Wisper 905se sport.......Brakes
- Thread starter Thunder457
- Start date
I replaced my brakes. I suspect many others have too.
There's another thread about the poor brakes in the Wisper Clinic forum here.
And just to clarify - the biggest problem with the Wisper brakes was the casing that the levers attach to was plastic. Replacing the entire levers made my brakes more acceptable. But I believe the whole braking system throughout wasn't that great.
I'm sure the new Wisper's brakes will be fine.
There's another thread about the poor brakes in the Wisper Clinic forum here.
And just to clarify - the biggest problem with the Wisper brakes was the casing that the levers attach to was plastic. Replacing the entire levers made my brakes more acceptable. But I believe the whole braking system throughout wasn't that great.
I'm sure the new Wisper's brakes will be fine.
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My front disc brake failed again today! Downhill not raining!
I have emailed David on the 12th/Oct/09 with no response.
I checked my brakes(due to previous preformance) and all seemed fine. 3 miles on and going downhill and braking, nothing happened as if cable had snapped, it didn't. It seems that cable discs need adjusting all the time.
I need to know, have those of you invalidated your warranty by changing your braking system?
This is what I sent to David and if so, are Wisper going to validate and pay for the changes? There is a problem here and needs to addressed.
I have emailed David on the 12th/Oct/09 with no response.
I checked my brakes(due to previous preformance) and all seemed fine. 3 miles on and going downhill and braking, nothing happened as if cable had snapped, it didn't. It seems that cable discs need adjusting all the time.
I need to know, have those of you invalidated your warranty by changing your braking system?
This is what I sent to David and if so, are Wisper going to validate and pay for the changes? There is a problem here and needs to addressed.
At the time this was written we had not had a single request.
To my knowledge we have now had your single request, I have asked Norman to sort out your problems, has he not been in touch?
I have just come back from two days in Europe and although I have a great time on Pedelecs, unfortunately I can not be here 24/7.
Regards David
Still using the bike?
Thunder, I am amazed that you are still using the bike knowing that the brakes are not working well. It seems Norman has not been in touch with you, for which I appologise, I will call him now.
I have already said that changing the brakes does not invalidate the Warrantee. However the new brakes would not be under our warrantee but the brake manufacturers.
I can assure you we are working hard to sort out what seems to be a problems only with your bike.
What did your supplier say when you spoke to him about the problem? Please let me know who your suplier is?
Best regards David
Please see my previous post.
Thunder, I am amazed that you are still using the bike knowing that the brakes are not working well. It seems Norman has not been in touch with you, for which I appologise, I will call him now.
I have already said that changing the brakes does not invalidate the Warrantee. However the new brakes would not be under our warrantee but the brake manufacturers.
I can assure you we are working hard to sort out what seems to be a problems only with your bike.
What did your supplier say when you spoke to him about the problem? Please let me know who your suplier is?
Best regards David
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Thankyou David, for your quick response!
I too, have a busy life on which I can assure you I can't be on this forum 24/7. However I will report a problem when I feel frustrated about one of your bikes which has threatened my life! I do not take this lightly and I only used this bike again when I was assured by the mechanic, the brakes worked in accordance with the manafacturer's instructions.
There is a problem with the 905se sport brakes (2009) in which the front disc and caliper are not alligned and slip through wear, I have not however had a chance to test this on a stand. I would have thought that this would have been thouroughly tested previously. I do agree with you that it seems to be only my bike which seems to be affected, but why are others changing their brakes?
I bought my bike from E bikes for your information.
I too, have a busy life on which I can assure you I can't be on this forum 24/7. However I will report a problem when I feel frustrated about one of your bikes which has threatened my life! I do not take this lightly and I only used this bike again when I was assured by the mechanic, the brakes worked in accordance with the manafacturer's instructions.
There is a problem with the 905se sport brakes (2009) in which the front disc and caliper are not alligned and slip through wear, I have not however had a chance to test this on a stand. I would have thought that this would have been thouroughly tested previously. I do agree with you that it seems to be only my bike which seems to be affected, but why are others changing their brakes?
