Brake upgrade advice please

jjsh · April 2013

Hi

I have one of these, a 2011 Merida Matts MD 20 :http://www.merida-bikes.com/en_gb/bike/2011/55/MTB+Hardtail/MATTS+20-D

It has served me well, as both an on and off roae bike, but I have recently brought a proper road bike so have taken the slicks of the Merida, put the off-road tyres back on, and took her out for a bit of an off road spin today. I loved it, and am thinking of upgrading her over the next 12 months or so. I am thinking better forks, wheels and brakes.

I am pretty confident of what I want to achieve upgrading the forks and wheels, but am a bit confused when it comes to the brakes. Can anyone suggest a suitable upgrade path, given that;

a) obviously, I want to go hydraulic.
b) my shifters and levers are self contained shimano something or others, so I will need new shifters as well, I assume, and if that is the case, ones that work with my Acera-X set up.
c) I am unsure if all 'disks' are the same diameter & thickness, so will I need new disks as well?
d) any other gotchas that you can think of.

I am hoping to achieve the above for about £100 ~ is that realistic?

Just a final bit of info, I don't know if it helps, I'm more of a green lane, woods, farm tack kind of guy than a flying down mountains kind of guy. We don't have many of them in Lincolnshire! :-)

All advice appreciated.