I looks like you'll have to go for a hydro brake like shown in this photo.
I don't think you'll find any mechanical disc brake that'll work with the brake tab setup that you have.
IS tab hydro brakes aren't necessary as that model bike is sold with Post Mount Avid brakes.
How about a hydro brake that has brake pads that can be mechanically adjusted like the Avid BB7's? My experience with hydraulic brakes is that over time they get less and less throw - (brake pad travel) resulting in drag. This is ok when I am close enough to home to do a rebuild but I am thinking this may be a problem on a big trip.
hydro brakes self adjust to pad wear. if you have really really old brakes which are a clsoed system then there is a knob to adjust pad travel. hope c2 for example
current hydraulic brakes self adjust for wear, sometimes they need a quick lube, but it's infrequent. Don't be afraid to go to hydro, the amount of time spent adjusting pads on the BB7s is far greater than the amount of time needed to service a hydro system even including the occasional bleed.
I have a fear of hydraulics from the one model I have owned that at the 500 mile mark needed a complete rebuild with new seals and pistons. Maybe some lubing maintenance would have prevented this or maybe other brands and models can get more mileage without maintenance? It would have been nice to be able to back the pads off so i could limp home instead of drag home. There doesn't seem to be much that can be done in the way of maintenance out in the field?
what kind of brakes were these? i dont see any need to be afraid of hyrdo brakes. in the field you can push the pistons back into the bore and recenter the caliper.
User error was likely to blame as this was my first set of Hydraulics. Technical support from Hayes was amazing... they helped me figure out the problem and set me up with a rebuild kit. So I don't want to dis the brake by naming it - but since you probably need to know in order to understand where I am coming from: it was the HFX Nine model.
I couldn't push the pistons back in and recenter as it just continued to drag when I did this. I then tried lubing the piston but it was too late -it then cracked and jammed in the cylinder. This may have happened when I was trying to lube it to free it up or maybe this is what caused the drag problem in the first place? The was a big chunk broken off the back of the cylinder. I was surprised it was made out of a strange composite like substance.
Nines are/were absolute junk. I would not let that isolated problem scare you from Hydraulics in general. There are a lot of good brakes out there. Each may have a small 'imperfection' (avids like to make noise, shimanos are not DOT fluid, and rebuild parts are hard to find), but overall, most are pretty good.
Stick with a simple version of a two piston brake. Avid Juicys, or any of the two piston shimanos (would be my pick/opinion) would be simple, proven and relatively inexpensive. Keep an eye out and you can find great deals on both of these as well (last years model/color or an OEM take off). They seem to show up farily often at significant discount.
A lot of the early brakes were pretty bad as the companies were new to the game, or had trouble scaling their existing brakes down to managable weights. Hayes made motorbike brakes before bike ones, and what works in one application doesn't necessarily transfer.
If you want simple and corrosive DOT fluid-free, its hard to go past Shimano XT, LX or deore level. The latter has just been updated with higher groupset features too.
Very cheap at full retail usually means some corners were cut in mfg. For those particular brakes, the quality of every part was suspect. This resulted in low power, poor hoses that would kink, or burst. Cheap pads, leaking master cylinders, sticking pistons.. hardware was very cheap. I worked on a pair that I had to close the bleed valve with as much effort as I could to prevent the bleeded from simply pouring out fluid.
Hayes was once a well respected mtb brand. Then they went the way of low price (cheap junk) to try to garner the OEM market (product that comes on a complete low end bike)...and that market is all about how cheap you can make stuff (think manitou around 2005).
The hayes 9 was exactly that product. Every corner was cut to make a product super cheap for OEM applications... VS... The original 'purple' or 'champaign' hayes brakes of the early 90s were the best of their time and they were not cheap nor found on complete bikes at the LBS (not great compared to current procduct, but solid, well built, with avialable parts everywhere).
As of the last two years, hayes has re-grouped and decided that selling more cheap junk leads to a poor business image. They have re-designed all of their products (and bought manitou) and have changed their direction to try to make quility products over quantity.
Sticking pistons, bad bleed valve design - I hear you there. I did not experience leaking m.c. or bad hoses. This brake gets a rating of 3.33 at this web site (194 reviews). However 25 people who own the carbon version -which is the same thing with just a carbon lever? thought it rated a 4.04! The generic Hayes brake - appears to be OEM brake? rated by 401users rated the Hayes as 4.42!
Obviously someone working in a shop is going to see a trend in what brakes come in for repairs for what reasons and are going to be a better judge than the average rider with 3 or 4 bikes.
Otherwise the Shimanos and the Hope Minis are the only hydraulic brakes with above 4 ratings with more than 100 reviews. Even the Juicy 7 get a wanking solid 3.69 with almost 300 reviews. So you can see how this is a tough one to research. Maybe more bike mechanics could weigh in here?
Although it seems like a good idea, the reviews here (and most places) are near useless. If you saw a common specific complaint from a significant proportion of reviewers, that would say something...but for the most part reviews are all over the map...one person complaining about the exact same thing somone else thinks is great. You also find a plethora of people who mis-use or mis-instal products and then b1tch because they bought the wrong product or refused to have things installed correctly.
Add to that, parts like the HFX 9 were mostly a part that came on mid-low level complete builds. The person that buys that bike, is most likely not that versed or experienced with competing products.
The best you know is the best you have had.
IMO the best bet is to post a well worded and specific question here in the appropriate forum regarding the part(s) in question. You will still get a bunch of crappy ill-informed response from all the kids who have never even used the product(s)...but usually you will also get some real input from people with experience.
Just look for level headed responses that can give you an idea of both positive and negative attributes (all things have both)...rather than rantings about how product 'x' is THE BEST for any one, and any use.
Once you think you have set on one or two products (lets say avid Juicy, and shimano XT brakes)....search for those terms and read through past posts about said products. You could also check other forums (ridemonkey for example).
Actually there are NO rebuilt parts for Shimano brakes. They are not intended to be user serviceable. Shimano does not offer pistons, seals, MCs, rebuild kits, etc.
Actually there are NO rebuilt parts for Shimano brakes. They are not intended to be user serviceable. Shimano does not offer pistons, seals, MCs, rebuild kits, etc.
Just like my Shimano brifters - ok Shimano is off my list! I would want to at least be able to replace seals instead of throwing the entire brake out. Maybe they are built so well they never need fixin'?
Just like my Shimano brifters - ok Shimano is off my list! I would want to at least be able to replace seals instead of throwing the entire brake out. Maybe they are built so well they never need fixin'?
You can send them back to Shimano if they need service. They have the tooling and the parts necessary to service the brakes. Their warranty is decent.
I have a set of 2003ish Shimano m755 4 piston disc brakes. They are still fine. But even Shimano probably does not have any parts for these brakes.
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