I bought my bike from E bikes for your information.
Mine is a 2008 bike and I have received and fitted the new brake caliper, the difference is astounding!
My take on the brake issue is this:
The original 2008 bikes were fitted with levers and calipers that used short cable travel like centre pull brakes do, this was an obvious problem on the rear V brake and made that better immediately the levers were swapped. Replacing the cable with a high quality lubricated system helped somewhat but not enough.
Not so obvious at the time was that the Promax caliper also used less cable travel and the leverage required was lost with the change of levers, this wasn't immediately apparent as the Promax didn't work well with the original levers. Now that I have the APSE levers and the new calipers fitted the previous poor performance is obvious.
I believe (guessing) the new brake comes with organic pads, these are optimal for a town rider offering excellent braking in short spurts but can overheat on long downhill sections. Unfortunately there is no ideal brake pad and people who have very long descents may wish to opt for sintered or semi-sintered pads, the trade off is slightly reduced braking performance and greater disk wear but with reduce pad wear and less prone to overheating. You could use the rear brake for speed control during the descent and then the front brake to stop quickly.
Sintered pads apparently suffer less in the rain than organic pads but I haven't been out in the rain to test this and I doubt they would be anywhere near as bad as the original Promax brakes.
I might be wrong about the Promax using less cable travel but it seemed apparent to me even before I had fitted it to the bike.
Hi Thunder
All our bikes are thoroughly tested as reported in previous posts, and since heating about your problems we now have a wet test on the brakes. I know of very few people who have needed to change their brakes.
If your mechanic says the brakes are OK but you are still having problems we need to get your bike back. So we can get the problem sorted out for you.
Please confirm you meant your supplier was E bikes Direct in Sussex?
Do you still have the box?
Please would you let me have the frame and battery serial numbers?
Can you send me a PM with your full address and a number where we can contact you to make arrangements.
I am still battling through over 100 emails and have not come across yours yet!
All the best
David
All our bikes are thoroughly tested as reported in previous posts, and since heating about your problems we now have a wet test on the brakes. I know of very few people who have needed to change their brakes.
If your mechanic says the brakes are OK but you are still having problems we need to get your bike back. So we can get the problem sorted out for you.
Please confirm you meant your supplier was E bikes Direct in Sussex?
Do you still have the box?
Please would you let me have the frame and battery serial numbers?
Can you send me a PM with your full address and a number where we can contact you to make arrangements.
I am still battling through over 100 emails and have not come across yours yet!
All the best
David
Thankyou David.
I will do as you ask, in the mean time though will you exchange my bike as I use it for transport(obviously)for work? How long will your tests be? And will you report back to the forum on the results?
I will do as you ask, in the mean time though will you exchange my bike as I use it for transport(obviously)for work? How long will your tests be? And will you report back to the forum on the results?
Keith
Sorry to hear about this problem and thanks for your patience re this.
I have been back through your posts to try and get an understanding of the problem but I need to ask a few questions please:
How old is the bike?
Have you always had problems with the front brake from new?
What maintenance has been done on the front brake?
Are the front disc pads original or have they been changed at all?
Is the problem only apparent in the wet?
I know it is difficult to see with the brakes in situ but can you let me know please how much friction material is left on the disc pads. When new there is 2mm of friction material. 0.5mm is the absolute minimum below which the pads should be changed.
I assume there is not excessive slack in the front brake cable i.e. you cannot pull the lever back to the handlebars. I can see in the photo there is scope to take up slack by adjustment at the brake lever so if there is any slack I would recommend it be adjusted out at this point.
Looking at the picture of the disc brake I can see some red staining. Is this rust residue or something else?
Also it appears that the disc is quite worn with what looks like a lip at the out edge of the disc. This may be just due to the angle the photo has been taken from but please could I ask you to check if you can feel a lip and whether the main surface of the disc appears thinner than the outer edge.
You mention concerns over alignment in one of your posts. With disc brakes there is a specific alignment procedure that must be gone through if the calliper is disturbed or pads replaced. If this has been the case I can provide the procedure.
