Mountain Biking - Brake HEEELP

Hi guys.

I got a 2003 Specialized Rockhopper. I am 185cm 92kg. Doing aggresive xc and steep descents sometimes. So far i am very happy with the bike. Perfect frame and drivetrain (XT).I got a problem though. With the fork compressed i got the front brake rubbing against the tyre/rim (shimano vbrake 420 model manitou axel elite fork) . I am very pissed off. I got the fork on the stiffest setting. Should i upgrade to Avid Arch rivals? they seem to have something like a brake booster in the front. Also for disk brakes i would like something either mechanical either hydro but only with mineral oil. Any suggestions? I live in the UK Wales. Avid CPS Discs retail at 90 pounds !!!!!!!!! EACH!!!!! thats very expensive for a mechdisk. Also i was considering XT Discs.Are they good? (light ,strong and reliable?). Thanks again for your answers!
Would love to meet fellow bikers from Cardiff.

I'm not sure I understand your problem.


With the fork compressed i got the front brake rubbing against the tyre/rim (shimano vbrake 420 model manitou axel elite fork) .

Your brakes rub the rim when the fork is compressed??? Huh?

What does this mean? Is it when you're riding the front brake rubs. Is it when you're sprinting or pedaling hard and swinging the bike side to side the brake rubs?

Does the rim rub when the front wheel is elevated? Is the rub in the same spot every revolution? Is the brake pad rubbing the rim or the tire (tyre)?

It sounds to me like a simple adjustment is all that is needed. Either the cable is too taught, or your wheel is out of true.

I'm not sure what to suggest because I simply don't understand!

L8R

Hi chief.

The wheel is perfectly true. Brake pads seem ok. I have alligned them . the rubbing occurs randomly while i am on the bike .if i spin the wheel while i am off the bike then no rubbing at all occurs meaning that there is something to do with the fork in a compressed state under my body weight. the rubbing sounds like tyre to tyre rub.

Regardless of how stiff the arch is on a traditional suspension fork, there will always be some side to side flex, perhaps when you're standing up and pedaling you are feeling the effects of this lateral deflection in your forks which is causing the rubbing. Can you adjust the compression (pre-load) of the forks in each of the tubes? If so, make sure you've turned the two sides equally!

If the rubbing is when you're are "hammering", try loosening the brakes a little bit. This may provide enough clearance to avoid the rubbing. My next question: "when you squeeze you levers, do you have any slack in the cable, or do the brakes immediately engage. i.e. are they so tight that the brakes are immediately activated? If so, try to adjust "out" the brake cable.


the rubbing sounds like tyre to tyre rub.

This has got me perplexed. Check to make sure that the cable end (past the clamp bolt) isn't so long that it's rubbing the tyre occasionally. That one had me stumped for a long while on one of my bikes. It was the cable on the front derailleur. I had it tucked under and it worked it's way out and would rub the tire during hard efforts of after small jumps. It would only rub when I was in the granny gear (small chainring) and it took a long time to put two and two together!

Also, check how your brake/shifter cables are run. Make sure they don't criss cross or pass where they may rub the tyre.

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what it could be.

Just try to go over your whole bike and look for unusal wear/rub marks on stuff that shouldn't be rubbing.

I apologize for not being able to help further!

L8R

Can you feel any drag or do you just hear the sound?
Also, as mentioned before, check for any wear marks on the side wall of the tire.
If it were to be the pads hitting the tire you would not get a tire to tire sound, it wound be more of a hiss type sound.
Also as mentioned check the cables, if they were to hit the tire it could produce the sound you are describing.

About discs, if you are doing alot of fast decents or very steep ones then i would suggest upgrading to disc brakes. The Avid mechanicals are great brakes.

Slainte :beer:

Sounds like fork flex to me. The best thing to do about that is wait until some other noise crops up and distracts you from the brake noise. Other than that the only thing you can do is buy a stiffer fork. All forks flex, just some do more than others and it's not always a bad thing...

thanks guys for all the precious advice. I ll loosen the front cable and if i get really pissed i might go for Avid Archs or Discs

I'm a little lost here too... but:

I had a problem where my fork was bottoming out, and the 2.1 tire was rubbing the bottom of the crown, not the brake! (when I would bunnyhop or land a jump). I had to take all the plushness out to make it stop. If you've already done that, I don't know what to say...

Play some music on the trails or something! I met up with a guy today that was blasting Techno music out of his camelbak, it was kinda' cool (made the climb out of the park fly by...).

Mike