Brake Advice - Poss Upgrade?

cl0306

First post so be gentle :shock:

I ride a Giant SCR2 2007 several times a week, year round in my commute (all weather). I have Continental Gatorskin tyres fitted. I've noticed the brakes are really starting to deteriorate in terms of responsiveness. I now need to apply serious pressure and the stopping distances are increasing to the point of it feeling a bit dangerous. I havent had it serviced for nearly a year so that's an obvious candidate and I presume my LBS can look at adjusting them but should I consider upgrading them while I'm at it?

I dont have any experience with this as you can tell so my question is really whether a brake upgrade from the Standard Giant Spec (http://www2.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/print/29640/bike_model/?collections_id=3) would really give that much of a difference in terms of responsivity over just allowing my LBS to adjust them/change the pads? Also, to what extent would new wheels make a difference?

Sprool

just fit some new pads.
How would new wheels make a difference? Lighter rim ones, more expensive, wearing out faster, costing lots? More prone to damage with potholes, or bigger heavier sturdy ones with 36 spokes and big heavy rims that last and last?

slowbike

I got given some Swiss Stop Greens as a pressie - a noticeable change from the normal pads ... however, I've just got a new bike with 105 brake callipers and dura-ace pads - wow - what a difference - especially on the back... I'm going to swap the SwissStops in and test those as that way I can tell if it's the callipers or pads ... (I'm assuming Ali wheel rim makes little difference)

markhewitt1978

cl0306 wrote:

First post so be gentle :shock:

I ride a Giant SCR2 2007 several times a week, year round in my commute (all weather). I have Continental Gatorskin tyres fitted. I've noticed the brakes are really starting to deteriorate in terms of responsiveness. I now need to apply serious pressure and the stopping distances are increasing to the point of it feeling a bit dangerous. I havent had it serviced for nearly a year so that's an obvious candidate and I presume my LBS can look at adjusting them but should I consider upgrading them while I'm at it?

I dont have any experience with this as you can tell so my question is really whether a brake upgrade from the Standard Giant Spec (http://www2.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/print/29640/bike_model/?collections_id=3) would really give that much of a difference in terms of responsivity over just allowing my LBS to adjust them/change the pads? Also, to what extent would new wheels make a difference?

Were your brakes ok when you got the bike? But just got worse over time? If that's the case then an 'upgrade' won't really help you. You just need to fit new pads, take a look at them, how much of the groove is left in the pad? You won't need the LBS to change your pads, they are *really* easy to change out, honestly, literally undo an allen key to take the old pad out then screw in a new one, repeat x4 and that's it.

Brakes are a consumable on a bike and something which needs replacing on a regular basis. Of course you can buy 'better' brake pads at the same time, people swear by Swisstop Greens - I've used them and found them to be similar to standard pads but I believe they wear less quickly.

markhewitt1978

Slowbike wrote:

I got given some Swiss Stop Greens as a pressie - a noticeable change from the normal pads ... however, I've just got a new bike with 105 brake callipers and dura-ace pads - wow - what a difference - especially on the back... I'm going to swap the SwissStops in and test those as that way I can tell if it's the callipers or pads ... (I'm assuming Ali wheel rim makes little difference)

Let me know how it goes! Brakes have been an issue for me on my road bike!

I've tried
Tektro calipers + tektro pads (came with the bike) : Completely terrible, and dangerous, stopping distance of 1 mile from 10mph
Tektro calipers + ultegra pads : Slightly better but not much
Tektro calipers + swisstop green pads : Slightly better again but still not acceptable.
105 capliers + 105 pads : Acceptable; I'm still not happy but I'm slowly getting used to them.

I thought about putting my swisstops in them but I grew tired of faffing around with it!

I did think about upgrading to Ultegra calipers but apparently you need to upgrade your shifters at the same time due to different cable pulls, so I think at this point I'm going to wait and eventually upgrade to 11 speed ultegra as apparently the brakes are better still.

slowbike

Ah yes - it could be the levers - this one has 105's ...

markhewitt1978

Brakes can be tricky to get right because there's a combination of factors.

* Levers
* Cabling
* Calipers
* Pads
* Rims
Adjustment and quality of all the above, any one is 'wrong' or doesn't work with the other and it won't work properly

cougie

Dear god. You've just worn the brake pads down.

Have you adjusted the pull on the cable to make the pads move closer to the rim as they have worn ? Theres usually a little knurled adjuster on the cable to allow you to do this.

Look at the pads. If they're below the level of the groove - just replace them. The easiest option is to replace just the inserts if there is a metal shoe holding the rubber in. Undo the screw and slide old pad out and new pad in. Its 30 seconds work. And no need to align the pads.

The bike shop will be happy to do this - but you should be able to do this for yourself.

The brakes worked fine to begin with - I cant see any reason for upgrading them - you just need to maintain the ones you have. Preferably before you have an accident due to them being neglected ?

mfin

I've used a bit of this I had lying around in the garage sprayed onto a rag or some kitchen roll to get any oily crap off rims and mtb discs before.

epo rocks!

Just buy SwissStop green pads. Instant upgrade.