Mountain Biking - Bought a new bike after 20 years

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jjl5590
05-25-11, 05:18 AM
Hey guys,

For 20 years I've been riding a Diamondback S10 bike. It was alright, it had V-brakes and when they stopped working, I decided it was time to get a new bike.

I bought a Raleigh AT30, just finished putting it all together and setting it up. This bike has Promax DSK-400 cable disc brakes, and has Clarks written on them so I'm guessing it's made by Clarks?

Anyway, my question is about the brakes. I expected them to be a lot stronger than V-brakes, but they don't seem to be. I'm certain they are set up correctly, but they just don't provide much stopping power. They can't lock up the wheels, just slow them to a stop. Surely this can't be normal? Do disc brakes have a setting-in period?


Thanks for any advice given!

commo_soulja
05-25-11, 11:06 PM
New disc brake rotors and pads need bedding in to reach full stopping potential.
BotByte
05-26-11, 12:04 AM
I found the stopping power of rim brakes to be the problem.

I don't want my wheels to lock up while going down a hill, I want my bike to slow to a stop.

Rim brakes work as the rim is the part being stopped and just like leverage, the farther away you're pulling, the easier it is to stop. This leads to a quick jolt and locking wheels.

Disk brakes however stop in a much shorter leverage but with the brake surface to the pads, the same stopping power is applied. This forced the torque of the hubs to slow, rather then the wheels to slow. Disks also will stop a bike better regardless to what the weight of you'r tires are. I know v brakes have problems stopping a heavy tire with tire liner, thorn proof tube and sealant. But a Disk would overlook this.

I highly recommended to upgrade your disks and pads, and then also look into hydraulic disk brakes.

3speed
05-26-11, 07:31 AM
That's kinda lame. If they don't bed in and start stopping you better, maybe look into different pads. If they're anything like the disk brakes on a car, the pads might make a pretty good difference.
mystolenbikes
05-26-11, 11:35 AM
New disc brake rotors and pads need bedding in to reach full stopping potential.
Did you even read the post? He has cable brakes you can not bleed cable brakes. Second no you don't need to bleed the new brakes to reach their full potential. And jj try to adjust them and see what happens. (adjust from the caliper.)
noodle
05-27-11, 08:54 AM
Congratulations... I purchased a folding full suspension mountain bike in 1994 (that has quite a few miles on it) and then two 29er's in 2010 so you have me beat ;)

Give the brakes a bit of time to break in and if you do not notice more responsiveness, purchase a can of brake kleen from an auto parts store and carefully/sparingly spray it on both sides of the brake rotors (avoid overspray on the hubs) and the inner sides of the brake pads.
bikeforfun
05-27-11, 10:24 AM
Did you even read the post? He has cable brakes you can not bleed cable brakes. Second no you don't need to bleed the new brakes to reach their full potential. And jj try to adjust them and see what happens. (adjust from the caliper.)

I think he wrote BEDDING in not BLEEDING. Either way if adjusted properly it should be able to lock up wheel pretty easily.