Mechanical Cable Actuated Disc Brakes

[PCeBiker]

A lot of people need more than a metal on metal sound to take notice and do something about it.
People and their cars can be even worse.

 

[Chargeride]

I did it with my windcreen wipers, music blaring in torrential rain, turned it off and the blades had gouged my screen.

 

[sc00ter]

I did it with my windcreen wipers, music blaring in torrential rain, turned it off and the blades had gouged my screen.

I always listen to music, on the louder side, in our cars. Recently I drove my wife's 2005 Subaru with around 250,000 on it and actually turned the radio off. Heard so many weird noises! The car rarely gets driven but it gets state inspected every year and I do go over it visually and check tire pressure, tie-rods for play, look for major leaks, etc. but the noises were crazy! Asked the wife about it and she said that's why she leaves the stereo on, to blot out the mystery sounds!

I have a 2016 Honda Fit that I bought used for a beater. Had 58,000 miles on it when I got it. The windshield has perfect "ground marks" were the wipers clear the screen, like the wipers scuffed the surface ever slightly. It doesn't affect visual or wiping in the rain but you can feel the surface change and see it if I point it out. I assume the car was used for delivery in a sandy environment or something? The rest of the car is flawless.

 

[Chargeride]

Its a yearly inspection failure over here, I'll have to get it polished out

 

[sc00ter]

Its a yearly inspection failure over here, I'll have to get it polished out

So I've used the same auto repair shop for over 35 years. I know the owner because we grew up together. Not like besties's but we knew each other pretty well growing up. Anyways, I'll drop a car off for inspection and, say, a headlight is out. I go and pick the car up and the headlight is still out. I'm like "Why didn't you change out the bulb?" and he'll tell me to quit being lazy. He does go over the safety stuff though, but the easy stuff I should fix myself. So we came to an agreement on what constitutes "being lazy" is and what I'll happily pay for him to fix. I hate messing with brakes but have gotten pretty confident in doing them myself, so my free time to do them plays into the "lazy" equation. My friends try to make actually do my own work and save money. How dare them!

 

[PCeBiker]

My car made a lot of noises too, and I would always try to identify them to see if I could just ignore them.

Same with my e-bike.
Right now my shifter mechanism is rattling but the rattle stops when I grab the housing, so I just ignore it. (It is kind of annoying though.)

I was hearing another noise and realized that my kickstand was bouncing around when I went over a bump.
It probably needs a stronger spring to hold it down better, but I'm going to ignore that too.

It sucks when the noises only happen while riding.
I'm probably gonna end up running off the road while I'm looking down and backwards trying to locate a noise.

I'm probably safer to just ignore all the noises?
Maybe I'll install a speaker on my handlebars and turn it up.

 

[Chargeride]

A few years ago both my ears became blocked with wax, I got used to the duller sound, I blitzed them with wax remover after failing to get anywhere with the nhs due to backlog.

Got in my van and it sounded like a ww1 tank, the same thing happens if I leave my reading glasses on while eating..

Holy hollywood gore, I cant eat that in HD!

 

[sc00ter]

If you're looking for an easy upgrade, there are now hybrid hydraulic/mechanical brake calipers now. Basically the master cylinder is right at the caliper so your mechanical brake setup is unchanged but the actual calipers are hydraulic.

My co-worker almost bought a set of NUTT hydraulic sealed calipers but was leery of the cable end. He ended up with ZOOM full hydraulic brakes that he cut the hoses to length and then filled/bled each brake. I was really hoping he would have went with the NUTT sealed caliper set that was still cable actuated. I wanted to see how they worked and if they held up. I want one for my Swing King beach cruiser. He put the new full hydraulic brakes on a Apollo Ghost escooter that came with no-name mechanical brakes that actually worked really good.

 

[PedalUma]

I am working on a gravel cyclocross bike today that has the best mechanical disc brakes I have so far seen. They are Hayes CX Expert. You can dial them in within 1mm to each side and they have strong leverage.

 

[PCeBiker]

I've had three vehicles with mechanical clutches, and one with a hydraulic clutch.
I preferred the mechanical clutch.
The hydraulic clutch pedal felt dead.
I could feel what's happening with a mechanical cable.

I'm keeping my hydraulic e-bike brakes though. I'm sold.
I like how I can toss myself over the handlebars with just one finger on the brake lever.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Not all mechanical disc brakes have just one piston.

The TRP Spyre is a good example of a two-piston mechanical brake. I run with them on my acoustic bike and they are excellent.

TRP Spyre: https://trpcycling.com/products/spyre

Paul Klampers are a single-piston mechanical brake but are technically excellent. They are crazy expensive but if you are shredding it hard and need a brake you can overhaul with a multitool alongside a trail they are the right thing. They are a single-piston design. One nice thing about the design is the extra-large barrel adjusters mean you rarely need to actually use a hex key to adjust them.

Paul Klampers: https://www.paulcomp.com/shop/components/brakes/disc-brakes/flat-mount-klamper/

The Growtac Equal are an excellent single-piston design which is very lightweight. Not quite the bite of the Pauls but still very good.

Growtac Equal: https://growtac.com/en/products/mdcs/

There is nothing wrong with the Spyres if you have them but when I need to replace 'em I'll probably go with Klampers.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Oh, yeah, if you think the Klampers or Equals are spendy, check out these hydraulic brakes from Germany at 1300 euro:

MAXIMA | Trickstuff

www.trickstuff.com

I like the fact that their brake fluid is processed sunflower oil..

 

[fooferdoggie]

Oh, yeah, if you think the Klampers or Equals are spendy, check out these hydraulic brakes from Germany at 1300 euro:

MAXIMA | Trickstuff

www.trickstuff.com

I like the fact that their brake fluid is processed sunflower oil..

that's a bit crazy.

 

[okmain]

That is what I fitted to my Mukluk. No issues so far.

We have three Electra Go! bikes. All three have had TRP Spyre brakes installed. Great Brakes.

 

[harryS]

After wasting my time with cheap mechanical pull calipers that were hard or impossible to adjust I went with better calipers like Avid BB7 and Textro MD300. Hydraulic calipers are better. When they work right, the pistons just push back into their housings and self adjust. You can get cable operated hydraulics that retrofit mechanical systems, but some like the Zoom HB100 are known for failures even though they pull very smooth,.

I always put in new cables/housings too for both brakes/shifters. Probably should expand my tool collection with a cable cutter. A Dremel isn't that good. Frays the cables.

 

[PCeBiker]

A Dremel isn't that good. Frays the cables.

Yeah, you're right. I couldn't remember why I said I used the crazy glue after cutting, so I tried it again.

I've got a spool of 1/16" stainless steel wire to experiment with.

This is what you usually start with,..

The crazy glue burns off and doesn't hold the wire together.

Then I tried my Knipex diagonal cutters,..

Not bad, and I could feed it through the sleeve, but it might get jammed in a cable housing?

Then I tried the Knipex on my shifter cable,..
I'm pretty sure it's a smaller gauge than brake cables.

Not bad. That might not bind in a cable housing, but if it does you have to start over with a new cable.

Then I tried my Vice Grips that I've had since the 70's,..
It made a mess but it did cut the wire.

Then I tried my new Vise Grips and it wasn't too bad. (But hate the Vise Grip brand now. It all junky now.)

Probably should expand my tool collection with a cable cutter.

I looked into that a bit and found out that cable cutters aren't the same as wire rope cutters.

Cable cutter jaws are almost as straight as diagonal cutters,..

Knipex sells a wire rope cutter,..