Mountain Biking - What do you u do 2 get your discs working well?

On my bike, i've got Tektro Novela cable disc brakes. I know theyre not the best and i know people are going to say 'I know how to fix the problem- get new brakes' but i just would like to know how to get them working in the best condition.

I just bought some new pads for my rear caliper and the back wheel wont even lock up! What should i do?

anthonaut,

You might be able to download an owner's manual or shop manual at the manufacturer's website (if they have one). If not, you might download one from Hayes or Shimano and hope it works in a similar way.

I have Hayes hydraulics and they have self correcting ability to some extent. Hydraulics have other problems too besides basic misalignment, such as having to "bleed the line" (get air bubbles out). But I admit I don't have enough experience to give you the skinny on all disk related problems.

If you have mechanical discs, those would obviously work differently than hydraulics.

You should probably adjust your stationary pad so that it can be as close to the disc with out touching. Also use the finest sand paper you can find or disc brake sand paper and sand the rotor in a criss cross action. One other very simple answer to this problem could be because they are new they need to be worn in. New pads have an extremely thin coating of something on them and they have to be used for about a day to wear it off.

I think your rear wheel just needs the pads broken in. Other than that there really isn't much you can do. It's not a top of the line brake so you can't really expect it to perform like one, you know?

Oh.. and clean your cables and housing, and perhaps consider purchasing different levers. Sometimes levers make all the difference when it comes to cable actuated brakes. I was using XTR levers with my Avid discs and the performance was infinitely better when I switched to the SRAM levers I'm using now.

yeah if they don't lock up your pads aren't close enough to the rotor. it's tricky because sometimes when you get them close enough, they begin to drag when you aren't on the lever. what i do is i let my pads drag a tiny bit against the rotor and i ride like that, and after a few minutes the pads start to wear parallel to the rotor and i get clean rotations. then i adjust the pads a little bit more inwards.