29er Brakes Question
 

Last year I purchased a new 2008 Gary Fisher HiFi Deluxe 29er. This bike comes with Avid Juicy 5 w/160mm rotor brakes, Avid Juicy 5 levers. Ever since I purchased the bike, I feel like the braking on it is lazy. I usually have to get on it really hard for it to stop. At first I thought it had something to do with the larger wheels. I want ahead and upgraded the front and rear rotors (203mm front and 185mm rear). It got a little better but not much, so then I changed the pads, but no difference. When I jump on my brother's bike with 26 wheels and press down on the brakes, it STOPS HARD.. My old bike from 1997 with XTR v-brakes would also stop better. Any suggestion? Do 29er usually brake slower? Is there a problem with my brakes?

Juicy brake setups are known for being problematic, lots of chatter or noise, needs frequent bleeding, flimsy rotars etc.. Not much you can do with those guys except constantly adjust them or replace them all together.

it's not a 29er thing in general- i have bb7's on mine and you could endo in a hurry if you grabbed too much front. Something specific to your brake/wheelset combo.

As a 5-yr owner of Juicy fives, this was not known to me.

Not trying to call you out, but my ownership experience with Juicy 5's has been full of annoyances. They're always out of adjustment, they're loud if water even gets near the rotor, etc. The braking was satisfying but maintenance was/is a PITA. I have XT hydro's on my newer bike and they're much, much better.

I also have have XTs (first M760 and now M770) on my other bike and they have not shown any substantial reductions in noise or maintenance, despite that the juicies were installed on the bike I use for lift-serviced riding and the XTs were used for XC and commuting.

I just replaced the juicies with new M810s, but it was unrelated to any real problems with them, and I intend to re-install them on another bike, probably for another 5 years.

Experiences vary.