Let's discuss brakes

JoshKeller

100 µW
Joined
Aug 18, 2021
Messages
8
Location
Martinsburg, wv
I have a Chinese ebike that I use for hunting. I've upgraded to hydraulic brakes. The back works great. The front not so much. The pads and rotor last about 5 miles until they no longer stop and start squealing badly. Granted this is cheap amazon rotors and pads. I'm setting the calipers by unlocking the adjustment bolts, squeezing the brakes hard, and tightening down the bolts. Any suggestions? Suggestions for pads and rotors? Quiet is a top priority since this bike is for hunting.
 
what brakes are you running? ceramic or organic pads might quiet it down a bit. also make sure they're clean - use isopropyl to clean the pads and rotors, and you could resurface the pads with some sand paper.
 
JoshKeller said:
The back works great. The front not so much. The pads and rotor last about 5 miles until they no longer stop and start squealing badly. Granted this is cheap amazon rotors and pads.

It sounds like your "upgraded" hydraulic brakes may be leaking. Contamination is the usual reason pads would change behavior that quickly.

Check the thickness of the pads when they start misbehaving. If the thickness is still most of what you started with, your problem is contamination. Best way to deal with that is don't use brakes that are filled with contamination, or at least not super cheap and awful ones.

If the pads are worn down thin when they get noisy, then buy better ones.

I hope you're hunting feral hogs, nutrias, or real estate speculators, because otherwise that's kind of a dickish thing to do.
 
I read the post 8 minutes ago prior to Chalo posting thinking cant wait to read Chalo's response.

But yeah cheap, generic pads and rotors isnt good.

Time to step up and buy brand name parts since you splurged on hydraulic disc brakes.
Can only imagine you doing technical downhill or steep mountain descents while hunting and needing Hydraulic brakes
Which means you are literally S.O.L. when oil contaminates the pads or fluid drains and you need brakes to descend back to the hunting truck.
 
Chalo said:
I hope you're hunting feral hogs, nutrias, or real estate speculators, because otherwise that's kind of a dickish thing to do.

It's also a dickish thing to judge people based on completely unrelated subjects and inject that into the conversation.
I don't want to see you starting an argument here. It is not helpful to OP or anyone else reading this thread and trying to learn something from it.
 
neptronix said:
Chalo said:
I hope you're hunting feral hogs, nutrias, or real estate speculators, because otherwise that's kind of a dickish thing to do.

It's also a dickish thing to judge people based on completely unrelated subjects and inject that into the conversation.

Who injected it into the conversation?

JoshKeller said:
I have a Chinese ebike that I use for hunting.
[...]
Quiet is a top priority since this bike is for hunting.

Twice in the original post kind of makes it a topic, don't you think?

If it matters to you, I judged him first for the shitty bike.
 
These are the pads and rotors I got. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B097R497TP/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_Z8X8A4P45NHC9CT62KJY?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083JG1S1V/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_BHKSKCBTRYDNS5HNKPA1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1


Any suggestions on brands?

And as for the anti hunter, I hunt and use everything I can. I don't buy meat at the store. But that is irrelevant to this discussion. This bike is used in the mountains so I'd prefer the brakes work as intended. If the brakes were leaking, wouldn't I have had to add fluid by now?
 
JoshKeller said:
If the brakes were leaking, wouldn't I have had to add fluid by now?

No, not necessarily. But the lever travel probably would have changed at least a little.

Cheap rotors don't have too much downside other than being easy to bend.

Pads should be from reputable brands like EBC, Kool Stop, Shimano, Tektro, etc. Organic and semi-metallic pads will be quieter than fully metallic.
 
I ordered a 2 pack of tetkro pads. And 2 Shimano rotors. If it happens again, I'll put my mechanical brakes back on the front with my 2nd set of pads and rotor.
 
JoshKeller said:
I ordered a 2 pack of tetkro pads. And 2 Shimano rotors. If it happens again, I'll put my mechanical brakes back on the front with my 2nd set of pads and rotor.

Inspect for any oily film around the pistons when you're replacing the pads. It's not the only kind of oily residue you can get on them, but it's the likeliest. Overexuberant chain lube or bike polish are other common offenders.
 
Damn, Chalo...Austin really is turning out to be the San Francisco of Texas.
 
Coffee shops are a great place to find an outlet to charge up your battery.
Starbucks usually has an outlet on the outside.
 
i have the same rotors but with some knock off tektro ceramics. works really good, the one thing might be, if your hard on your breaking, the pads might be sticking or you might be adjusting the pads too tight that it's rubbing while your riding, nothing kills pads more when their overheated and/or sticking.

if your pads are sticking when your breaking, upgrade the size of your rotors as bigger rotors can take a lot more abuse.

happy stopping .... or not :lol:
 
Hillhater said:
? Could also be blood from the last kill ?🏹🐇 :shock: :lol: :bigthumb:
.....or gun oil .. :pancake:

g3ib1.jpg
 
JoshKeller said:
I have a Chinese ebike that I use for hunting. I've upgraded to hydraulic brakes. The back works great. The front not so much. The pads and rotor last about 5 miles until they no longer stop and start squealing badly. Granted this is cheap amazon rotors and pads. I'm setting the calipers by unlocking the adjustment bolts, squeezing the brakes hard, and tightening down the bolts. Any suggestions? Suggestions for pads and rotors? Quiet is a top priority since this bike is for hunting.

To rule out contamination: spray a mixture of dish soap and water on the brakes, rinse. Again, then ride for 10 seconds around the driveway squeezing soapy brakes lightly and then rinse. Ride around stopping hard for a minute or two to re-distribute pad material on the rotor.

If everything else is good then it should be stopping hard now.

Lever feels firm and hasn’t lost travel/bottoms out? If not, you have to bleed out the bubble(s) or tighten things until leaks stop.

Some metallic pads especially cheap ones hold up well under hot extended braking but squeal/resonate badly under light braking and are not so pleasant to use in normal riding. Try a set of organic/semi-metallic/ceramic pads, even the cheap ones, to see if they suit your usage better. Organic pads fade under heat sooner but they bite the hardest initially and feel the nicest at the lever. If you really need metallic pads I would get good ones (I would try OEM). I have Aliexpress metallic pads on one bike on my front Shimano 4-piston and although they never fade, the stock Shimano organic pads that I used first had way nicer feel, were super quiet, and still had great performance with my use. I will switch back once my stock runs out.
 
I did find oil residue coming from the piston on my caliper. Swapped it out (cheaper to swap out caliper than try to rebuild it) and it worked great all day today will checking cameras.
 
Another to skip hydraulic disc brakes.

JoshKeller said:
I did find oil residue coming from the piston on my caliper. Swapped it out (cheaper to swap out caliper than try to rebuild it) and it worked great all day today will checking cameras.
 
my brakes sqeal, voodoo bantoo with hydrolic, i work with the noise and use it as a kind of bell, but i guess if your hunting stealths needed, i think its great your food is free, in every sense of the word
:bigthumb:
 
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