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Disc Brake Noob – Tips Please!

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  • August 13, 2018 at 2:34 pm #28829
    ibr17xvii

    Just got a disc brake road bike for the 1st time so please be gentle!

    In the process of setting it up & pretty much every time I have the wheel off I’m getting rub. Is that just the way it is with disc brakes?

    I’ve read about undoing the 2 bolts, pressing on the lever to move the calipers & then do up the bolts again whilst the lever is still pressed to centre them but seems a faff to have to do that every time.

    Wondered if maybe I’m not reinserting the wheel correctly as it does seem to take me a couple of goes to get the hang of it. When I’m trying to line up the rotor in the caliper I’m finding it quite difficult so maybe I’m moving the pads / calipers then when I’m fiddling around? Not even attempted the back wheel yet Think that will staying on permanently at this rate!

    Any tips on wheel replacement, centreing the calipers or any disc brake stuff in general greatly appreciated!

     

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  • September 16, 2018 at 5:17 am #925095
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    Mungecrundle

    BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

    BehindTheBikesheds wrote:

    madcarew wrote:
    dreamlx10 wrote:
    A long thread that tells you not to get a disc brake equipped bike

    A long thread where those who actually own disc brake bikes tell you they’re effective, low maintenance,  and simple in use. 

    FTR, I get on my bike and ride. I don’t clean the discs, I don’t clean the pads, I don’t have to re-centre the pads, I don’t have to adjust cables or clearances.  They work really well in all weather and track conditions, under the same usage they out last rim brakes. I have rim brake bikes too. And every time it’s wet and I’m trying to brake I wish they were disc brakes.

    So you openly admit to not being able to brake properly, have poorly set up brakes/badly worn rims/pads, don’t read the road ahead/perceive hazards, are going too fast for the conditions …how many out of that list is it, or is it all of them, I suspect it is frankly. Anyone who can’t brake sufficently in the wet on even modest rim brakes should get some training off road until they are competent to understand their errors. Simply going for the more is better to overcome a riders inability to do the basics is not a solution as we see in car drivers all the time.

    Discs don’t do shit to improve safety in the wet or any other situation, it encourages faster riding/later braking in situations that a rider predetermines they can stop in, it gets to a point that they are lulled into reducing that braking distance so much that any out of the ordinary occurence is as much if not more so to cause an incident than inferior brakes because the thinking time is cut down so much the brain simply does not have enough time to process the hazard so the brake whilst being more powerful than what came before won’t stop you in time no matter what the conditions. You’ll still end up in same situation as before because you’re always pushing, hence why you can’t brake in the wet on rims bakes.

    Maybe take your wanker noddy hat off, you may find you’ll have plenty of time to brake even on stirrup brakes in the wet!

    You will not understand until you spend a little time on a bike with a disc brake setup. Until then you only have an opinion.

    September 15, 2018 at 9:05 pm #925093
    0
    Anonymous
    madcarew wrote:
    dreamlx10 wrote:
    A long thread that tells you not to get a disc brake equipped bike

    A long thread where those who actually own disc brake bikes tell you they’re effective, low maintenance,  and simple in use. 

    FTR, I get on my bike and ride. I don’t clean the discs, I don’t clean the pads, I don’t have to re-centre the pads, I don’t have to adjust cables or clearances.  They work really well in all weather and track conditions, under the same usage they out last rim brakes. I have rim brake bikes too. And every time it’s wet and I’m trying to brake I wish they were disc brakes.

    So you openly admit to not being able to brake properly, have poorly set up brakes/badly worn rims/pads, don’t read the road ahead/perceive hazards, are going too fast for the conditions …how many out of that list is it, or is it all of them, I suspect it is frankly. Anyone who can’t brake sufficently in the wet on even modest rim brakes should get some training off road until they are competent to understand their errors. Simply going for the more is better to overcome a riders inability to do the basics is not a solution as we see in car drivers all the time.

    Discs don’t do shit to improve safety in the wet or any other situation, it encourages faster riding/later braking in situations that a rider predetermines they can stop in, it gets to a point that they are lulled into reducing that braking distance so much that any out of the ordinary occurence is as much if not more so to cause an incident than inferior brakes because the thinking time is cut down so much the brain simply does not have enough time to process the hazard so the brake whilst being more powerful than what came before won’t stop you in time no matter what the conditions. You’ll still end up in same situation as before because you’re always pushing, hence why you can’t brake in the wet on rims bakes.

    Maybe take your wanker noddy hat off, you may find you’ll have plenty of time to brake even on stirrup brakes in the wet!

    September 15, 2018 at 8:45 pm #925091
    0
    madcarew
    dreamlx10 wrote:
    A long thread that tells you not to get a disc brake equipped bike

    A long thread where those who actually own disc brake bikes tell you they’re effective, low maintenance,  and simple in use. 

