Reason for massive difference in brake performance ?
Comments
-
You say it's your Winter/Commuter bike? Ridden in wet and greasy roads. Rims probably contaminated. Get one of these and give them a good clean with soap (washing up liquid) water. You'll notice a huge difference.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Garryson-Garry ... th=1&psc=1Sometimes. Maybe. Possibly.
0 -
Rolf F wrote:Trivial poursuivant wrote:Some third party brakes are shocking. Some are also much better. The design, strength of the spring, cable pull ratio all effect a brakes ability.
Unless over-strong, all the springs do is keep the pads away from the rims so I don't see how they can have much impact on braking effectiveness. And really, what difference does cable pull ratio make unless it gets extreme? How big a mechanical difference actually is there out there?
If the spring is crap or fouled it can prevent the brakes returning and therefore leaving the pad in contact with the rim. Maybe it isn’t causing an issue here but on cheaper brakes they are an issue which what I was highlighting0 -
yertez wrote:
Any ideas what causes such a difference before I start randomly replacing bits ?
it is an interesting question, even if it has been done to death already.
I have bikes with the following setups
Ultegra 6800
Potenza
105 5700
Chorus
Shimano Arabesque
Weinmann Center Pulls
--
There was not a great difference between the 5700 and 6800 brakes, both are good with nice levers. 6800 are the most powerful in that list but Potenza is close with, I would say, slightly better modulation.
The Ultegra is really a massive, stiff well designed caliper. I'm sure if you stuck one on your bike (on the front only) it would improve your braking assuming the cable pull on your levers is roughly compatible.
Chorus, ok but it is from 1997 so has a dated lever design which requires a bit of force.
The late 70s Arabesque is a single pull flexible caliper and even with modern brake blocks you lose a lot of power. The wheels and frame might not help despite being top of the range back in the day.
The Weinmann center pulls with dia-compe levers are just pants, how people raced on them I don't know.BASI Nordic Ski Instructor
Instagramme1 -
The guy who puts my bikes together probably spends about 3 times longer to set up the brakes than the rear derailleur. He starts with a complete calliper disassembly, clean and re-assemble to all the right torques,, and then spends alot of time setting up the cable just right. There are a lot of variable involved with brakes.Half man, Half bike0
-
No ones mention cable actuation/pull ratios?
The calipers are suppose to be matched with the right compatible lvrs
https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mech ... atios.html
Own brand calipers like btwin or non series long drop shimano brakes etc are made for the older shimano standards not the newer ones/etc probably0 -
Moonbiker wrote:No ones mention cable actuation/pull ratios?
Yes I did, in the post right above and I think it was mentioned further up too.BASI Nordic Ski Instructor
Instagramme0
The bike costs £350! I have it too (as a dog trailer bike), its fine, the brakes are poo and the only thing that really let it down, but I suspect unless you throw a lot of money at it then they will always be pretty dire. 
