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My hands get tire!

DH SB RIDER

Monkey
Aug 31, 2005
179
0
Santa Barbara
I have hays mags and a hays champaine in the front and i was wondering is it the fact that i brake to much or the fact that these brakes are bad......what would u recomend doing....i was thinking maby hopes or the jusisy sevens?
 

PatBranch

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2004
10,451
9
wine country
Hayes kick ass. They are good brakes. You use your brakes way too much. If you let off more, you gain more momentum (smooth,steady speed) which will help you in the rough (and which is necasary on a ful suspension bike). Letting go a little will give your hands a rest too.
 

PatBranch

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2004
10,451
9
wine country
His brakes are fine. It is not a problem with the brakes. He doesn't know how to feather his brakes.

To feather your brakes, only pull your lever in about halfway (depending upon how much travel your lever is set on) and let it drag as you ride down a hill. You know you are doing it right when you are creating a resistance that doesn't slowing you down or let you accelerate (this helps if you want to stay at a certain speed).

Maybe someone can explain feathering in another way.
 

zmtber

Turbo Monkey
Aug 13, 2005
2,435
0
dud stop being such a wimp and maybe if you lay off the brakes when your going of the rock gardns and you don't clentch your handlebars they would hurt anymore
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,030
5,918
borcester rhymes
uhhhhhhh pinkbike nooooooooo

it could be lever position. It's hard to tell what you mean from your pinkbiketastic post, but your lever should be positioned so your knuckles are about 90 degrees. This will give you the most power and the least hand fatigue. Hayes are pretty bad at this, which is why there are mucho aftermarket levers. hayes are generally powerful brakes, which means they should not be the problem.

Also, your riding type could be an issue. If you downhill all day, get the biggest, most powerful brakes you can buy. If your hands hurt only after one day, suck it up. They'll get stronger in time and practice.

Also, what tire do your hands get from braking? I'd love to get my hands on some michelins from braking all day.
 

DH SB RIDER

Monkey
Aug 31, 2005
179
0
Santa Barbara
zach im being a wimp......i keep um with u so u clearly use the brakes jsut as much lol........adn if patrick comments one more time on my **** im gonna cut of his balls and put them up his ass.....so when he ****s he ****s on his balls....mesa tommow zack ill be at ur house bright and early!
 

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
DH SB RIDER said:
zach im being a wimp......i keep um with u so u clearly use the brakes jsut as much lol........adn if patrick comments one more time on my **** im gonna cut of his balls and put them up his ass.....so when he ****s he ****s on his balls....mesa tommow zack ill be at ur house bright and early!
 

PatBranch

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2004
10,451
9
wine country
DH SB RIDER said:
zach im being a wimp :oink: ......i keep um with u so u clearly use the brakes jsut as much lol........adn if patrick comments one more time on my **** im gonna cut of his balls and put them up his ass.....so when he ****s he ****s on his balls....mesa tommow zack ill be at ur house bright and early!

I halfway made out what you wrote. You shouldn't be talking s**t to me, when I am giving you advice. You are on an '01 stab w/ a super-t and take 45min to get down tunnel (SB trail) (walks everything).

I am riding a hardtail with a 5" fork and I smoked him down it in 30min. I am just giving tips/advice which you obviously need. Your main problem is you need to feather your brakes and roll over everything with momentum.
 

zmtber

Turbo Monkey
Aug 13, 2005
2,435
0
hey patrik don't ly just to make you look better i was there and we killed you, we were at the bottom withh all of our pads off at 7-11 eating before you even showed up, it most have taken you at least an hour and 15 minutes, but i will give you credit any ways becasue you were on a hardtail with pipping all over it, go to pinkbike we don't need you here just to give us a hard time because you are jelouse of us, and u should just answer the question of the thread, stop trying to put someone down and start an argument, try this when you are at pinkbike
 

.:Jeenyus:.

