Disc brakes

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N0bodyOfTheGoat

Senior Member
Location
Hampshire, UK
When I've bought wheel "upgrades" for my Cube road bike, I've had great fun tweaking the caliper alignment, to get rid of brake rub. Think I ended up pushing the pads back at least once, which kind of makes sense to me, because new wheels have usually had brand new (so slightly thicker) rotors fitted.
 
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berty bassett

berty bassett

Legendary Member
Location
I'boro
To be 100% clear….. Is this a continual rubbing. That despite everything you cannot rid.

Or an on and off rubbing ?

I take it this is on a Brand new - or new to you bike ?

new to me , continual rubbing on two separate sets of wheels , the pistons dont open enough
 
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berty bassett

berty bassett

Legendary Member
Location
I'boro
brake bleed kit ordered ( as I guess it wont be a bad idea to do anyway ) more videos watched , armed with advise from here I will have another go when kit turns up - makes sense to put a spacer in as well to help- thanks to all and will report back
 

raleighnut

Legendary Member
Probably- but I got caught out on a downpour on top of a mountain and rimbrakes didn’t do anything - I was so cold and wet and had no choice but to walk as I couldn’t stop - don’t want to do that again

In all my years of being a bike rider that is not a problem I have never encountered...............Maybe if riding 'on the hoods' and attempting to stop by operating the brakes from there would cause that issue
 
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berty bassett

berty bassett

Legendary Member
Location
I'boro
In all my years of being a bike rider that is not a problem I have never encountered...............Maybe if riding 'on the hoods' and attempting to stop by operating the brakes from there would cause that issue

I had never had it before either - and its not very nice ! carbon wheels, Swiss stop pads never an issue before but this was a proper deluge and 2" water running down a 15-20% mountain in Calpe , wheels were in constant water and I tried to stop but after about 4ft I put brakes on fully and continued to gather speed even when feet were stomped into the tarmac . after twice having to stop by dragging heel on verge I gave up - guess there was a reason why no one else was on the road ! I can assure you the problem was the bottom of the rims being under water constantly and water not being able to clear braking surface , not operator squeezing levers wrong
 
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berty bassett

berty bassett

Legendary Member
Location
I'boro
There's your trouble.

Yea maybe - first time in 20 years of carbon and could have been avoided but yea carbon wheels don’t stop if submerged in water to their braking track however, I don’t think alloy wheels would have faired much better Rim brakes work once they have dispersed the water , if the water is constantly being replaced then you are pretty much screwed
 

roubaixtuesday

self serving virtue signaller
Yea maybe - first time in 20 years of carbon and could have been avoided but yea carbon wheels don’t stop if submerged in water to their braking track however, I don’t think alloy wheels would have faired much better Rim brakes work once they have dispersed the water , if the water is constantly being replaced then you are pretty much screwed

No experience with carbon, but can assure you this isn't a problem with alloy rims.
 

CXRAndy

Guru
Location
Lincs
New to disc brakes and having problems , I cannot stop them rubbing - it’s only slightly , but it’s driving me mad . SRAM rival 160 if that makes any difference . So far I have - took wheel out , cleaned protruded pistons and pushed back as far as they would go ( a lot better than they were but still binding ) - I’ve loosened calipers , pressed brakes and tightened up while pressing levers ( no different ) - under hood there is a hex bolt to release levers a bit - done that both ways , one way made me have to press brake lever harder to stop but still ribbed when released . I have never bled disc brakes and don’t know if this is the answer so any advise as to what to do next would be very much appreciated, don’t want to do something that isn’t necessary, all these other things I just looked up on YouTube but can’t find answer to this !
Hi Berty 👋

Doing the alignment by loosening the caliper and pulling the brakes, doesn't often work in stopping the pads catching the rotor(disc). I find with a brand new set of brakes, you first need a week of riding, some firm stops to wear a little pad material away. Then, I set up the caliper by shining a bright light from one side to show the gaps between the pads and rotor, I then manually align the caliper , tighten up the bolts and test ride. I normally get it setup first time, but sometimes it takes a few attempts to get the pads aligned so they dont rub.

Note the same issues are present on motorcycles and cars, but you tend not to hear them due to other noises like engine and tyre noises.

I know disc brakes are a little more fiddly, but their braking performance and feel is far superior in poor wet conditions.

Good luck setting them up :okay:
 
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berty bassett

berty bassett

Legendary Member
Location
I'boro
No experience with carbon, but can assure you this isn't a problem with alloy rims.

I don’t think any rim brake would have worked in that situation but not prepared to try and replicate . Been riding bikes for over 50 years and first time I had found myself going down a 15% hill where the rain water was at least 2” deep running down the road , at the bottom it was over my bottom bracket and couldn’t see where the kerb was
Feel free to have the opinion that I would have been fine with alloy wheels but please let me have my opinion too
 
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berty bassett

berty bassett

Legendary Member
Location
I'boro
update on brakes - watched link that was sent and more you tube - was going to bleed brakes . got all set up outside today after amazon sent me sram brake bleeding kit , dismantled wheels ,pads , filled syringes as shown , undone screws to screw in tube to bleed port - wrong size ! the screw at the end of the tube was too small so packed all away and reordered , hopefully more luck next time
 

roubaixtuesday

self serving virtue signaller
I don’t think any rim brake would have worked in that situation but not prepared to try and replicate . Been riding bikes for over 50 years and first time I had found myself going down a 15% hill where the rain water was at least 2” deep running down the road , at the bottom it was over my bottom bracket and couldn’t see where the kerb was
Feel free to have the opinion that I would have been fine with alloy wheels but please let me have my opinion too

You're very welcome to your opinion.

I've been riding rim brakes in the wet for 50 years myself, and since alloy took over from steel, I've never been in the position where I can't lock the wheels in the wet. And I've cycled in very, very wet conditions. Tyre friction, not brakes is limiting.

In my opinion!
 
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