    FTR, I get on my bike and ride. I don’t clean the discs, I don’t clean the pads, I don’t have to re-centre the pads, I don’t have to adjust cables or clearances.  They work really well in all weather and track conditions, under the same usage they out last rim brakes. I have rim brake bikes too. And every time it’s wet and I’m trying to brake I wish they were disc brakes.

    September 15, 2018 at 8:40 pm #925089
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    madcarew
    ibr17xvii wrote:
    Yay or nay to cleaning pads & rotors and if so what with?

    Plan on riding through winter in variable weathers so think stuff will obviously get grimey but not ridiculously so as in if I were riding off road.

    Read some stuff that says you’re best just leaving it alone as the residue from the pads deposited on the rotors aid braking & if you clean it off you have to bed them in again but read other stuff that says a wipe or squirt with Isopropyl Alcohol on the calipers/pads/rotors isn’t gonna do any harm.

    What does everyone else do?

    Nay.

    To be fair I don’t ride in european road conditions with disc brakes, but I put my brake pads in, ride until they’re worn out and put new ones in. When I replace the pads I bleed the brakes (10 min job).

    If you get grease / oil on them (?road contamination?) you can wipe them with IPA or meths, but tbh they’re not expensive and if they’re not working just replace them. I don’t see any point in cleaning the rotors unless you’ve spilled your chain lubricant on them

    September 15, 2018 at 8:36 pm #925087
    0
    madcarew
    matthewn5 wrote:
    With all due respect, this all sounds a bit of a faff? Was thinking of a disc bike as commuter, but interested in thoughts as to whether discs are too hard to live with in daily use. I ride to work all year.

    In my experience of owning bikes, (hydraulic) disc brakes are less maintenance and faff than standard rim brakes. I’d be very glad of a disc bike as a commuter for wet weather braking, and ease of use.

    September 15, 2018 at 6:26 pm #925085
    0
    Canyon48
    matthewn5 wrote:
    With all due respect, this all sounds a bit of a faff? Was thinking of a disc bike as commuter, but interested in thoughts as to whether discs are too hard to live with in daily use. I ride to work all year.

    I commute on my bike at least 4 times a week, and have done for a year.

    The last time I adjusted the brakes was 10 months ago…

     

    Disc brakes are unbelievably maintenance and hassle-free, they are easy to set up too, literally all you do is fill them with hydraulic fluid and give them a squeeze.

    September 15, 2018 at 6:22 pm #925083
    0
    dreamlx10

    A long thread that tells you

    A long thread that tells you not to get a disc brake equipped bike

    September 15, 2018 at 3:50 pm #925081
    0
    matthewn5

    With all due respect, this

    With all due respect, this all sounds a bit of a faff? Was thinking of a disc bike as commuter, but interested in thoughts as to whether discs are too hard to live with in daily use. I ride to work all year.

    September 15, 2018 at 12:17 pm #925079
    0
    StraelGuy

    I clean my discs with

    I clean my discs with isopropyl a few times a year, you can buy a litre from Amazon for peanuts.

    September 15, 2018 at 11:05 am #925077
    0
    ibr17xvii

    Yay or nay to cleaning pads &

    Yay or nay to cleaning pads & rotors and if so what with?

    Plan on riding through winter in variable weathers so think stuff will obviously get grimey but not ridiculously so as in if I were riding off road.

    Read some stuff that says you’re best just leaving it alone as the residue from the pads deposited on the rotors aid braking & if you clean it off you have to bed them in again but read other stuff that says a wipe or squirt with Isopropyl Alcohol on the calipers/pads/rotors isn’t gonna do any harm.

    What does everyone else do?

    August 30, 2018 at 4:38 pm #925075
    0
    ibr17xvii
    hawkinspeter wrote:
    ibr17xvii wrote:
    Next noob stupid question alert!

    When I’m cleaning the drivetrain I usually have a liberal squirt of Muc Off MO94 to drive out any moisture in the chain but obviously I don’t want to be getting this on my rotors, pads or in the calipers either presumably.

    Is it best to cover the rotor with a bag or something similar or is there a more technical solution than that?

    I’d just go for aiming it so that it doesn’t go near the rotor etc.

    That was my thought but I fear I may be a wee bit too trigger happy…..

    August 30, 2018 at 2:35 pm #925073
    0
    hawkinspeter
    ibr17xvii wrote:
    Next noob stupid question alert!

    When I’m cleaning the drivetrain I usually have a liberal squirt of Muc Off MO94 to drive out any moisture in the chain but obviously I don’t want to be getting this on my rotors, pads or in the calipers either presumably.

    Is it best to cover the rotor with a bag or something similar or is there a more technical solution than that?

    I’d just go for aiming it so that it doesn’t go near the rotor etc.

    August 30, 2018 at 2:12 pm #925071
    0
    ibr17xvii

    Next noob stupid question

    Next noob stupid question alert!

