Need help with mechanical brake fix/upgrade

sad_muso

Hi All,

I am a bit of a beginner and last year I purchased my first MTB - a 2012 Kona Splice 29er (http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/kona-splice-29er-hardtail-bike-2012/rp-prod95400Kona%20Splice%2029er).

I have racked up 1,500 miles on it so far with one service, but recently the brakes have become truly awful so yesterday I took off the discs and pads, cleaned them up with disc brake cleaner and sanded the pads. I noticed slight improvement but they still won't stop me dead. My wife's such cheaper non disc brakes work much better than these!

I just googled my bike spec and this is what I've currently got:

Frame Material: Kona 7005 Aluminum Butted
F/D: Shimano Altus
R/D: Shimano Altus
Shifters: Shimano Rapidfire
Brake Calipers: ProMax Mechanical
Front Brake Rotor: ProMax 160mm
Rear Brake Rotor: ProMax 160mm
Brake Levers: ProMax Mechanical

I'm just after some 'what would you guys do?' advice. At the moment I think my options are:

1: Purchase better quality discs and pads and hope that makes a difference
2: Look to upgrade my brakes, but I don't have a bottomless budget so ideally wouldn't want to spend more than £100-£150 tops. The other issue here is that I believe I'd need to also upgrade my brake levers and I've got Shimano Altus ones which are integrated with the shifters - does that mean I'd need new shifters too I presume?
3: Jack it in and save up for a better bike with better components. The issue here is that I do actually like the frame of my bike and feel as though it could be good with a few upgrades. Would you guys say it's worth it? I don't have the money to splash out £3,000 on a bike sadly

In summary, all I really want is to be able to confidently stop dead, preferably with some decent modulation too. At the moment I have to really squeeze the levers in and even then I am hardly able to stop. I am only 12 stone so I don't think that's the issue

I have heard that Promax are generally pretty rubbish and that Avid BB7s might be a good replacement?

Many thanks,

sad_muso

cooldad

Clean the rotors with isopropyl alcohol, replace the pads and cables.
Don't use anything called brake cleaner.
Don't sand pads.

photonic69

Don't sand pads but you can deglaze/reface them by using 1000grit wet and dry used dry. Lay sheet out on flat hard surface. An old large tile is good. Gently rub pad face in circular motion on paper ensuring face is in flat contact. It can help sometimes but best off to get new ones.

sad_muso

Thanks guys. Is disc brake cleaner actually really bad then?

So you reckon if I replace the discs, cables and pads I should be okay? Will the cables mean having to pull less hard on the levers? I hate sloppy levers

cooldad

Sloppy levers can be adjusted.
Brake cleaner works on cars, leaves residue on bikes - they don't get hot enough or have enough power to burn it off.

Gibbo3771

If all else fails:

M615 Deore - £35
SRAM X4 Shifters - £11.99

Not sure if you can mix SRAM and Shimano gear components, you will need to find compatible post mount for rear brake. The front fit right onto my RockShox Recon TK with a 160mm rotor without any adaptor

The Rookie

Gibbo3771 wrote:

Not sure if you can mix SRAM and Shimano gear components,

You can't for the rear (front you can)....please don't post stuff unless you are at least reasonably sure and the FAQ tells you you are wrong if you bothered reading it.

felix.london

you could get Altus trigger shifters and a Deore brakes for under £100 total

swod1

swap the brakes for deore m615 hydraulic brakes and change the shifters to deore 9or 10 speed depending on whats already on the bike.

those would be a good and inexpensive upgrade.