Brakepad rant

[Yellow Fang]

Meths wont clean the discs. Meths will leave a residue.

As for not having a facing tool. How is he building up new bikes / fitting disc brakes without it? I take it he just screwing them on an praying they line up correctly.

All in all it sounds like it's time to start visiting a different shop!

He said that it was a tool he didn't want to get, but knew he would have to at some point. He also said he'd fitted quite a few but that mine was the first he'd had problems with. Sometimes his work is better than other times, but I still reckon he's pretty good for service. He tends not to charge labour if it's a smallish job. No doubt the big shop would have a disk facing tool, but then they'd have told me that they were all booked up and couldn't fix my bike till next week.

 

[RedBike]

I too was always puzzled by this,there is only so much stopping power needed,especialy on the rear?Thats if the stopping power is improved that much,but it still wouldnt convince me to use them,the ones i have could put me over the handlebars if i wanted them too,so feel no need for disks.

In the dry a set of xc (cross country) disc brakes aren't significantly more powerfull than a good set of V-brakes. However, in wet/muddy conditions discs are significantly better; not just in terms of power but modulation too. There is no way I would want to swap back to V-brakes on the MTB.

(The Hope M4 are arguably not xc brakes. They're complete overkill for a commuter)

 

[hubgearfreak]

is this on a mountain bike? I can understand the advantage of disk brakes on mountain bikes, as it gets the brakes further away from the mud and water, but I'm beginning to see more disk brakes on bikes that will NEVER leave the tarmac. Is this just a fad? What is the advantage? I use the Kool-Stop salmon pads on my rim brakes and they have more stopping power than I'll ever need, and last plenty long enough, and seem to be trouble-free.
Help me understand this. Am I missing something by not having disk brakes?

rim wear, yours do, his don't

 

[Yellow Fang]

Well, went back to the LBS today to pick up my bike. The LBS owner had bought a disk-facing machine, and I was pretty sure it would all be fixed. Naturally it wasn't; there are complications. Apparently the disk brake attachment wasn't welded onto the frame very well. It was welded on several mm too high, and the LBS owner reckons it might have been welded on at a slight angle too. My only recourse would be to get the frame changed under warranty. Unfortunately, it's an On-One geared Inbred, which they don't make any more. I've had the frame several years now and I can't find the receipt. I'm not sure I could be arsed moving all the bits over anyway, especially the bottom bracket and headset. It's not as if I can't deal with only using the front brake or a bit of squealing in an emergency; it just annoys me it's not right. I was also a bit narked when the LBS owner said my looking for a bit of exclusivity had rebounded on me because you don't get problems like this with mass-produced bikes. One of the main reasons I bought this frame because it had eyelets for a rack, which most other frames didn't have. I suppose the LBS owner must be a bit narked too he's shelled out money for a disk-facing machine when it turned out to be a problem with the frame manufacture.

 

[mondobongo]

Email Brant Richards at On-One see what he says about your frame.

Your Lbs sounds very scary, I would have been running a away a long time ago.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Oddly enough, it seems to have stopped squealing now. Maybe the process of taking it all off and putting it back on again helped

 

[fossyant]

Hmm......... please get yourself set up with enough tools as needed, as cycle maintenance is going the way of cars these days......

Ask and learn on here - really not convinced about all this crap bike shops shout about, especially to 'beginners'........ I see main dealer car overcharging here !

 

[Yellow Fang]

I've got a multi-tool with allen keys, which is all you need to take the brakes off. I'm not going to invest in a disk facing tool though.

 

[briank]

Well I think there's lots of people being far too harsh about this bike shop.
Like everything else to do with pushbikes most LBSs run on passion (and pasta of course). Have you any idea the margins they operate on? Have you seen the sh*te that gets wheeled into the shop by ignoramuses who are quite happy to pay £40/hour to the car mechanic (or his boss at least) for repairs on their £30,000 motor but baulk at shelling out £15/hour to the LBS. Well, I mean, you can buy a whole bike for £49.99 - brand new!

C'mon, cut the guy some slack, FFS! Why would he shell out £200 for a bit of kit before he needs it?

 

[Yellow Fang]

This is my opinion. LBS mechanics work hard for little money, and I guess all these online shops make their business ever more precarious. This LBS owner said he tried to provide service because that's their key advantage over the internet. You miss these shops when they're gone. I certainly regret my previous LBS closing down. Try installing a headset or replacing a corroded bottom bracket by yourself on your kitchen floor.