrected, Merlin have 2013 SLX brakes (M675) at 74.95 each,
However a pair of XT from Rose even with shipping costs comes to £138.50
whereas a pair of SLX from Merlin comes to £149.90.

Giraffoto

I bought a pair of Deore brakes for my 23" Hardrock from Rose, and even if I hadn't had to swap the levers round I'd have needed to shorten the hoses a fair bit. So buy them from here or buy them from there, the chances are that you'll still have to disconnect the hoses from the levers which can result in you having to bleed them. (I chickened out and got the LBS to do it for me)

bikeboy001

I am rideing an M675 SLX's,as a newbie,I have no idea about the budget of the brake,I mean,how much do you guys spend on the brake that matches this model?Thanks a lot!

(anybody has the same model as mine? )

ricardo_smooth

Jomox wrote:

often things even out after delivery cost and with CRC / Merlin your getting UK spec

incorrect (with brakes anyhow) just ordered the 2013 slx brakes for my other bike and nobody could touch rose for price. everywhere else was much more costly. Swapping the hoses over takes 10 minutes and is no bother. The only thing 'UK' about the brakes is that they have put the hoses on the opposite levers as you say. It is however the same product

cooldad

bikeboy001 wrote:

I am rideing an M675 SLX's,as a newbie,I have no idea about the budget of the brake,I mean,how much do you guys spend on the brake that matches this model?Thanks a lot!

(anybody has the same model as mine? )

Huh?

dry664

ricardo_smooth wrote:

incorrect (with brakes anyhow) just ordered the 2013 slx brakes for my other bike and nobody could touch rose for price. everywhere else was much more costly. Swapping the hoses over takes 10 minutes and is no bother. The only thing 'UK' about the brakes is that they have put the hoses on the opposite levers as you say. It is however the same product

+1

I was suggesting that the OP get brakes, discs and adaptors all from Rose and he should save around 50 quid over uk prices. I personally would prefer to save £50. Only way to avoid swapping and cutting hoses here is to order from your lbs and ask them nicely to do it for you, but Im sure they would charge you RRP for the brakes (180 ish?)

Jomox

ricardo_smooth wrote:

Jomox wrote:

often things even out after delivery cost and with CRC / Merlin your getting UK spec

incorrect (with brakes anyhow) just ordered the 2013 slx brakes for my other bike and nobody could touch rose for price. everywhere else was much more costly. Swapping the hoses over takes 10 minutes and is no bother. The only thing 'UK' about the brakes is that they have put the hoses on the opposite levers as you say. It is however the same product

Yeah it's true, but for allot of us it's allot more practical just buy a brake (or set) plug in and away you go, the prices are nice from rose don't get me wrong, but it all depends if your willing to tweak after, just one of those personal things (If your good at bleeding/tweaking and have time then it can be worth it)

Also for me personally it works out only a little more expensive to buy from UK as I buy my parts separate due to tight funds (And each time need to add delivery charges from rose) If your buying bulk and are willing to tweak after then it makes sense.

ricardo_smooth

buy the brakes and pay your lbs £10 to swap the hoses over....still £40 in your back pocket! minus your £5 per buying of separate component of call it £20 (no need for lbs for most components as they are the same). I'd still rather have £20 for fuel to go ride somewhere new than give it to somebody else

Alternatively save the money to one side until you have enough to buy it all in one go

Jomox

But for me it don't work out like that, for example I need to order like one part a week, so lets say I need 6-7 more parts (I buy a part every week pretty much, so usually more than that in a year if doing bike builds/upgrading) you need to add £7.60 or £5.05 on top for each part delivery, in UK it's free. So that's potentially an extra £30-£38+ more than buying over here on top of potentially having to tweak or pay someone to do it, so for me the costs even it's self out. If your buying in one and can tweak it's obviously the way to go though due to the cheaper prices.

Sorry for going of topic (I think) but for the op if he can tweak the brake levers etc then its worth going somewhere cheaper naturally.

Another side note also, I've just got SLX front brake installed (m665 one though, £45 from Merlins) and it's a great brake, pads need bedding in still but it has allot of power and modulation already.

symanoy

Not everything is substantially cheaper on Rose, it just seems that shimano disc brakes stand out as being markedly cheaper there, for most things CRC or Merlin is as cheap as it comes.