Brake upgrade for Hardrock Sport Disc

Rousie

Good evening all,

Firstly, let me say what a great forum this is, and how happy i am to find it :-)

Secondly, i'm very new to the MTB scene, but have good mechanical knowledge, and would be confident in tackling any work myself.

Purchased a 2012 (I think) Specialized Hardrock Sport Disc bike from a friend, which hasn't had much use. It was used a couple of times, and then moved around storage till purchased by me for a reasonable price.

Anyway, first time out with a friend on Sunday, in my local countryside / reservoir in Derbyshire, and thinking i had tweaked, scrubbed and cleaned everything for the 10 mile ride we did, and getting excited about having disc brakes and half decent forks (to me they're good anyway, as I've not had a bike in years) I was SOO dissapointed with the brakes, i could have thrown the damn thing in the lake.

Brakes are Hayes So1e system, with 160mm discs - on some of the downhill sections, with sharp corners at the bottom, i thought i was going to break the lever, or fall off the edge, consequently hurting my hand more than my legs hurt when we had finished. They don't seem to have any real stopping power at all

The Pads seem to have plenty of meat on them, and discs don't appear to be scored, warped or anything. There doesn't seem to be any fluid leaks or signs of air in the system either.

I'm just over 95kg, and this is the main reason why i'm taking up Cycling again - to get fit & healthy, but these brakes scare me and i'm looking to upgrade ASAP.

Obviously i'd like to spend as little as possible, but i'm open to ideas IF i'm getting some good stoppers.

Already ordered some Schwalbe Land Cruisers and Cycling shorts, as the current tyres were acting like brakes, and my @rse hurts after my first ride.

Thanks for reading, and i await your replies flooding in!

cooldad

Shimano Deore - M596. But it sounds like there's something wrong with yours. They're not the greatest but should still stop you. I'd clean the discs and try new pads first.
A new fork would be a better upgrade.

Rousie

Thanks for the info!

IS there any particular or specific pads i should be looking at?

How good are the M596's and are they a direct, bolt on replacement?

As for forks, they are my next upgrade, but don't want to spend a fortune! Would like remote lock-out though, cause that seems a great idea - Any ideas?

cooldad

Do a forum search - plenty of what brake threads. Deore's are incredible for the money.
Pads - Superstar are cheap and good. http://superstar.tibolts.co.uk/
In my opinion remote lock out is pointless. Easy enough to do it manually when you need to, which isn't very often, and remotes just clutter the bars.

coulddobetter

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... ke-service. Try this for hayes

cooldad

From the first post it doesn't sound like they need bleeding, more likely the pads have got gunk on them.

Plyphon

scrubbed and cleaned everything for the 10 mile ride we did

I suspect this is the problem

felix.london

Plyphon wrote:

scrubbed and cleaned everything for the 10 mile ride we did

I suspect this is the problem

If that 'cleaning' involved WD40 or the like then quite possibly...