I just went out to my car to find a tire lever. Under my seat I found 7 non-functional front brakes. A gustav, Juicy 5+7's, 2 Hayes Mag's, a mono mini, an el camino and an hfx-9. Except for the Gustav, which was 5 years old by the time it got to me and the Mini, wich magically appeared in my toolbox from unknown origin, all of these brakes had o-ring or master-cylinder failures within their first 5 months of use.
All require different bleedkits or fittings, and some are bled drastically differently than the others. Different brands, and even different models within the brands require different fittings and different pads.
The bike industry needs to remedy this stuff. I have a pair of Juicy's that work within a certain range of barometric pressure. I've had a few sets of mags just give up the ghost, and determined that the calipers were fatally coated with plaque that had seeped in through the lines.
Do people who ride moto have this many failures due to crap tolerances and o-ring wear? I love the Gustav's, I may have had pretty much simultaneous front and rear brake failure, but these were the same o-rings that had been in the brakes for 5 years of DH racing! But they weigh many pounds to many for bicycle use...
Some companies that make brakes for moto, earthmovers etc... somehow build completely un-reliable Bicycle brakes, an even though they've been building brakes for 30 years, managed to release a product (El Camino) that is worse in every important way (ergonomics, power, reliability) than the first bike brake they introduced 7 years ago....
It just blows me away that we've had widespread Disc brake use for nearly 10 years now in DH, and it still does not seem that there are products out there that are inexpensive (or more accurately, the right price), reliable and powerful.
Am I missing out not using Shimano/Grimeca brakes? It seems like there are plenty of the old XT 4 pots still chugging along, whereas Hayes from that Vintage got tossed in the dumpster 2 seasons ago...
Step up bike industry!
All require different bleedkits or fittings, and some are bled drastically differently than the others. Different brands, and even different models within the brands require different fittings and different pads.
The bike industry needs to remedy this stuff. I have a pair of Juicy's that work within a certain range of barometric pressure. I've had a few sets of mags just give up the ghost, and determined that the calipers were fatally coated with plaque that had seeped in through the lines.
Do people who ride moto have this many failures due to crap tolerances and o-ring wear? I love the Gustav's, I may have had pretty much simultaneous front and rear brake failure, but these were the same o-rings that had been in the brakes for 5 years of DH racing! But they weigh many pounds to many for bicycle use...
Some companies that make brakes for moto, earthmovers etc... somehow build completely un-reliable Bicycle brakes, an even though they've been building brakes for 30 years, managed to release a product (El Camino) that is worse in every important way (ergonomics, power, reliability) than the first bike brake they introduced 7 years ago....
It just blows me away that we've had widespread Disc brake use for nearly 10 years now in DH, and it still does not seem that there are products out there that are inexpensive (or more accurately, the right price), reliable and powerful.
Am I missing out not using Shimano/Grimeca brakes? It seems like there are plenty of the old XT 4 pots still chugging along, whereas Hayes from that Vintage got tossed in the dumpster 2 seasons ago...
Step up bike industry!