I recently bought a set of ready-bled Hayes Stroker Trail brakes from Merlin and have been having a right job trying to get them aligned with the rotors. I got the correct mounts for the job but the calliper bodies appear to attach onto the mount via an angled surfaces meaning that no matter how you try to shoogle them to align , they revert to an off-line position in relation to the rotors when you tighten the bolts up. I have had to use thin washer as spacers to shift the callipers out horizontally a bit from the mounts in order to stop the calliper body itself rubbing the rotors, but whatever I do to try to stop them rubbing it does not seem to make much difference. Any suggestions? Would bleeding them help at all?

Not had the problem with the disc touching the caliper body but I have Stroker Trails on both my MTBs and they do seem a nightmare to stop pads rubbing with (at least on the rears).

The issue to me looks like the pistons don’t fully retract after a while so the pads end up too close to the disc when not engaged. A couple of days ago I took the pads out and the caliper off the mount and cleaned around the pistons as best I could (inc. carefully squeezing the lever to get the pistons out a bit but not so much it screwed them up…) then used a cotton wool bud to get some DOT4 fluid around them. After putting it back together and re-centering the caliper it seems to have done the trick – not expecting it to stay rub free for long though…

I had a similar issue with fitting a Hayes caliper to a brand-new Merlin Malt Frame – drove me mad !! In the end I filed a bawhair amount off the edge of the Frame brake mounts to get things lined up. Brakes now aligned and working perfectly !

Hope this helps

Hayes strokers on our hire bikes…bain of my life!

The issue to me looks like the pistons don’t fully retract after a while so the pads end up too close to the disc when not engaged.

With HFX-9s I found that a bit of silicone lube lasted longer than DOT4 for keeping the pistons moving freely. Haven’t had the same problem with Strokers as of yet but I’d imagine the same would work.

yep hayes strokers on my mount vision – nightmare to align!

Mine rubbed at first then I read somewhere about loosening them, pulling the brake on full and gently tightening the bolts incrementally. Seemed to work fine after that.

my stroker trails rub aswell so i did the same with the cotton bud and brake cleaner.theyve been alright since.but i didnt know to align the callipers.whats the best way of doing that with brakes in general?

Having the same problem, first free service this weekend so keeping my fingers crossed . Will post remedy if lbs forward in telling me how they (hopefully!) fixed it

Tinribz….have tried your suggestion and it did lessen the rubbing but still noticeably rubbing, seems piston not retracting fully.