Mechanical / Hydraulic Brake Recommendations & Rotor sizes

[fossyant]

I've serviced my mates GT i drive MTB, but his hydraulic Formula brakes are duff - front lever broken and rear brake very draggy.

Want to keep this cheap for him - its a great bike, but he just wants it to get around on/bit of fun. It's been sat unused for years.

Rotors are fine - front 160, rear 140. Now would any 160 brake calliper be OK on the rear ?

Looking at possibly Deore or Clarks Skeleton, or even some mechanical disks. Need to be pre-bled so I can just whack them on without too much faff - spent an age on the service so far.

Any other options ?

 

[dan_bo]

Blinkineck i've just flogged a full set of deores for next to nowt. Humph.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

fleabay. always stacks of avids going cheap.

 

[Cubist]

Forget Avids, bloody things.... there's a reason there are so many on the 'Bay, it's because virtuallyu every bike these days has them as OEM, and anyone with any nouse is swapping them for ones that work. . Deore.... there are any number of bargain Shimano sub Deore brakes knocking about.

Try Ze Germans. You've got enough skillz to swap the hoses over for him, and tehy regulalrly come up best for price.
bike-discount.de
roseversand.co
hibike.de
et al

 

[Cubist]

Put a wanted ad on Singletrackworld.com

 

[02GF74]

160/140 will be fine if the rider is 70 kg or less; 160/160 are good enough for most of us (it is what I use and I am more than 70kg despite the fact that manufacturer's fit 180/160 for people of my size ), Any bigger is for real fat bastards and/or all out down hillers.

re: ease of bleeding, then you cannot beat Shimano brakes with reservoir - the avid/formula and others requiring syringes are a real faff.

 

[Cubist]

If you need to up the rear brake to 160 then I have a rotor you can have for postage.

 

[rusty bearing]

Avids have a problem in that the pistons are always sticking for one reason or another which is probably whats happening to the rear Formula brake that currently fitted. Shimanos on the other hand go on for ever, just as well cos they don't do service kits for 'em. Wherever you get a new set of brakes from you'll possibly have to shorten the hoses unless you are really, really lucky.

 

[I like Skol]

My experience/opinion. Get Shimano hydraulics. I had loads of trouble with the OEM Tektro calipers on my Hybrid and swapped to Shimano XT and haven't had to touch since. Deore are pretty cheap and I wouldn't hesitate to fit them to mine or my kids bikes.

www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/mtb-parts/brakes/disc-brakes/shimano-disc-brakes/shimano-deore-m596-disc-brake-set-front-rear.html

 

[fossyant]

Checked the bike this morning and both are ISO fitting so will need the 160mm adapters. I'll also need a new rear rotor as the 140 will be way too small when the adapters are on.

Looking at £85 ish for Deore, £14 for adapters and about £20 for a rotor.

Will have to see how he goes on at the minute as his DSG on his Golf GTI (proper 240 bhp quick one) has gone faulty, so that's the priority for his cash at the minute. He always gets a bad run of luck. The reason I want to keep cheap is that he's been made redundant recently, and the car is going to sting him.

 

[fossyant]

Decathlon has the kit with rotors for £90 and would then just need adapters !

 

[Cubist]

You can get a pair of Deore M446 at Rose for about £50 delivered ( less a tenner if you "like" them on facebook)
I still have a 160mm rotor you can have for postage. Get the adapters you need from Rose in with the package, or from Superstar etc for peanuts.

Decathlon has the kit with rotors for £90 and would then just need adapters !

 

[Venod]

Don't be put of Avid if you can pick some up cheap, I run them on 3 bikes ( 2 hydraulic 1 mechanical) and have never had a problem, the hydraulic are better than the mechanical IMO but as yet there are no hydraulic drop bar levers available, and if you want to use hydraulic with drops you need a cable to hydraulic converter.

Not of any help to you but I have just sold a set of Giant MPH (hope copy) with rotors for £15 ! they were replaced with the Avids a much better brake.

 

[fossyant]

Thanks for all the suggestions (I'm a rodie as you know, so MTB recommendations welcome - my old school XT equipped MTB is from the Ice age). Still waiting for my mate to respond, as I think he's in shock with the car. I'll check Rose out too.