brake questions

[pinkbikes]

This seems like a good place to ask this question...

Ever since I have had mountain bikes with hydraulic disks I have considered my roadie brakes pretty awful. Not sure how I ever used to think they were ok actually!

Currently I am riding 105 brakes on a standard Shimano R500 wheel. The original equipment brake pads were pretty miserable, so DH got a bunch of aftermarket pads for both his bikes and mine and they seemed a little better.

After a few wet rides at events (so no real choice but to keep riding) I have noticed that they are not as good as they were, and indeed when I rode for the first time in a week the other day, I actually overshot the stopping bar at the bottom of our hill! Luckily nothing was coming the other way. And they did feel better as the ride went on.

Then today I was doing our local "epic climb" and on the resulting decent I was a bit cautious about letting the bike run because the end of the descent stops at a stop sign! The brakes were pretty ordinary I thought, and sounded maybe a bit scratchy (?) to me?

I am wondering whether the braking surface of the rims needs to be cleaned up? They look like there is black stuff in streaks on them. Or whether the pads are a bit glazed (like disk pads can) from all the muck they may have picked up in the wet rides? Do I need new pads or should I be giving them a light roughening with some emery paper?

Can anybody recommend good pads for 105 brakes? I'd like to think that they are not the cheapest brakes around and could be decent with the right pads?

[DebW]

Definitely clean the rims and pad surfaces. Alcohol on the rims, emery paper or a metal file on the pads. Glazing does make your brakes less effective.

[pinkbikes]

Thanks DebW.

[lph]

and if they sound scratchy they probably are - you probaly have a little road gunk embedded in the rubber. File them a little until they look fresh and black and rubbery!

[radicalrye]

I def. second the filing. Even if you just get some fine grain sand paper it works. I suggest filling the pads themselves and the rims for sure.

I'm pretty sure if you have canti mounts you could also switch to V brakes. Those seem to be pretty reliable and they don't need as much adjusting. I just got my first bike with canti's and I've had to adjust them a couple times. Depending on how old the bike is you may want to replace the brake cables. They can stretch over time.

[DebW]

I def. second the filing. Even if you just get some fine grain sand paper it works. I suggest filling the pads themselves and the rims for sure.

I'm pretty sure if you have canti mounts you could also switch to V brakes. Those seem to be pretty reliable and they don't need as much adjusting. I just got my first bike with canti's and I've had to adjust them a couple times. Depending on how old the bike is you may want to replace the brake cables. They can stretch over time.

If you switch from cantis to V-brakes, you need different levers. V-brakes pull less cable. Cantis and caliper road brakes can use the same levers, but not V-brakes.

[lunacycles]

Mini V's work with standard brake levers, quite well. Tektro makes some good ones.

They are actually a very decent alternative to canti's (some would say superior to canti's) on bikes with brifters.