Apologies again for asking so many questions but I need to get to the bottom of this given the safety issues involved.
Regards
Norman
Sorry to hear about this problem and thanks for your patience re this.
I have been back through your posts to try and get an understanding of the problem but I need to ask a few questions please:
How old is the bike?
Have you always had problems with the front brake from new?
What maintenance has been done on the front brake?
Are the front disc pads original or have they been changed at all?
Is the problem only apparent in the wet?
I know it is difficult to see with the brakes in situ but can you let me know please how much friction material is left on the disc pads. When new there is 2mm of friction material. 0.5mm is the absolute minimum below which the pads should be changed.
I assume there is not excessive slack in the front brake cable i.e. you cannot pull the lever back to the handlebars. I can see in the photo there is scope to take up slack by adjustment at the brake lever so if there is any slack I would recommend it be adjusted out at this point.
Looking at the picture of the disc brake I can see some red staining. Is this rust residue or something else?
Also it appears that the disc is quite worn with what looks like a lip at the out edge of the disc. This may be just due to the angle the photo has been taken from but please could I ask you to check if you can feel a lip and whether the main surface of the disc appears thinner than the outer edge.
You mention concerns over alignment in one of your posts. With disc brakes there is a specific alignment procedure that must be gone through if the calliper is disturbed or pads replaced. If this has been the case I can provide the procedure.
Apologies again for asking so many questions but I need to get to the bottom of this given the safety issues involved.
Regards
Norman
I used mine (2009 SE Sport) in the wet the other day and had absolutely no back break at all. It was almost as if someone had removed it.
I then realised it may have been down to the "motorcycle" cleaner I'd used the weekend before after a good wet ride, which I think had left a kind of silicone residue on the whole machine. Once I removed this on the rims, the breaks were as good as new.
Had me scared for moment though!
Apart from that slight insight on my part, the breaks have been fine so far, in the dry and in the wet.
I then realised it may have been down to the "motorcycle" cleaner I'd used the weekend before after a good wet ride, which I think had left a kind of silicone residue on the whole machine. Once I removed this on the rims, the breaks were as good as new.
Had me scared for moment though!
Apart from that slight insight on my part, the breaks have been fine so far, in the dry and in the wet.
Brakes OK Now
Thunder457
Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 19
Thankyou David.
I will do as you ask, in the mean time though will you exchange my bike as I use it for transport(obviously)for work? How long will your tests be? And will you report back to the forum on the results?
Hi Thunder
Norman tells me that the reason you were having braking problems was the brake pads had completely worn out. He also tells me that having changed the pads your brakes are working perfectly again.
It is important as a part of weekly maintenance the brake pads are always checked.
If you have any further problems please let me know.
All the best
David
Thunder457
Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 19
Thankyou David.
I will do as you ask, in the mean time though will you exchange my bike as I use it for transport(obviously)for work? How long will your tests be? And will you report back to the forum on the results?
Hi Thunder
Norman tells me that the reason you were having braking problems was the brake pads had completely worn out. He also tells me that having changed the pads your brakes are working perfectly again.
It is important as a part of weekly maintenance the brake pads are always checked.
If you have any further problems please let me know.
All the best
David
Thanks David and Norman for your help, I am still surprised though that the pads had worn out after 4 months from new?
I least I'm safe in the knowledge my bike will now slow me down hill rather than plough into something.
Thankyou for sending the brake pads Norman.
I agree regular checks a must!
I least I'm safe in the knowledge my bike will now slow me down hill rather than plough into something.
Thankyou for sending the brake pads Norman.
I agree regular checks a must!
Pads
Hi Thunder
I agree, we are not happy with the longevity of these pads either, we have a new batch coming for trial if they are better we will send you some.
All the best and happy riding!
David
Hi Thunder
I agree, we are not happy with the longevity of these pads either, we have a new batch coming for trial if they are better we will send you some.
All the best and happy riding!
David
Did you have any luck with the test as mine have worn out already? I've got very little left of the pad, it has spurred me on to sort out the back brakes last night.
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