Mountain Biking - Adjusting Avid brakes

I just got new avid disc brakes for my bike, front and rear. i have them installed but i am having a really hard time getting them to work right. Right now when i apply the brakes i slide to a stop and dont come to a complete stop right away. as of now my old no name rim brakes work waaayyyy better than the disc brakes. I followed every step of the directions and they still dont work right. any tips would be helpful.

~Karl

New discs take a little time to brake-in (no pun intended). If you ride around the block with the brakes somewhat applied, it'll heat up the pads and wear off the first layer or so of material. If that doesn't work, try cleaning your rotors with isopropyl alcohol.

L8R

I'd try doing what a2psyklnut said and clean them. Sounds like maybe you've got grease or oil on them. I've got Avids and they are awesome brakes. Takes very little pressure to stop.

i tried clean the rotor with isopropyl alcohol and has had no effect. I will just have to take it to the bike shop to have them mess with it. thanks for the help

Ya, unless u are a bike teechnician or sumfin, i wud prefer it professinally fixeed. It will be likle brand new and will last longer.

Freerider:crash:

I just got Avid mechanicals 2 weeks ago and they have been great. Very easy to adjust yourself. However yesterday I was disappointed to find that the adjuster knob for the outer pad in the front isn't working anymore.

You can move the pad inward, but it comes in crooked and you have to press something in there to straiten the pad. When trying to move the pad outward nothing happens. Once again, in this case I needed to push the pad back out by pressing against it.

I was able to get my brakes to work properly again after all this fidgeting around with them, but I will have the front brake replaced by the manufacturer soon. I am not looking forward to being stranded off the bike though cause we're finally getting some nice spring weather up here in New England.

One of the big problems with disc brakes is contamination of the pads. If you touch the rotors with your bare hands, the oil on your skin is enough to contaminate them. When you were installing them, did you touch the rotors or pads? If so they're probably contaminated.

Clean the rotor with isopropyl alcholol. Remove your pads and rub them accross a piece of 220 grit sandpaper layed on a hard surface to remove the first layer of brake pads!

If you do these things, and are still having problems, PM me and I will give you some "other" tricks that are not recommended to the masses!

BTW, I am a "technician". I've worked on bikes professionally for years.

With That, I still have a lot to learn!

L8R

Hey it's me, Diligum!:eek: