Quote:
Originally Posted by ElephantsGerald
I've noticed a couple of postings about the front and rear brakes on the Wisper 905SE:
I too have found the brake cables spongy, and needing regular adjustment. How easy is it to replace the cables? (I had a look this morning and the brake, gear and electric cables all seem to be bound together in cable tidies).
Also, whats the advantage of the Avid BB07 Disk Brake? It costs £45 @ Wiggle, so its not an insignificant purchase.
My front disk brake has developed a bit of a judder when braking hard, and I've no expereience with disk brakes - I've tightened up the control cable, which hasn't helped. Theres a red plastic wheel beside the brake assembly, but I can't figure out what it does (and therefore how to adjust it).
Has anyone else had problems with the rear brakes? Mine seem fine as long as I keep tightening up the control cable regularly.
Any clues?
Regards,
Elephants |
Hi Elephants
Replacing the brake cables is really very easy, but you will need a decent pair of cable cutters/crimpers to do the job properly. For a one off job they probably don't warrant the investment. Replacing just the cable inners with decent ones will help very considerably, but replacing the outers as well with a good set will also give a little more improvement. If you can't borrow a set of cutters, then just go to a local bike shop and let them do it for you. They shouldn't charge you much just to redo a cable. The cable ties are easily unwound and rewound again at the end.
The Promax front disc unit has (justifiably) gained some degree of notoriety. It is a right royal pain in the wotsits to adjust, and to keep in adjustment. It works OK if well adjusted, but those adjustments.......The red disc is to centre the pads either side of the wheel, but it is not quite as simple as it seems, and relies on the disc pads being absolutely true and flat to the disc surface to work. Since most disc mounts are not welded with sufficent precision to guarantee this, the disc caliper often requires shimming carefully when fitted to the forks. This is virtually never done before leaving the factory (or at the dealers), and requires a some experience, and a lot of patience to get right.
Enter the Avid BB07... this unit has a mounting system unique amongst cable operated disc brakes, which allows the caliper to very easily mounted true to the disc, without shims. The whole thing is several orders of magnitude easier to set up correctly than the Promax unit, and combined with decent cables gives an awesome stopping performance. Grab a handful of these carelessly on a fast downhill and you'll do a forward roll so fast you won't know what's hit you... However, don't let that put you off, they have a very progressive feel to them, (not just on/off) and it is very easy to control the braking with them. If you look on the mountain biking forums you will find that this particular unit is held in very high regard, and is probably the only one almost universally regarded as a match for many hydraulic units.
Avid single digit V brakes are not that expensive, are easy to fit and also completely outclass their Promax counterparts (I fitted these on the rear of my bike also). It is a bit of an outlay in total, but after spending £1200 on the bike it is not such a huge percentage extra - just a pity they weren't fitted in the first place (which would have been at a proprtionately much lower cost). In fact fitting a decent V brake and compatible forks on the front would have been a big improvement on the Promax disc, in my personal view.
Hope this helps. Cheers, Phil