Brake questions?
 

Soon I am purchasing a new bike. Still deciding on Hardrock sport or Rockhopper. Don't worry, I'm not going to start the discussion on which is which, I'm test driving later today.

I've hit a quandry, what about the brakes on them.

Are the brakes on the disc models good? Should I spend the extra cash and get the model up with disc brakes?

Or should I get the normal model, and add after market disc brakes? Preferably hydraulic, I have used both and its no question to me which I like better. What are some good hydraulic disc brake companies and models?

Is adding disc brakes to a bike a nightmare?


Also, I am planning on getting new tires, what would you guys recommend. Aggressive and tough.

Can you afford the Rockhopper Comp Disc? That bike comes with Avid BB5 mechanical disk brakes. Those are actually good. You could run those and likely be happy until you saved for hydraulics. Then the switch to hyrdos would be trivial.

The Rockhopper frame is much better and lighter than the Hardrock. You'd be getting a frame that is upgrade-worthy.

The brakes on the Hardrock Disk are Tektro brand. I really don't know enough about those to comment.

If you buy a non-disk model, then adding disks will likely mean that you must purchase a new set of wheels too. That gets expensive. Since you know you want disks, better to buy them to begin with. Avid is a good brand for mechanicals.

Thank you soo much for the answers. I do believe however the hardrock sport disc is the avid bb5's as well.

But I guess heres the question now, how do the bb5's compare to the juicy 7's. I have used those and I have used general v's, so I don't know much more about mechanical disc other than they are not as good as hydraulic, just by how much I don't know.

No, not according to the specs on specialized.com.

BB5 brakes come with a smaller pad than that used for the Juicy 7s. Assuming that everything is adjusted well, you'd probably notice that you'd need a lighter touch on the brake lever with the Juicys than with the BB5s.

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/n...Untitled-2.png

Now i'm looking at the rockhopper comp disc though. I'm just trying to decide which. Hardrock sport disc, rockhopper, or rockhopper comp disc.

I tried all 3 today, and the rockhopper comp disc felt great, but is 700 which is very high end on my budget for now. The hardrock was a step below, but not as light feeling, although 500 flat is a great deal, best budget bike. And then there leaves the rockhopper and I would more or less use it as a upgrade bike but I'm thinking against it now.

Problem is the higher the budget the longer until I have a ride-able bike since my current hybrid is too small (medium sized, im 6'4 240) and very fragile to the trails I have taken (taco wheel).

Jbat, I was looking at the lower-end, "Hardrock Disc". My bad. You're right, the "Hardrock Sport Disc" does come with BB5s. Those are good brakes for cross-country riding. I wouldn't be at all worried about running them. If you're doing long, multi-mile, downhill runs, then maybe you'd want something better.

Not sure what advice to give about which bike to buy. In the end, you have to decide. There's a lot to be said though, for buying the one you can afford.