# MTB Brakes



## bvibert (Jun 24, 2009)

What do you have on your ride, and why?

What would you like to have?

What do you see as pros and cons to different brake types?


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## bvibert (Jun 24, 2009)

I have Avid Juicy 5 hydraulic brakes on my bike, which is an upgrade this year from v-brakes.  I was going to go with some Avid BB7 mechanicals for price and simplicity, but I came across a good price on slightly used J5's and went for it.

I definitely prefer the discs over rim brakes, if for nothing else than wet/mud performance.  Actually I mostly used to hate that scraping sound you'd get when you got some mud in the pads, getting rid of that was worth it alone!  Aside from that I can't say I notice a ton of difference in stopping power or anything.  I had a really bent rotor on the back, which proved to be even more frustrating than having to true the wheels for the rim brakes.  I've since replaced that rotor, so that annoyance will be gone.  Now I just need to figure out how to get rid of that annoying turkey warble that I sometimes get in the front.


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## JD (Jun 24, 2009)

Avid BB7 Mechs.  Good enough for XC riding, ultra durable, reliable, on the fly adjustable, affordable.


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## WoodCore (Jun 24, 2009)

I have juicy five's on my Iron Horse and BB7's on the Ibex HT.


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## tjf67 (Jun 24, 2009)

Hydraulic disc brakes.    Have them on the IR and the Yetti.   Great breaking system


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## bvibert (Jun 24, 2009)

WoodCore said:


> I have juicy five's on my Iron Horse and BB7's on the Ibex HT.



How do the two compare?


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## o3jeff (Jun 24, 2009)

I have the BB7 or 5, a lot better than the rim breaks on my HT and they are easy to work on and to change the pads.


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## marcski (Jun 24, 2009)

I ride Hayes' nine.  They are hydraulic discs.  I like them..they have great feel...however, I did upgrade the rotors to something a bit thicker as I started to get some brake rub from the OEM rotors warping.  

These days.... I would get disc brakes over a rear shock if I had to choose between the two.  I think the disc brakes give you so much more stopping power, you're able to stop on a dime, redirect yourself and move on.  The old rim "V" style brakes couldn't stop as quickly or as powerful as these.


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## bvibert (Jun 24, 2009)

Those that have discs, what size rotors do you run front and back?

I just put a 185mm on the front of my bike.  The brakes came with 160mm, which seemed to work fine.  There was a few longer downhills that seemed to heat them up pretty good.  I needed a new rear rotor, or rather I got tired of trying to straighten it (it had a huge wobble), so I got the 185 from the front and moved the 160 that was on the front to the rear.  I haven't ridden with the new rotor yet, but I expect some added braking power and better cooling.


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## JD (Jun 24, 2009)

standard size rotos.  I've never felt like I've needed more brake.


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## RootDKJ (Jun 24, 2009)

I have non-hydraulic disc brakes.  That's all I know about them.


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## gorgonzola (Jun 24, 2009)

oem hayes 9 hydros i think 7" front 6" rear, knock on wood no issues, 3rd season on the pads, praobaly need to change sometime


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## Marc (Jun 25, 2009)

Avid mechanicals.  They stop the wheel from turning, that's for sure.


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## tjf67 (Jun 25, 2009)

My iron horse has the smaller Discs.  The Yetti has the lager ones.  I don't notice a difference between the two.  
My buddy has mechanical ones.  They work just as good as long as you keep them adjusted properly,


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## jarrodski (Jun 26, 2009)

hayes 9 hydrolic brakes.... on both bikes.. because they came with frame and i'm not in a position to spend / upgrade. 

review of brakes for xc jumping down hill and overall mtb = = = = = garbage.  absolute junk.  these things make you work like i never knew just to slow down.  seems to me that if you use them more than twice while decending they over heat and require you to force the lever towards the bars, making your hands do more work then needed, taking away from the task at hand, which is actually riding the bike.  i've got 100 stories of missing turns while squeezing full strength or over shooting suprise gaps in the trail.... 

JUNK

i'll be hooking up the hardtail with bb7's and the squishy bike with magura's at some point in the next few weeks.


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## bvibert (Jul 1, 2009)

I had my first ride with the new 185 front and non-bent to hell rear 160.  There seemed to be a bit more stopping power up front, but most importantly the annoying as hell drag and squeal from the rear was gone!  I also managed to get rid of the turkey warble from the front.  I made sure I cleaned both rotors really well with brake clean, and then sanded down the pads a bit with some coarse sandpaper since they had some slight glaze.  All seems to be good now! :beer:


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