I’m looking at getting a set Giant MPH brakes to replace the cable disks that are on my Carrere Vulcan (yes it’s from Halfords). I’ve replaces just about every thing else on the bike and the brakes are next, I don’t want to spent a small fortune and these can be had for £45 and they are essentially brand new.
Will they fit? Will I need any calliper mounts? If I do where would I get them from?
The brakes are from a 2006 Giant XTC composite if that helps.
Thanks for the help.
Not sure if anyone will have that much knowledge about Carrera Vulcan's, so a pic of your bike would be useful - or link to a pic of the same bike on the web somewhere?
As far as I recall Giant mph brakes wil have standard IS mount fittings, so as long as your frame and forks have these they should bolt straight on.
You might be better looking for a set of used Juicy 3s or Magura Julies.
The Giant MPH brakes are an old design based on and even older Hope design and are well past their sell by date. I recently sold some nearly new Juicy 3SL s for about £70, but they had massive rotors which bumped the price up a bit.
I'd say you'd get a lot better brakes with either of those for a little bit more - £50-£60 a set. 🙂
Have you tried new pads and cables to restore your current brakes?
Frame will be fine, as long as it has the mounts, what forks?, just got the 2nd Vulcan in the house and its a nice frame, what year is it? Do your hubs take discs?
yeah mph are IS fitting (the ones I have are) so will need shims/washers to align the calliper,
depends on your fork are they IS or postmount if you need any different fittings.
i agree with peterpoddy,
nothing wrong with the brakes, they stop you! they are closed system so have a wind in barrel to adjust the bite point of the pads, which is fine.
does mean you can set the feel of the brake how you like,
have used them and still using them on my third bike, but I don't think I'd buy a second hand set, (unless they were really cheap)
bought a full set of magura julies for £45 and set of hayes el camino minus rotors for £30-ish off here so you can get a cheap set up.
but beware of needing to bleed and replacing pads, can get pricey
more the bleeding if you have to get a bike shop to do this then you may as well have bought a new set
[url= http://www.thebikelist.co.uk/carrera/vulcan-disc-spec-16-mens-08-2008 ]bike here[/url]
The bike is a 07/08 Vulcan, it has disks on at the moment but they are cable, I haven’t replaces the pads since new last summer. Would decent pads make that much difference? Any recommendations?
The age of the Giant MPH brakes doesn’t bother me as long as they are good reliable brakes. Are the Juicy 3 that much better?
It got a set of RockShox Tora 302SL ( 07),so I guess any IS mount calliper should fit these.
Tinsy: keep an eye on the headset baring, I lost most of ball bearings in mine after only a 3 month, replaces it with a mid range FSA much nicer.
Cheers Brian
Are the Juicy 3 that much better?
Well, either the Maguras or Avids are a more modern open system that auto adjusts for brake pad wear, and will most probably have more power and modulation ('feel') than the older MPH. They are also a simpler design, so less to break or go wrong, lighter and most likely easier to get spares for too. If you can get Magura Julies for the same price like Colande above, then it's a no-brainer, TBH. My wife had Julies on a bike she kept for 3-4 years. Apart from the occasional clean out and a couple of sets of pads, I simply never touched them. They really are good, and bonkers reliable. 🙂
The Giant brakes do look dated, hold out a bit, for something else in my opinion. Keep an eye on the classifieds for something shimano if your on a tight budget, anything from 525's and up are always a good bet.
As sugested, pop some new cables on for now.
Cheers all, I will hold on until something newer comes up, the not having to mess about with the newer brakes sound good to me.
Any recommendations for new pads for the existing cable disks.
Thank again.
Brian.
Agree with PP. I had some julies on an old Marin years ago, seemed bombproof!
My mate had loads of probs with his old MPH brakes when they got warm in the sun & sticking on!
I presumed you already had the Giants, but the chaps are right. Juicy 3s can be found cheap - although I would go for Shimano Deores personally - much easier to set up and bleed, spares very easily available and the performance is just as good.
btw - bargains more likely found on classifieds. Ebay prices seem to go silly for Shimano brakes.
Although! Stick £50 on these - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/shimano-deore-discs_W0QQitemZ250571739488 !
Dez is right too, I'd not mentioned Shimano Deore as they seem to fetch a bit more money, but they are bloody good bits of kit
Quick search found these as an example
http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/fs-magura-julie-brakes-fr-1
If I were you I'd stick a wanted ad in the classifides and see what comes up. 🙂
I won those Deores I linked to above. Cheap!
I might see if they'll go on the wife's bike...