    When I’m cleaning the drivetrain I usually have a liberal squirt of Muc Off MO94 to drive out any moisture in the chain but obviously I don’t want to be getting this on my rotors, pads or in the calipers either presumably.

    Is it best to cover the rotor with a bag or something similar or is there a more technical solution than that?

    August 24, 2018 at 10:37 am #925069
    0
    ibr17xvii
    hawkinspeter wrote:
    ibr17xvii wrote:
    hawkinspeter wrote:
    ibr17xvii wrote:
    hawkinspeter wrote:
    ibr17xvii wrote:
    hawkinspeter wrote:
    I’ve just used the Shimano pads. I have heard from somewhere (probably this site) that you shouldn’t alternate metal and resin pads on the same rotor, but I have no idea how true that is or what the consequences are.

    What I do recommend is either replace the shitty pad retaining pins or make sure you loosen/tighten them once in a while to stop them completely seizing. One of mine seized, so after my LBS rescued it, I replaced the pins with hex-head pins instead.

    Good advice about the pin, hate spending ages fiddling with stuff like that.

    I take it the pads are resin from the factory so best to stick with them?

    My bike had metal pads originally, so I replaced like with like.

    The part number will be printed on the pads, so if you take them out, you can figure out which ones to get e.g. L02A is resin and L04C is metal if you have the 805 brakes.

    The reason you don’t want to use different pads is due to material transfer onto the rotor. That would cause poor braking performance unless you gave your rotor a good sandpapering.

    Can I just undo the pin, take them out & put them back without faffing around taking the wheel off & potentially realigning the calipers etc?

    If not I’ll wait for them to wear down a bit & buy some when they need replacing. The bike is brand new & hardly ridden so was just thinking ahead.

    It should only take a few seconds to remove the retaining pin and then both the pads should just lift out and can go back in again easily enough. Removing the wheel might be needed for putting in new pads as they’ll be thicker than the worn pads, so you may need to carefully push the brake pistons in slightly to make enough room for them.

    Cheers, sounds easy enough in theory………

    Might just take them out to see what’s in there so I can make sure I get the same when they start wearing out.

    That’ll prevent your retaining pin getting stuck as well. The type of pin that has the issues is the one that screws in and has a useless flat-head screwdriver head so you can’t use any force on it without ruining it.

    Make a note of the pad part number as it can be confusing getting the right replacement, or at least I managed to order the wrong pads and didn’t realise until I came to fit them.

     

    Pretty sure it’s a flat head screw securing the pads.

    No desperate rush to check them at the minute so might leave it until I don’t need the bike for a few days in case I make a dogs breakfast of it – then spend hours fiddling to get it back to how it was before & wish I’d not bothered!

    August 24, 2018 at 10:28 am #925067
    0
    hawkinspeter
    ibr17xvii wrote:
    hawkinspeter wrote:
    ibr17xvii wrote:
    hawkinspeter wrote:
    ibr17xvii wrote:
    hawkinspeter wrote:
    I’ve just used the Shimano pads. I have heard from somewhere (probably this site) that you shouldn’t alternate metal and resin pads on the same rotor, but I have no idea how true that is or what the consequences are.

    What I do recommend is either replace the shitty pad retaining pins or make sure you loosen/tighten them once in a while to stop them completely seizing. One of mine seized, so after my LBS rescued it, I replaced the pins with hex-head pins instead.

    Good advice about the pin, hate spending ages fiddling with stuff like that.

    I take it the pads are resin from the factory so best to stick with them?

    My bike had metal pads originally, so I replaced like with like.

    The part number will be printed on the pads, so if you take them out, you can figure out which ones to get e.g. L02A is resin and L04C is metal if you have the 805 brakes.

    The reason you don’t want to use different pads is due to material transfer onto the rotor. That would cause poor braking performance unless you gave your rotor a good sandpapering.

    Can I just undo the pin, take them out & put them back without faffing around taking the wheel off & potentially realigning the calipers etc?

    If not I’ll wait for them to wear down a bit & buy some when they need replacing. The bike is brand new & hardly ridden so was just thinking ahead.

    It should only take a few seconds to remove the retaining pin and then both the pads should just lift out and can go back in again easily enough. Removing the wheel might be needed for putting in new pads as they’ll be thicker than the worn pads, so you may need to carefully push the brake pistons in slightly to make enough room for them.

    Cheers, sounds easy enough in theory………

    Might just take them out to see what’s in there so I can make sure I get the same when they start wearing out.

    That’ll prevent your retaining pin getting stuck as well. The type of pin that has the issues is the one that screws in and has a useless flat-head screwdriver head so you can’t use any force on it without ruining it.

    Make a note of the pad part number as it can be confusing getting the right replacement, or at least I managed to order the wrong pads and didn’t realise until I came to fit them.

     

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