I have a theory, formed through years of experience or riding friends, and subsequently working in the bike trade.

The people who have the least problems, are the ones who clean their bike “when it needs it” and other than that leave well alone bar periodic maintenance (ie. a strip down once every 6 months or so) – and who go and enjoy riding their bike.

The ones who have the most problems are the inverterate tinkerers, who cannot leave the fking thing alone, constantly adjusting things, convinced something somewhere is “not quite right”, constantly taking things off, putting them back on, cleaning them meticulously and taking the thing half apart after every ride to do all the maintenance that “needs” to be done, that everyone else does once every six months.

Basically, its the constantly fking around with stuff that knackers it! leave it alone and if it aint broke, don’t fix it!

Zulu, I concur.

The use of power washers is another reason why kit doesn’t last very long; Ooh look, nice clean shiny bike in 5 minutes, and BBs, headsets, sus pivots and hubs needing replacing every 6 months…

Shimano all the way here. have slx on the hardtail and they are ace in every way. Beautiful progression, and zero noise. So easy to tweak, you just stick them on with the bolts a bit loose, hold the brake on and then nip them up. that’s it, zero noise, zero rubbing. only done it the once, when i fitted them so far…

I have never known a set of avids not to be a complete pita, noise wise, particularly after taking wheels in and out.

have formulas on the fullsus, and they are fine, but just don’t feel as progressive as the slx ones.

Shimano. Best brakes out there I find.

My only question is why precision cnc work results in such rattley levers!!

Come to think of it, that IS one gripe I have with Hopes… friggin levers rattle more than my chattering teeth on a rough downhill

Disc brakes, “fit and forget” they said.

More like “fit and forget rides without brake problems” 😆

The people who have the least problems, are the ones who clean their bike “when it needs it” and other than that leave well alone bar periodic maintenance (ie. a strip down once every 6 months or so) – and who go and enjoy riding their bike.

The ones who have the most problems are the inverterate tinkerers, who cannot leave the fking thing alone, constantly adjusting things, convinced something somewhere is “not quite right”, constantly taking things off, putting them back on, cleaning them meticulously and taking the thing half apart after every ride to do all the maintenance that “needs” to be done, that everyone else does once every six months.

Basically, its the constantly fking around with stuff that knackers it! leave it alone and if it aint broke, don’t fix it!

completely agree!!!!

ive got code 5’s and been great! no problems!!

but i am worried about what people write about avids so think if the day comes and the start to give problems might go over and try saints.

my problem is i want a very powerfull brake as i like to ride fast and brake as quick as possible.

can anyone else reccomend a strong brake? i find my codes power great..

Zulu and Crikey….sorry to say I am one of those tinkering types.I dont ever get any problems with my bike, but then I suppose based on the components I carefully selected for my custom build helps a great deal.

my mate’s bike is always gopping: didn’t stop his juicy 3’s leaking at levers and pumping out/locking up within 20 months of brand new boxed from lbs purchase. But they were j3’s mind….

But the amount of gt85 some folk spray around their bikes its no wonder the seals go funny sometimes.

I’ve got 3 sets of Formula Oros, they’ve all been fantastic. One is the old design K18 which has a bit of a shonky lever adjuster and it’s failed on one lever, replacement part was easy to find and cost a tenner. Other than that, all spot on. Easy to bleed (with the right, inexpensive kit, and as long as you follow the instructions), and excellent reliable power and control. Just stick new (easy to find) pads in from time to time and you’re golden. If you brake them, parts are easy to find, CRC carry them and I think any Lapierre dealer can get them too.

Amazes me how well they deal with proper abuse, I’m a real cowardly over-braker yet today I was at fort william and my160mm rear had not even a hint of fade or unhappiness despite my over-eager braking fingers. The rotor’s gone a little straw-coloured but performance was unaffected. Meanwhile a mate was having issues on a hire DH bike with big rotors and Elixirs.

Oh and they’re cheap too.

No idea why but there seems a neat divide between those that have problems with disc brakes and those that don’t. Mini mono on one bike and Shimano SLX on the other and both work fine and been fit and forget.

