chefisaac

My commuter has disc brakes and I realize that I know NOTHING about disc brakes. I dont know how to take care of them, what to watch for, how to fix them if there is an issue, etc.

Plus I am fearful that if I get a flat, taking off and putting on the tire will be tough.

WestMass

consult dictionary immediately and then proceed

contango 

If you blow a brake hose you're, well, hosed. It's not the kind of thing you'd carry around with you. But then unless you carry a spare brake cable, cutting tools etc then if a cable actuated brake snaps you're pretty well hosed anyway.

With disk brakes taking a wheel off really is a doddle. The first time I took a long ride with a friend I had to take my front wheel off and he was amazed at how easy it was. Loosen the quick-release skewer, drop wheel off, problem solved.

Disk brakes mean the front wheel will only go on one way whereas with rim brakes it could go on either way. At the back the wheel has to go on one way so the cassette engages with the chain so it makes little difference there.

When you put a wheel with a disk brake on it back onto the bike you have to make sure the disk aligns with the brake calipers. At first it may seem a little fiddly but you soon get used to it. Personally I found putting the rear wheel back on trickier, trying to align the dropouts, cassette, brake rotor etc. But it really isn't a difficult task, I was coming at it having zero bike maintenance experience at all - at the time I'd never even fixed a flat.

kevbo

If it is two ease too put the break back inn, it means it was to lose.

idc

You do have to take care to align the disc with the calipers, but you don't have to adjust the brake itself at all to fit the tire past the brake, like you would with a rim brake. The hardest thing I've found so far is that you can't rest the bike on the front fork (if you're doing a front change) since the disc brake is the lowest part once the front wheel is out.

contango 

Yours must be set up differently to mine. I always rest the bike on the front fork - the dropouts are the lowest part for me and the brake calipers are further up.

Andrey

alan s 

My bike only has one fork, so I don't specify that it's the front fork.

Disc brakes do require a little getting used to, but once you learn how to adjust, it's no big deal. At first, I always had the LBS adjust because I didn't want to mess with brakes, mostly out of fear of messing something up. I watched and learned how to maintain, and asked a lot of questions.

Find someone who knows how to adjust, spend time learning, and your confidence will grow. There is nothing too complicated about disc brakes.

myrridin

Are they regular or hydraulic? I find the regular (cable operated) versions to be the simplest brakes to work on. I would suggest you look at the park site (or one of the others) and work through the brake tune-up service process. Do this a couple of times when you don't need to, and you'll bet set for those road side issues.

You really should practices taking your tire off the bike and removing, then replacing the tube at home in comfort. so that WHEN you need to do so on the road side you can do so with minimal problems. If your going to break something, do so when it doesn't involve a walk home it what will undoubtedly be bad weather.

RickB.

I put some chainring bolts in the dropouts (mine are horizontal), so that when I put the back wheel on the axle always goes back to the same position. After finding some videos on youtube I find my mechanical disc brakes very easy to work with and adjust.

canyoneagle

LOL!

To the OP, hint: it is "Brake", not "Break".

For wheel removal, discs are really no more complex than rim brakes - you just need to ensure that the disc slides into the caliper as you move the axle towards the dropout.
Maintenance wise, mechanical (cable actuated) discs are the simplest to work on, and hydraulic brakes are more complex *if* you ever need to do work beyond brake pad replacement.

Seattle Forrest

I love disc brakes on bikes. So will you.

There have been some rumors that the braking force can loosen your front quick release. I have no idea whether it's true or not, although, on a hilly ride, a friend (with discs) noticed his front QR was barely doing anything when we stopped for water at one point. Now, the guy doesn't maintain his bike well, and it could have been from anything. But you asked if there's anything you should keep an eye on, and, perhaps, there's that. After it happened, my friend emailed me a link to this page: https://www.ne.jp/asahi/julesandjames...quick_release/

MNBikeguy

Disc breaks are serious business, not to be taken lightly. A friend of mine had some hairline fractures in two lower vertabrae and needed a body cast for three months.
Now, if your taking about disc brakes, park tool has some good howtos on the subject:
https://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-...isc-adjustment

fietsbob

hold it up to your monitor so we can see...

contango 

You don't have a fork in the middle as well? Oh well... (fair call)


At first I was afraid of adjusting my brakes. Then one day I took both wheels off to put the bike in the back of the car (in the vain hope it would take up less space) and when I put the back wheel on the rear brake rubbed. So I released the QR lever, reseated the wheel and tried again... no joy. The following morning I was setting off to ride 150-odd miles over a couple of days so having my brakes rubbing wasn't an option and we were leaving early enough I didn't have time to have a bike shop look at it. So I took an allen key to the rear brake block and adjusted its position very slightly, retightened it, and the problem went away.

Andy_K 

Jeez, tough crowd.

canyoneagle

chefisaac

Thanks for the help all.

Sorry for the spelling. Would love to work with some of you in the kitchen and then we will see who eats the BRAKES!

MNBikeguy

All in good fun... Hope you got the information you wanted.
I would love to work with you in the kitchen. Isn't balaclava a greek dessert??
Oh.. btw... it's "the" not "hte"...

contango 

That's not so much a speling mistake as a tpying mistake.

spare_wheel

i have discs on all my bikes. (the nashbar carbon cyclo fork is a good way to get disc brakes on a road bike.)

for ease of use i prefer a good mechanical like the avid bb7. the brake is relatively light and is road bike compatible. the down side is that you have to adjust the calipers for pad wear. swapping out pads is a breeze though.

hydraulic disc brakes are where its at. they have incredible power, the pistons adjust automatically for pad wear, and they also have greater stopping power than a mechanical. i find replaceing disc brake pads to be far easier than replacing and adjusting pads on rim brakes. the only downside of hydraulic brakes is that they are somewhat of a pain to bleed. (i bleed mine every few years.)

i suspect in a few years all high end road bikes will have those fancy new hydraulics shimano has been working on.

MichaelW

I have basic Shimano mechanicals and they are pretty simple to maintain.
Guard against contamination of the disc. If you do get oil on it, dont apply the brakes. I find it best to remove the disc, scrub in detergent and water to get all the crud off then finish with solvent (methanol).
Pick your pads with care, there are some really good 3rd part pads that are a fraction of the price of the brand name items. You need to bed in new pads: braking hard to generate lots of heat to smear pad material on the disc. I start on a big hill and brake hard without skidding.

contango 

Very true... when I changed the front pads on my MTB I took it for a quick spin to make sure they were fitted properly and the first time I applied the brake it made almost no difference at all. That caught me off guard, even though I should have known it would take a few applications for them to really take effect.

After that I rode half a mile or so down a quiet rode squeezing the brake on and off every second or two. Then when whatever coating was on the brake pads had worn off I squeezed the brake and came to an almost instant halt, at which point I was satisfied in a job done right.

Mithrandir

Practice changing a tire while you are at home. Take all air out of the tube, take the wheel off, take the tire off, take the tube out, then put it back in and fix it up.

Do it for both wheels, and do it only with the tools you'll have on the road. Always do a dry run of procedures you're not sure about before going out on the road.

Mithrandir

And for the love of god just stop worrying about everything and RIDE TO WORK!!!!