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Can someone stop Mike Levy writing brake articles?

atrokz

Turbo Monkey
Mar 14, 2002
1,552
77
teedotohdot
WD-40 works pretty well too.

The amount of propellant I inhaled reviving those stupid things back in my shop days must have taken years off my life.
Oh man, tell me about it! workshop in the bike shop's basement, no windows, gallons of brake cleaner sprayed daily... lol. For sure that cut some life off me. I don't miss working on shitty bikes for other people, that's for sure.
 
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norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,503
1,719
Warsaw :/
if only they'd bring back rod brakes instead of those shitty modern cables.

;)
Gary I think you need to meet my friendly dj/bmx friend. You would love his bike on ubrakes and wheels laced to look like the sign for radioactivity. I bet that bike was reliable. As in you knew it was going to kill you sooner or later.
 

dump

Turbo Monkey
Oct 12, 2001
8,456
5,081
The amount of BS spouted there never ceases to amaze. He recently said that threaded BBs are the creaky ones on the bikes he's tried, not the press fit ones... then also said some of the bikes that evaluation considers he had for less than a week. A friendly and regular reminder – just in case anyone had doubt that these folks are completely detached from the reality of regular riders – drunk on the vapor of their own farts.
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,589
2,021
Seattle
helloooo new signature
I don't think he's wrong. V brakes are reliable, in that they continue to work approximately the same most of the time.

Of course, that baseline level of performance is poor in dry conditions, and abysmal in wet. But they do that very consistently. Which is... something?
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,589
2,021
Seattle
On the Shimano going to the bar shenanigans, has anyone carefully tracked the static position of the lever, in terms of how far away from the bar it returns? I've realized that, on my XTR M9000s, the rear sometimes goes to the bar, but when it does, the lever also starts to return to a closer position. I haven't tracked it well enough yet to figure out if it's a hydraulic issue, or the reach adjuster just moving on me.

*edit, they're not m9000s, they're whatever the prior generation Race brakes are.
 
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HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,589
2,021
Seattle
I'm not familiar with that specific variety of death by brake.
:rofl:

To the contrary, I ordered a pair of Formula RORs to replace those, the last pair of Shimano brakes that I have on any of my bikes.
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,918
1,213
There are hydraulic issues on many Shimano brakes.
If it's the case for yours or not, only you can say - but when the throw gets so long that you aren't sure of things like that, the lever assembly is often due for the bin anyway. The classic long-term Shimano failure route is the rear lever growing in throw so it engages right at the grip, with some owners compensating by overfilling the system regularly (which then promptly leaks out). The more rapid failure mode is throw variations over a single run/ride (a separate issue), also warranting the "place lever assembly in bin, buy new lever" style of maintenance that Shimano stands behind with their lack of internal replacement parts. I've got a firm stance on this obviously - owners should stop blaming themselves / each other, and blame Shimano instead. This way things might actually improve rather than staying the same.

Anyway, more PB / Mike Levy brilliance with 2017 component of the year nomination going to the TRP Quadiem, a brake that apparently does everything well except for actually stopping:
  • "Tops on our list was the modulation, which reviewer Mike Levy insists is better than any DH brake he has experienced."
  • "While not the most powerful setup out there, the G-Spec's class-leading modulation makes them far more than just a shiny alternative to SRAM and Shimano's brakes."
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,589
2,021
Seattle
Yeah, I'm familiar with the issues generally. I guess what I meant to ask more is, when they start going to the bar, and doing so consistently (as opposed to the variability thing, which I have experienced on other pairs of Shimano brakes), does the stroke actually get longer, or does the lever not return as far out, so the stroke is the same (ish), but everything is just in closer to the bar than it should be?
 

Udi

RM Chief Ornithologist
Mar 14, 2005
4,918
1,213
The issue is definitely independent of the reach setting in every case I've seen.

You can put a drop of blue loctite on the reach adjuster threads (being careful to isolate it to the threads obviously, will jam up the cam/s otherwise) if you suspect that's an issue. That way you can isolate it if that's all it is.
 

HAB

Chelsea from Seattle
Apr 28, 2007
11,589
2,021
Seattle
The issue is definitely independent of the reach setting in every case I've seen.

You can put a drop of blue loctite on the reach adjuster threads (being careful to isolate it to the threads obviously, will jam up the cam/s otherwise) if you suspect that's an issue. That way you can isolate it if that's all it is.
Yeah, I did that after I started to suspect that was the culprit. Haven't ridden the bike since though. We'll see, if the Formulas don't show up first. They are coming from Yurp, so it might take a bit.
 

Flo33

Turbo Monkey
Mar 3, 2015
2,135
1,364
Styria
Anyway, more PB / Mike Levy brilliance with 2017 component of the year nomination going to the TRP Quadiem, a brake that apparently does everything well except for actually stopping:
  • "Tops on our list was the modulation, which reviewer Mike Levy insists is better than any DH brake he has experienced."
  • "While not the most powerful setup out there, the G-Spec's class-leading modulation makes them far more than just a shiny alternative to SRAM and Shimano's brakes."
There should be a x-post/x-ref feature. That lines would fit in the Lizurd Bike Industry thread too. ( Is this correct English, I'm not so sure)