Turbo Monkey
Feb 23, 2004
2,831
1
slc
zmtber said:
hey patrik don't ly just to make you look better i was there and we killed you, we were at the bottom withh all of our pads off at 7-11 eating before you even showed up, it most have taken you at least an hour and 15 minutes, but i will give you credit any ways becasue you were on a hardtail with pipping all over it, go to pinkbike we don't need you here just to give us a hard time because you are jelouse of us, and u should just answer the question of the thread, stop trying to put someone down and start an argument, try this when you are at pinkbike
You are not contributing to this forum in any way, shape, or form. Your not funny, your not cool, and don't delude yourself into thinking that anybody could possibly be jealous of you. Out of all of you SB peoples, mtbrider actually seems to be the most intelligent.
 

snoopz666

Monkey
Dec 24, 2004
248
0
now residing in kamloops
.:Jeenyus:. said:
You are not contributing to this forum in any way, shape, or form. Your not funny, your not cool, and don't delude yourself into thinking that anybody could possibly be jealous of you. Out of all of you SB peoples, mtbrider actually seems to be the most intelligent.
agreed, but im sure if he keeps this up he'll get banned sooner or later.

as for the brakes, riding(feathering) your brakes all the way down the hill is not the greatest thing to do.
first of all it causes your hands to fatigue faster, learn to pump your brakes.
second of all you eat though pads alot faster.
and third if you constantly ride your brakes they get hot, and the hotter they get the less power they will have.

odds are that you have dot 3 brake fluid in your system, this means that at 400degrees(F) it will boil. now this is when the fluid is brand new, since brake fluid is hydroscopic(absorbs water) over time the boiling point (BP) goes down. now i had to look this up but a just 4% water content the BP drops to 280 degrees(F). i remember reading an article in decline that said that at ~300 degrees (F) most brakes loose most of their power(although i remember that the tests done where them testing the brakes to the very limit). but by that time your fluid has got that hot it will boil gas will be produced and you will loose all of you braking power(lever pulls to the bar).

*** although this is true this will only happen in the most extreme circumstances. to remedy this you can get DOT 4 brake fluid that boils at 450d degrees or if you really want DOT 5.1( i know hope comes stock with this). it boils at something around 525 degress. but if you change to 5.1 make sure you flush out all the 3 or 4.


**edit: i just checked because i knew something was fishy. in the hope manual it says not to mix 5.1 and DOT 4. this is true if you want the highest BP possible but no harm will come to your brakes if you mix the two. now if it was DOT 5 and 4 this is true because DOT 5, unlike DOT 4 and DOT 5.1 which are a glycol ether / borate estermix, is silicone based and will eat the seals.
 

PatBranch

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2004
10,451
9
wine country
I don't always feather my brakes, but I do a lot of the time on Tunnel ( a trail with big rocks :stairs, small drops, ....) on my hardtail, because if I hit something too fast, I will loose control. I have 6" hayes mag champaigne brakes (w/ dot 4 fluid) on both ends of my hardtail.
 

dream4est

Monkey
Jan 28, 2003
180
0
DH SB RIDER said:
I have hays mags and a hays champaine in the front and i was wondering is it the fact that i brake to much or the fact that these brakes are bad......what would u recomend doing....i was thinking maby hopes or the jusisy sevens?
adjust the lever throw to be as close to the bar as possible. its a small allen screw in the base of the lever. position the hoods at an angle that allows you to reach them comfortably at a dh angle.
when riding place your weight in your pedals as much as possible. think pedals/bb. less weight in the arms equals less arm fatigue.
 
Aug 30, 2005
154
0
San Diego
bad hand/arm fatigue is a combination of things. but if you have your hayes' set up right you should be fine, new brakes won't fix your problem.

1. make sure your pads/fluid are relatively fresh.

2. use less brake, even in rock gardens and technical sections. you'll get through them a lot faster anyways if you just pick a good line and let your momentum carry you.

3. position your levers further in on your handlebars (further away from your grips) so that when you're using either one or two fingers you can get the most leverage on the lever.

4. most importantly, just ride more. there's nothing that will help you fight off fatigue more than conditioning.
 
Jul 19, 2005
101
0
Manizales, COLOMBIA
There could be some diff problems:
-hayes you should use dot 5.1 its the best so they don´t heat as the other oils.
-The lever is too far away you should screw it all the way down so it gets closer to the handlebars.
-Maybe the pads have oil on them and don´t brake sh** you should replace them.