Mountain Biking - misc. Disk Break stuff

i have just picked up mountain biking and i noticed that when i started riding my bike the disk brakes wernt as responsive as i thought; dont get me wrong the fronts work great but the rear brake doesnt seem to work as good.

what all should i do.

i have a tektro io mechanical disk setup . perhaps they need to be broken in and i am too impatient to wait or should i buy different brake pads?

please help.

also i heard that if you sand them down with light grit paper and clean them with alcohol it will make them work better- is this true?

jon.

i'm not sure about the sand paper and alcohol, but it sounds like your brakes need to be broken in...

i too have tektro io mech on my bike. they took a little while to break in. i got my bike in aug 03 so yours may be slighly different than mine. i have noticed that the pads will wear down fast if you do mulitiple hard stops. they also require lots of adjusting. one more thing you should be aware of, the spring inside the caliper of my rear brake broke.(broken spring pic) (http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=9281) but after a break in they will start to get better.

what kind of bike you get?

i have an 06 specialized hardrock sport with discs. i looked at my brakes and they dont have springs in them. they just have magnets which suck the pads onto them.

jon.

I just got hayes mx2 on my bike, and i'm having the same problem. So we just give them time? It just sucks that i spent twice the money on my bike compared to my girlfriends basic hardrock with v-brakes, and HER BRAKES WORK BETTER THAN MINE!!

argghh..

They have to be broken in. Do a google search on a good way to do it, or pick up the newest copy of Mountain Bike Action. They have an article on breaking in disc brakes.

thanx

i have an 06 specialized hardrock sport with discs. i looked at my brakes and they dont have springs in them. they just have magnets which suck the pads onto them.

i used to think the same thing untill the pads wouldnt release off the disc. the spring is what pushes the arm back to get the pad (which is held onto the arm asembly through magnets) off the disc. i took pictures when disassemblying mine so it might help you under stand better. the spring is located between the arm and caliper and is under the rubber cover.

I just got hayes mx2 on my bike, and i'm having the same problem. So we just give them time? It just sucks that i spent twice the money on my bike compared to my girlfriends basic hardrock with v-brakes, and HER BRAKES WORK BETTER THAN MINE!!

argghh..

just wait until both bikes have mud all over them... and you try stopping.. you will stop alot quicker and your girlfriend will b all over the place with her pads sliding on the rims!

just give it time!

There is a disc brake "break in" period, but it shouldn't take to terribly long. Ride on the flat and speed up and slow down a few times. Don't get them too dirty until they're broken in. Don't try to break them in too fast either. Some people hang on to a car and hold down on the brake until the rotor is hot enough to cook a steak. That can cause the pads to glaze, I think.

As far as the sandpaper and alcohol...that's just to get rid of brake noise when you're broken in.

I found an old post for you:

dazco
One bike mechanic told me that some people experience no squealing at all while others cannot get rid of it. I can't help but wonder if there is not something about the set up that can cause this ?

As i have said, mine were incredibly noisy and i sanded the pads and cleaned them and the discs with alcohol. Noise gone 100% ! I believe that some squeal and some don't because some are contaminated by handling or fluid while bleeding or any number of possibilities. If 2 people use the same brakes and one is noisy and the other isn't, it makes sense that it can only be the pads at fault, and that it must be contamination of some type.

My brakes only took a few miles to get broken in well, probably less than 20 anyway. (I run Avid Juicy's)

Hope this helps.

Sorry guys but get some Avids (BB5, BB7 Juicy's !) :D I didn't break mine in more than a mile or so, and I don't adjust them other than the time to time no tool pad indexing, everytime I'm at the LBS I let someone new rind my bike and when they come back they get a set of Avid BB7's.

Mine squeal at first after the bike sits for more than 24 hours but one hard stop and they are good as gold.


I have been told the squealing I get is from the Upgraded metalic pads I have reacting to the moisture in the air, I have stainless rotors, but the pads get a thin layer of rust/buildup than needs to be worn off.

Learn to adjust the pad's position. Also try re-aligning the caliper to the disc. It can make a huge difference.