UKC

Hi,

I have a 2007 Giant Xtc3.5 same as http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/bikes/mountain/product/review-giant-...

The brakes have been cr*p since i got it (seizing). Anyway for this and other reasons i now want to replace the levers.

I'm ok with basic bike maintenance but the 'hydraulic' part concerns me.

What do i need to purchase. Levers and calipers? Separate, or can i buy them together?

Do i need to be looking for Shimano or something else?

I'm not wanting to spent too much and the brakes don't need to be top of the range as i don't do too much offroading.

Any advice welcome (apart from slating the bike itself)

Thanks,

Darren.

In reply to Darren09:

To clarify: Are you wanting to change the levers as in the silver bits or the levers as in the whole assembly attached to the bars?

In reply to Darren09:

Replace the whole system. Really hard to fault Shimano, just pick the one at your price point, you wont be disappointed. Make sure you get the right kind of mount and that the new ones are for the same size of disc, or alternatively get new discs too.

If you replace the whole system you wont need to bother with getting your head around hydraulics as they come factory bled.

In reply to Bimbler:

I did warn that i'm a bit green

Yeah the whole assembly. One of the levers has decided to come out of the socket completely.

I want them gone (mph brakes and me don't get on)

In reply to Darren09:

My mate has them and they are a bit pish.

Good deals available on shimano and a doddle to fit.

In reply to DaveHK:
Prob only done 400 miles and they have had to be 'serviced' about 6 times since i got it.

Took the bike away this year around Europe and when the weather warmed up the brakes seized.

In reply to Darren09:

What Dave said, you can get a set of Deore for less than £100:

http://www.merlincycles.com/bike-shop/mtb-parts/brakes/disc-brakes/shimano-...

Probably cheaper if you hunt around.

In reply to Horse:

Cheers.

I was going to kindly ask you guys to post links to what i need.

Thanks again.

In reply to Darren09:

Probably best to avoid anything Avid, they can be a fecking nightmare to live with.

In reply to Darren09:


I don't blame you, and a google will show you the seizing is not uncommon. After finding myself spending more time adjusting the other half's MPH brakes than riding on every single ride we binned them and bought a Deore kit - Nothing fancy, sub £100 for the lot.

Never regretted the decision, and the enhanced stopping power, responsiveness & moderation suddenly gave Penny a confidence boost and her riding improved lots.
Never had to touch them since apart from pad replacements.

In reply to Darren09:

I'm not knocking the Shimanos above at all but I've had a set of these ; http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=80605&utm_source...
( sorry don't how to shorten url )

on a bike that gets lots of use and never had a squeek out of them , very powerful brakes for not a lot of lolly . Dead simple to fit as well .

In reply to Darren09:


Another vote for Shimano (despite having Formula myself, they are just easier to set-up, and bags of power.)

Deore are great and this is probably the best deal around at the moment from Germany: http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k495/a82668/deore-disc-brake-br-m596-set.h...

If you want to splash out a bit more, then look at the SLX which are just lovely: http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/k495/a76857/disc-brake-set-slx-br-m675.htm...

The MPH brakes are just horrid.

I would consider changing the discs as well however, as although they will work with your old ones, they wont cool quite as well as with the discs they are designed for, and they aren't expensive.

In reply to Darren09:

Another vote for Shimano.

You *might* find Avid brakes cheaper, but it really isn't worth the hassle.

In reply to Darren09:

I replaced giant MPH brakes with Shimano XT about 5 years ago; can't comment on anything else but the XTs have been pretty much fit and forget for me. I've not needed to do anything to them other than change pads

In reply to Darren09:

I had MPH-3 brakes on my Giant for years without any trouble apart from the front caliper seizing once - I never believed they were as bad as they were made out to be.

Anyway, I upgraded to XT brakes when I changed my forks, due to different mountings.

Shimano brakes will be absolutely fine and a doddle to fit. Depending on the mountings on your bike, you may need adapters and you won't be able to use the MPH disks, as they're a slightly different size to Shimano (163mm -v- 160mm). Assuming you've got IS fork mounts, you may need to go up to a 180mm front disk, as the IS to PM adapter will push it out 20mm.

Get new disks from Superstar Components, if they don't come with the brakes.

The comment about them being pre-bled is not quite accurate - they will be, but they will often both have long enough hoses for the user to decide if they want the back brake on the left or right lever, so you'll need to either coil up the spare for the front and live with the look or cut and bleed it yourself. If you do that, you'll need all the olives and so on to do it.

In reply to Darren09:
I have owned at various point in my life: Shimano Deore (various years), XT (also various years), Hope M4 (or equivalent 4-pots, also various years), Hope C2, and briefly some Hayes 9. I have also ridden a fair bit on bikes with Avid Juicys.

My take is this: for simplicity and power, you can't go wrong with Shimano. They are breeze to install, even if you need to shorten the cable, and easy to change pads and bleed when required. Power-wise: deores are fine for anything in Britain; but on longer Alpine descents they are out of their depth, and XTs or Saints are a better choice.

My one criticism of Shimano brakes is that, when they go wrong, you can't take them apart properly - i.e. when the seals go (which they eventually will) you can't replace them individually, you have a spend the money on buying a whole replacement caliper/lever. Compare and contrast that with a 10 year old Hope M4 which has now been through several rebuilds and is still working better than ever. The only problem is that Hopes are trickier to setup for good performance - but once you've sweat the blood/tears to get them working perfectly, they are extremely dependable.

So, in summary: Shimano for cheap and easy power; Hope for longer lasting quality (at the cost of extra faff with setup).