+1 Zulu-Eleven. The only brakes i’ve owned are shimano and hope and i’ve had one problem a faulty seal on a M4 caliper. Just bought a second hand bike with hayes brakes so that might change shortly 😆
Only ever bleed my brakes when i’ve had to shorten/lengthen cables, can’t understand the logic behind ‘the brakes need a bleed as they’ve been on there a year’.

Zulu +1. As one chap said to me ” there is something rather sinister about people who always have clean mountain bikes”.

No matter what brakes you have someone somewhere (usually here) will tell you that they are ace/death traps. I’m still using 2 sets of Louise FRs from 2005 and can’t remember when I last had to bleed them or had any issues at all. I’ve also got some juicy 7s (sticky piston, noisy, under powered and wooden), Formula Oro K18s (no pad auto adjust from new, noisy but feel nice). All are noisier in the wet, and I’ve never seen a pair of brakes that don’t make some king of noise when wet.

Are your rotors warped, rotor mount not true, slightly loose pad or play in the caliper? All will cause more noise than is strictly necessary!

Brakes are very much about personal feel. One persons modulation is another persons spongy, etc. Lever pivot position also plays a large part, I personally prefer the pivot position of magura/shimano/new formula over avid/old shimano/old formula. Go into a bike shop and have a play or have a go on a friends bike!

richcc – Member
No idea why but there seems a neat divide between those that have problems with disc brakes and those that don’t…

Maybe those who have problems ride more in shitty weather?

Maybe those who have problems ride more in shitty weather?

Not in this particular case. Virtually all of the people who I know who have problems with discs fall into one of these categories:

1. Obsessive fettlers.
2. People who don’t look after their bike at all.
3. People who do look after their bike but are ill equipped to do so, either through lack of tools or skills.
4. People who ride older hope brakes 😉

This is all independent of weather conditions!

All my brakes, both Hope and Shimano are running sweetly on a permanent basis.

HOWEVER

It’s taken a few years of faffing and thinking about it to understand the issues.

Sometimes both pads don’t move the same. Sometimes you don’t notice and the pads wear differently. Both of these things mean that any setting up you do won’t work properly and you’ll have to do it again, and again, and again… If your brakes were fine on one ride, then you put them in the car and they are subsequently not right, don’t adjust them – they will right themselves during the ride.

Unless you’ve bent a disc slightly.. very easy to do in a car.

If your brakes don’t feel powerful then your pads are probably contaminated, no matter how much you think they’re not. Clean with alcohol, if that doesn’t work then bin them.

Set brakes up properly with brand new pads, then you shoudl be okay. Make sure both pistons are moving the same – if not, clean with a toothbrush. If one piston is stuck then hold the other one in with a screwdriver or something and operate the lever.

I’ve never bled them in 5 years either.

Lots of things to be aware of but once you understand it all – perfect brakes every time.

Not in this particular case. Virtually all of the people who I know who have problems with discs fall into one of these categories:

1. obsessive fettlers.
2. people who don’t look after their bike at all.
3. People who do look after their bike but are ill equipped to do so, either through lack of tools or skills.
4. people who ride older hope brakes

well, as i see it based on this thread, you’d have to complete your list with

5. peple who ride avid brakes

maybe those who have problems ride more in shitty weather?

theirein maybe lies the root of the matter. disc brakes come on mountain bikes and these are usually ridden outdoors. it occasionally happens, that bike and brakes get dirty …

Not had any problems with the Shimanos on my bike, been there for about 5 years now and the only maintenance they’ve received are a) new pads and b) I took the fluid deposit top off and stuck a little more oil in them. That topup was a couple of weeks ago, they feel less squishy now.

nordofjura – Member
‘maybe those who have problems ride more in shitty weather?’
theirein maybe lies the root of the matter. disc brakes come on mountain bikes and these are usually ridden outdoors. it occasionally happens, that bike and brakes get dirty …

Was thinking more on this. My disks run sweetly throughout spring and summer, but after a few winter mud baths they’re not so good.

richcc – Member

No idea why but there seems a neat divide between those that have problems with disc brakes and those that don’t.

Definately not… Plenty of people have more than one bike/set of brakes and have issues with one set but not the other. My XTs gave me a lot of hassle, frinstance, while my Oros just get on with it.

True to form after bigging up my Hopes one of the arms of the spring clip on my front brake got bent and twisted up on my Wed night ride!