…good christ they get noisy in the wet! 👿

Are shimano the only manufacturer who have mastered the non-screechy, still works in the wet disc brake pad?

I thought I’d been clever by not using the notoriously noisy roundagon rotors Avid supply, but to no avail it seems…

I have them on the pugsley beach bike and yes they do screech a bit,
i have the harder compound pads fitted which last longer but they still screech. which is all the time on the beach with the salt water,
But after nearly 3 winters and over 2 years nothing has seized yet which is amazing compared to Hydraulic brakes 😀

..mine don’t squeal..

Hmm… so my solutions are:

A)live with it

or

B)be MartynS

Not ideal. 8)

Interestingly the mini v-brakes on my CX bike are proving both powerful, quiet and easy to adjust, shame none of my MTBs have v-brake mounts any more 🙁

I’ve found that mine get very squeely when they’ve been subject to lots of road contamination. My commute heads down from Queen Street to Eyre Place, so I try to get up a bit of speed and “burn off” the crap on a regular basis. This seems to do the trick.

(Edit: XTR Rotors)

Oh – the XTRs on the Onion suffered the same way when I was commuting in on that with the spiky tyres.

Mine don’t squeal anymore.

They used to hoot like mad.

Got rid of the Avid roundagon rotors and replaced with Superstar ones.

Pads are Superstar. Not had any problems since.

Yeah, I’d heard the stock rotors were bad, so sidestepped that issue by buying some callipers without rotors and running them on shimano rotors instead.

Reading elsewhere would suggest that Avid sintered pads squeel in the wet, and that the organics are better. Which means, in my continuing quest for a bike which works and also doesn’t deafen small children, I need to shell out yet more cash. Surprise surprise 🙄

Think it is mainly the discs which are the issue, I have 2 bikes with bb7s, one uses g2 rotors and the other is on the roundagon things which are a lot noisier.

My Sutra had the Roundagons and the Amazon has the XTR – both behave the same.

On the plus side, if you don’t ride with a bell, Avid brakes are pretty handy for alerting dog walkers to your presence on the Water of Leith.

Are shimano the only manufacturer who have mastered the non-screechy, still works in the wet disc brake pad?

They are? My shimmies can squeal like a tomcat straddling a hot exhaust pipe in the wet.

My BB7s…on a road bike…have never squealed, not even “like a pig”.

I have one on the front and can’t say I’ve noticed much squealing. It’s the stock rotor and I’ve never cleaned it with anything and I’m using avid pads.

My setup is BB7s with G2 rotors. The stock Avid pads did howl a bit when wet but I replaced these with the cheaper Clarks organic pads it stopped. Worth trying a softer pad when you next replace them.

Agree with spiddy. Mine only stopped squealing when I used a softer compound brake pad. I was using Shimano xt rotors at the time. Only changing the pads made any difference for me.

G2 rotors – squealed with sintered but with avid organics they squeal for a couple of brakes worth after a dunking…

Mine only screech in the wet (with roundagon disks) and to be fair generally only on first application after a period of not braking.

I did have a weird problem in the December snow on night work when I came to head home. Only time that they have performed poorly (but they did not screech at all) and it only happened on the one night even in the same sort of conditions.

I been using avid bb7 brakes about 3 years now, good brakes for price thats for sure. Screeching sound does come when brakes and discs get wet or dipped in mud badly, but i don’t mind that at all. They have manace really well Finnish winters and spring/fall muddy riding, those brakes has really good stopping power even when conditions get rough. Been using stock rotors and some shimano ones.

Mine do the same – awful banshee wail the first time you hit them. Then silent. Unless its raining, in which case they wail all the time.

It dosn’t bother me much, certainly not enough to bin perfectly serviceable rotors.

I only use EBC pads btw.

I might try them next then. I do have another 4 sets of Superstar pads to get through though … I’ve tried realigning, washing the rotors and calipers etc.

I’m using shimano rotors though.

Hmm, thanks all, cheap organic pads might be the thing to try.

I’m almost embarassed to admit it, but yes, loud squeely brakes really do put me off riding the bike, sad but true.

Al, when I said shimano pads didn’t squeel, i should probably have said ‘only squeel a little, and not at the pitch/volume that puts teeth on edge and makes passersby wince’.

Mine don’t squeal either. Setting them up properly helps I find.
Don’t forget that organic pads will last a whole ride if you’re lucky.

I can’t remember what pads I have in my shimanos, but it wasn’t a personal attack ADH.

heh.

Setting them up properly helps I find.

Its only a matter of time before that one pops up! They are set up perfectly, and work beautifully except when they get wet, when the squeeling starts.

I’m hoping ‘1 set of pads a ride’ is a slight exaggeration, although these will eventually find their way onto the ‘good’ bike so won’t be getting used day-in day-out anyway.

Mine don’t screech, using the roundagon ones and the pads are some cheapish ones from CRC about 2 years ago (blue backing – Goodridge?)

And that’s on the 456 and the Merida.

I find that wearing headphones and playing loud music helps with any bike related noises. funk fixes everything.

Haha, is this why I see you wandering about the shop with your headphones on?

‘Stupid complaint sir? Just wait while I fetch my headphones…’ 😀

I’ve just bought a set of 2011 BB7s and the rotors aren’t roundagons but normal looking rotors. Haven’t stuck them on yet but maybe Avid have done it in response to the complaints I’ve heard about roundagons.

I’ve 2 bikes with them on and I’ve never noticed any real noise…