jihnthecyclist

Im relatively new to the mountain bike sceen and im thinking of upgrading from v brakes to hydraulics.


As i dont have much money to spend on the upgrade i've been lookin between Avid Ball Bearing 7 mechanical brakes and Avid Juicy 3 hydraulics.

Any suggestions on which is best?? Or are there any other disc brakes in the market for around the same price bracket that would be better than these??

ed 

I have Juicy 5's and wouldn't go back if ya paid me. I love them.

My only experience with Juicy 3's was a test ride at a LBS. I was pretty disappointed in them b/c they bottomed out pretty late/low. I think you could just bleed them and add a little more fluid to combat the issue which would take 5 minutes. I'm surprised the shop didn't do that before putting the bike on the floor. The bonus of hydraulics is that they're self-adjusting as the pad wears down. They are indeed more powerful. No more steel cables to corrode and feel stiff.

On the flip side, BB7's are top notch mechanical stoppers. If I were to go Mech, I'd get BB7's. I just prefer hydraulics. This is a topic that's been hashed and re-hashed here on the forums. Run a search for hydro vs mechanical or something similar and you'll have plenty of info to peruse.

7daysaweek

I use the BB7's and they're great. I stuck to mechanicals and haven't really been disappointed. Can't speak for the Juicy 3's but I've heard good and bad things about Hydro's. Never anything bad about how they work, just bad things about maintenance. The BB7's and the BB5's I used to ride with never had any maintenance issues. They've both worked flawlessly and do a great job.

kellyjdrummer

+1 AVID BB5's.

rydaddy

I still don't understand the whole maintenance thing with hydros. I installed my Juicy 5's last year and haven't done a lick of maintenance (aside from new pads).

What is this 'maintenance' you speak of?

mtbtrek

avid juicy 5's

fosmith

Hydraulic every time...

also the issue with the 3's mentioned above is extremely common and bike shops don't catch this. all that needs to be done is the front wheel taken out, squeeze the lever once or twice to reset the pads. you might have to spread them a little to get the wheel back in.

apclassic9

You also have to make sure your bike frame is disc ready - if it isn't, you'll have to spring for a new frame whether you go mechanical OR hydraulic.

deraltekluge

If the fork and frame don't have the appropriate mounting points for the discs' calipers, how would you attach the calipers to them? Or are you implying that all forks/frames have the mounting points? Remember, we don't know what make and model bike the OP has.

deraltekluge

Ya know, you might have been a bit less snotty and just given a link to information about adapter hardware. For instance: https://www.therapycomponents.com/conversion.htm

jihnthecyclist

Thanks for all the input.

After looking at what you guys said and other research, i think i will spend a bit extra anf go for avid juicy 5, they seem like one of the best available for that price.

Cheers

orangepaint

I hear no bad about Shimano Deore. It's cheap too. Any input as to how good an option this would be?

scrublover

Looks like you've already picked the Juicy-5 setup. The only difference between the 3 and 5 models:

the 3 doesn't have an adjustable banjo at the caliper end, the lever doesn't have the "pop the lever out a bit rather than possibley break in a wreck feature" nor does it have a split lever clamp.

Otherwise, (assuming similar and proper setups/rotor sizes and so on) the 3 and 5 brakes feel pretty much the same. I picked up some 3's for one of my rides stupid cheap - they feel just like the 5's I have on the other two bikes. IMO, going for a set of those at that price point is a no brainer vs. mechanicals.

awc380

And be careful about QR front forks with discs...

https://www.ne.jp/asahi/julesandjames...quick_release/

Cheeto

almost everyone I ride with has disk brakes and a QR fork, no problems at all.
a few of them are full rigid to, so there's no suspension to absorb braking force.

Zan

i feel like the only rider here poor enough to own Juicy 3's . I think they're great... already made your decision, though. have fun!

zlr101

I had BB7 and avid ultimate levers and I would use that setup on any XC rig.

Defiance

You're trying to call someone out on a technicality. That's ridiculous. All you had to say was "Worst case scenario, there is an adapter _here_ you could use if you don't want to buy a new frame/bike/whatever."

apclassic9

OUCH!! Golly, I'm so ignorant, I must be from WV!!

-Devil-

i just went from BB5's to Juicy 7's on mine ... the bb5' were fine ... i just had to adjust them about once a week, and clean up from time to time, because the pads that were in them, didn't seem to like the dust and sand i ride through ...

changed over mostly because i wanted a little more 'feel' when i am stopping ... and wanted a little larger rotor on the front ...

DickyJ

Fagerlin...?

Captain Crash

My thoughts exactly.

ProFail

You guys suck. I yelled Pete like a week ago. A winrar is me.


Pete will tell me I'm a loser though.

ProFail

Classic only had one misstatement in this thread. Besides, it's reasonable since I think the misstatement was "you need a disc-ready frame for disc brakes, otherwise you can't run them". And the reason that's false is that you can buy adapters?

But I digress. I think Pete is being a bit harsh.



Spank me.

Captain Crash

*drills 1" holes in the paddle ProFail is to be spanked with.*

Let us start on the note that this will hurt us more than it will hurt you.