Why are my cx Hayes disc brakes useless?

bmxboy10

Have these on a 2014 Croix de fer and they are pants. Spent ages adjusting and readjusting but they are useless, My ultegra rim brakes on my other bike are amazing so what's going wrong as I thought disc brakes were supposed to be better that calipers

ugo.santalucia

I have the same, they are great... :roll:

aberdeenal

Sometimes I'm happy with mine and at other times I wish there was more bite - that's more my issue that my CdF

meanredspider

solboy10 wrote:

Have these on a 2014 Croix de fer and they are pants. Spent ages adjusting and readjusting but they are useless, My ultegra rim brakes on my other bike are amazing so what's going wrong as I thought disc brakes were supposed to be better that calipers

Well, you're obviously doing something wrong

bmxboy10

meanredspider wrote:

solboy10 wrote:

Have these on a 2014 Croix de fer and they are pants. Spent ages adjusting and readjusting but they are useless, My ultegra rim brakes on my other bike are amazing so what's going wrong as I thought disc brakes were supposed to be better that calipers

Well, you're obviously doing something wrong

And that's fine and this is why I asked the question. A little input into what I should do to set them up would be helpful :roll:

trekvet

You should set them up according to the bike manual. Did you get one, is it on CD/DVD?

I would suspect disc and so, pad contamination. If they were mine I would remove pads and wash them in warm soapy water with a nylon pan scrubber, rinse and dry in the sun. Discs/rotors I would clean both sides (watch for sharp edges ) with meths or window cleaning stuff and kitchen roll. Put pads back in, etc. With my pads on MTB it said make 5 or 6 heavy brakes to bed them in, so went up the hill and did it coming down, now it stops like dropping an anchor.

cycleclinic

To set them up the pads need to bedded in properly. Assuming you have done that then check the alignment of the caliper also the trueness of the disc. If the lever has to move alot to get braking then alignment is the issue. The issue could be with the mounts if they are not faced properly. A mail order company is not going to assemble the bike face the mounts and dissamble and package it off to you. If you bought from a shop and the brakes are not right then you should get that covered by them. Do not be afraid of some rubbing on a properly set up mechanical disc brake. you want the the rotor close to touching the fixed pad so when the pad that moves, well moves it does not bend the rotor to bring it in contact with the fixed pad. Thats the secret. Contaminated pads are the the other problem you may have if they are then bin them trying to sort them out is very hit and miss.

MTB hydraulic disc brakes are better than road calipers. Shimano's new R785 hyrdaulic road disc brakes are simply sublime (MTB XT calipers). Mechanical disc brake need constant fettling to adjust for pad wear they do work however in the wet. If you really can't set them up take it to a shop that can.

trekvet

Here is the link to your brakes, found it on Hayes website :shock: :shock:
http://hayesdiscbrake.com/wp-content/themes/hdb/pdf/45-20182G_MechBrakeInstall.pdf

meanredspider

solboy10 wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

solboy10 wrote:

Have these on a 2014 Croix de fer and they are pants. Spent ages adjusting and readjusting but they are useless, My ultegra rim brakes on my other bike are amazing so what's going wrong as I thought disc brakes were supposed to be better that calipers

Well, you're obviously doing something wrong

And that's fine and this is why I asked the question. A little input into what I should do to set them up would be helpful :roll:

"They are pants" "they are useless" isn't much to go on. Generally they aren't. But I'm not sure what you want people to say other than follow the instructions. If you told us how you are adjusting them or a bit more detail on why they are "pants" that would help us help you :roll:

bmxboy10

meanredspider wrote:

solboy10 wrote:

meanredspider wrote:

solboy10 wrote:

Have these on a 2014 Croix de fer and they are pants. Spent ages adjusting and readjusting but they are useless, My ultegra rim brakes on my other bike are amazing so what's going wrong as I thought disc brakes were supposed to be better that calipers

Well, you're obviously doing something wrong

And that's fine and this is why I asked the question. A little input into what I should do to set them up would be helpful :roll:

"They are pants" "they are useless" isn't much to go on. Generally they aren't. But I'm not sure what you want people to say other than follow the instructions. If you told us how you are adjusting them or a bit more detail on why they are "pants" that would help us help you :roll:

Ok fair enough but just to say the brakes have never felt properly set up since I got the bike. I assumed I needed to wait for them to bed in but that is not the issue IMO. Good to hear that the brakes are getting good reviews. At present I am struggling to be able to lock the rear wheel up. I have tried adjusting cable tension via the cable adjusters but this has not improved things.

munkster

If it's anything like the Avid BB7s I finally got to play ball on a CdF then I found that the routing of the cables (to be as clean a curvature as possible and for cable ends to be neatly cut) had an influence on how well they worked. They (cable disks) definitely do work but it can seem like a preposterous statement when they don't. Lots of info on that there internets as well...

ugo.santalucia

Pop off one of the pads (they are magnetic) and you should get your answer.
If it's homogeneously worn, then all is good, but if it is only partially worn, then it means the caliper is not set up properly, which is most likely the reason.

The pad is probably 2 cm high and the rotor has a brake track which is similar. If the caliper sits too far or too close to the frame, you have less than 100% contact between the two. 90% is enough to give you good action, but if you only have 60-70%... then your brakes are pretty much useless. You then need to add or remove washers to find the correct distance.
Don't expect the bike shop who assembled the bike (or Madison) to do things properly, because they don't.

bmxboy10

Ok so followed all the advice on here plus the Hayes instructions and the arts cyclery you tube video.

Alignment now perfect and disc and pad wear look uniform across the whole pad. Cleaned pads refitted and still no better in fact front braking is almost dangerous. Pads and rotor meet mid way through lever range but braking is just so soft!

Do you think the pads are contaminated?

k-dog

I had similar and swapping to new pads, cleaning the discs and then bedding them in sorted it. Now they're great when previously they were hopeless.

bmxboy10

Just been out to bed em in! let's just say they work! cheers guys Love my Croix 8)

cycleclinic

glad it sorted. Discs are ace.