Avid Mechs
 

I recently purchased a used Kona Blast with avid mechs and 6" rotors. I noticed the brakes have some lateral movement, that is they have the ability float left to right on the frame.. This is the first expierence I have had with disc brakes and I am not sure if the breaks are supposed to give so much. If this is not normal what would I need to properly attach the brakes. ( I do not have the manual for the brakes)

Float? I have some avid mechanicals on my VT...they are stationary...what exactly do you mean? They just wobble from side to side? I don't think they should do that...

yes, upon closer inspection they are not really held in place laterally. the brakes move around a little are seem to be held in place by the rotors. Apparently the previous owner did not properly adjust the breaks. The way they are set up now I cannot fix them by tightening the bols as the brakes would be pressing on the rotors. Any suggestions for fixing. It seems as if there is a spacer washer missing or something like that

You are either noot looking right or they are a kind of floating caliper. Only held in place by the rotor as you said and move side to side to stop brake rub.

I thought that stuff went out yonks ago...

Well, Like I said I bought a used Kona Blast, due to my limited budget. It is a 2000 model. It is the one that was packaged with the Ford Focus. I got it cheap. So checking that there is such a thing as "floating" disc brakes, that are only held in place by the rotors. If so this is proabably what is on the bike. They are held in place in the forward direction, they just have alot of slack moving left to right. It is good to learn

Yeah but i thought they were even older than 2000.

Floating disc brakes are new technology if I am not mistaken. I don't think the '00 model Blast has floating disc brakes.

Try haveing someone pull the brake lever as much as they can. Then while theu're holding it tighten the allen bolts that connect the caliper and the adapter. That happened to me on my haro. The bolts were just loose. Might not hurt to loctite them.

ok here are some pics to better explain. As you can hopefully see I cannot just tighten the bolt on my brakes, as it will tweak the rotor. I need some hardware to put in. If there is nothing for there particular breaks I was thinking that i would just put in some washers to propely mount the brakes. I am open to suggestions.

Yep just as I said. They're the old style floating brakes not the new ones Fox Rider is talking about. These ones simply eliminate brake rub- they dont to anything to prevent brake jack.

You could properly bolt them on and use washers if you want but if they're supposed to be that way, they can't be that bad.

FYI: those are absolutely NOT Avid mech disc brakes. I don't know who sold you that bike, but if they told you those were Avid's..........then you go ripped off, at least in terms of the brakes.

Caveat emptor.

ok, I did not pay for avid brakes. It said avid on the brake levers so I just assumed. The bike was really cheap. I knew more about this bike than the guy I bought it from. Which does not say much for him at all. Any idea what brand of brakes they are?

Yeah, avids look like this:
http://fox302.com/userdata/notfred/f...rakes006sm.jpg

can you get a pic of the caliper itself? From the side like the picture of the avids.

here is a picture

Hmmm... Avid mechs are really distinguishable.. for the new ones at least. They all have a red circle thingy on the caliper.. check for that and check for a Avid logo on the rotor. THe guy who sold it to you might have just put on some Avid levers.. just to fool you.

From your picture, I'm pretty damn sure those aren't Avids. That's not an AVID caliper for sure and the rotors don't have the usual pattern on them.

If the caliper is loose.. chances are that he forgot to tightened it after he was aligning the pads and rotors.. happened to me once.

no this bike is the way it came. The guy I bought it from did not know what a derailleur is. Either that or he was prety good a playing dumb. He even had his bike locked up out fornt of the yard with a kyrptolok u lock. If I was more dishonest I could have walked off with his bike before he even knew I was there. The bike came as part of that ford focus promotion in 2000. anyway the avid logo is not on the rotors, they are blank.

Looks like a cheapo Promax or Tektro type brake. I'm not being a snob, but I'm not up to trusting my life to some cheap brakes. Avid mechanicals are one of the few rated for tandem use, so you know they're built strong. If you can take them off, you can compare the pad to photos online of different brake pads, which may help you identify the manufacturer. According to the spec sheet, your bike came with Tektro rim brakes. Try ebay for some Avids, or even Hayes mechanicals to get you going (sorry, stopping) for less than $100. If that's too big of a hit on your wallet right now, just get some rim brakes. They'll probably work better than questionable mechanical discs.

well if it was part of an OEM thing (like the VW trek edition) then it could be custom. The brand name that is on there is novatec... but a quick google tells me that they make hubs and other misc. bike parts...

Here is a company that has them on some of their mopeds
http://www.f2motorcycles.co.uk/evbike.html

maybe you should adjust them as much as you can an ride em.... I didn't see any part of your post that said they were performing badly... Don't fix what ain't broke (it just floats a little)

CL

It is a custom job. I was surprised when I went to look at the bike; most of the components are a step up from the stock 2000 blast model. The braking power is not a problem, yet. These brakes work just as well as the rim brakes I had on my 04 Gary Fisher Tarpon. I was just expecting better braking power with the discs. Since I now know they are a cheaper brand, I wall replace them when I have enough money to replace them. Right now I spent all my money replacing my stolen bike. Thanks for the info and help

maybe new pads before you hafta spend TOO much?

After doing a little more "googleing" novatec is a brand manufactured by Joy Tech. They make many of the hubs that come on Specialized and Norco bikes. They are located in taiwan. here is their url http://www.joy-tech.com.tw/ although I cannot find anything about actual brakes on their website.