5 Hacks To Get The Most Out Of Your MTB Brakes | Mountain Bike Maintenance
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ค. 2024
- Brakes are the only thing that can slow you down on a Mountain Bike, so getting them powerful enough is key to setting up your brakes. So follow these 5 hacks to get them working smooth and stopping you fast.
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Mountain brakes can be tricky to set up the way you like, but one thing they need to be is powerful. So here are 5 Hacks To Get More Powerful MTB Brakes.
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Do you have any more brake hacks? Let us know in the comments!
Global Mountain Bike Network no sorry lol
If you haven't got any disc brake cleaner just scrub a bit of washing up liquid onto the rotor with a clean brush. Works just aswell!
Global Mountain Bike Network. hi so i have problem with my mtb 3rd geare sounds very weird and when i want to shift from 3 to 4 it takes long to shift and when i want to shift from 2 3 shift id very loude any solution ? ( sory for nad gramar)
Tejas Shred Squad bmx for real - take them off :D
Global Mountain Bike Network Use your shoe instead! Works a treat on Downhill runs!!!
Got this tip from on old timer mtb'r: You go faster if you don't use your brakes! Brilliant!
You can use velcro straps for the lever cable tie hack, it's a little more eco than going through a load of cable ties.
I went over the bars on some north shore today. . . Send prayers
Send videos to fails and bails
which trail?
Qwerty the Clown savage
lol im sitting over here with my rim brakes
Yo try sanding ur rims if u haven't upgraded yet
Don’t sand your rims. Just never buy painted rims for a rim brake bike. Anodized or chrome only. Anodized is less durable. Chrome works better except in the wet but anodizing can get damaged if the rim gets wet and any sand or dust gets on your bike. Same with chrome but it’s much harder.
Clear pads or salmon pads are the best typically bmx style though. Clean your rims with rubbing alcohol and if your pads feel glazed over or you buy new ones sand them down so they feel fresh again.
Caleb N het Magura hs33
Are those the crazy ass Magura hydronic rim brakes that crush rims?
@@bmxriderforlife1234 true never buy painted rim brake they sound like dieing seals
Thanks! These tips really helped, my brakes haven't always been what I'd have called reliable, but now they seem to work quite well!
Thanks for the tips, worked a treat!
Really cool man, thanks
Awesome dude! Just what I was needing!!
Very helpful - thanks for posting!
Scott, on the bleeding part. You showed us what we normally do. Loosen the break lever to level the oil input cap. Also before that, you rotate the bike on a work stand to let any bubble to flow it's way up. I have a work stand that I can lower the clamp near waist high. Now I got the idea of bleeding my bike without loosening the break lever, just rotate the bike and bleed.
Thank you mate. Sorted my problem out immediately 👍
Great Video. I tried your tipp with the pressure over night and it worked perfectly! Thanks a lot.
I wonder how it actually works. There was some explanation missing in the video. What is the point of having the air at the top, can it get out of the system up there? Otherwise I so t see how it should alter the behaviour of my brakes ever so slightly?
Wow very good video! So good tips. Thank you
When changing pads give the pistons a scrub with an old toothbrush before you lever them back into the calliper.
why
@@johannvonderbecke3873 braking dust and general crud get deposited onto the exposed pistons. If you don't clean this stuff off when you push the pistons back into the caliper the debris gets pushed passed the piston seals into the braking fluid. Which can be absorbed into the fluid, damage the seals or create a medium for the oil to seep through.
@@jackhaffenhoff1365 thanks, my bike is currently under repair and I'll have a look at the pistons when I install my new brake pads (old one somehow got a chunk of pad ripped off)
I machined my bleed block down 1mm total, 0.5m each side to advance my pistons during bleed. Currently running saint. I also check for warping of disc and true ( moderate difficulty level. Start with small tweaks). Lastly at the end of the video you simply pulled the funnel off. I wrap my grips and cover my front brake assembly (if I'm only doing the lever otherwise both wheels and pads are out on a bleed). When I remove the funnel I allow one or two drops to come out of the funnel until the surface tension is visible just above the hole. Then I screw in the bleed port screw and wipe it down with rubbing alcohol as it's less abrasive on paint and coatings. Good vid.
Great hacks! Loved them!
I was wanting to know this yesterday aswell
Nothing on my bike works that well- it seems like such an easy job here, but 6 hours and much swearing later my brakes are still crap
toasty bear what brakes ?
@@johnwheels89 yes
@@billybull7419 He was asking what kind
@@serowan yes
@@billybull7419 oh yeah yeah
After topping off the fluid with the lever bleed, be careful about pushing your pistons back when changing your pads later. (You may have to remove the bleed screw again to gain enough room.)
That just happened to me, took a bit of oil out and sorted 👍🏼
Gmbn is legitmately revitalizing my Old 2011 GT avalanche the cable tie trick worked wonders! I will be bleeding them soon but this works for now my brakes feel 3x better than before!
Thank you very much, Frankly this is what I'm looking for.
Thanks for ur advice
Great vid! thanks!
I tried the invert your bike with the levers zip tied down hack, worked great!
Where does the air go? Isn't still in the system and will cause soft brakes still.
I beg your pardon, sir. You most assuredly did not invert my bike.
@@gatoryak7332 lol
08:12 actually you should tap the brake lines BEFORE removing the zip ties as bubbles even under pressure will still tend to stick to the surface and not just travel all the way up.
The reason you use the zip ties is that under pressure (when the brakes are pulled on hard) any bubble will compress and shrink)
The smaller the bubble, the easier it travels through the fluid.
You can experiment with a drinking straw and a carbonated drink. put your finger over the end of a full straw and the bubbles still travel up ok.
Suck on the straw (not too hard so it doesn't collapse) and seal it with your tongue. The bubbles expand from the vacuum, and stop moving up as fast, if at all. Release the suck, the bubbles shrink back to their original size and continue their travels.
This is slightly different as you are removing pressure to make the bubbles bigger, where applying force on your brakes is putting pressure on the bubbles, making them smaller.
We used the same trick on Motorbikes but it was best done on the road trip with the bike on the trailer etc, where the travel vibrations did the work of vibrating the now smaller bubbles up the brake lines.
good tips. thx a lot
Really like these videos, I like my brakes firm too, I must try the cable tie trick! I have done the disk out piston close up, glad to know its a good hack!
I plan on trying that paper trick @ 1:37, thanks for posting this video.
very very good video !!!
Dude this helped me I have a trek Jack made it into a dirt jumper and Avid bb7s on it and new pads and I wanna get the most out of em. Thanks yall
Rip Scotty
what? is this a joke or what? because Scotty ain't dead...
Lmao. Guessing you haven't seen the latest Dirt Shed Show. Scott has left GMBN.
Lmao. Guessing you didn't read that guys comment. It said "Rip" not "left" and also I knew he left, I was just saying he isn't dead. Read peoples comments comments before you have a go at someone. Thanks.
that's because he leaves GMBN
Supercars of Chester I read your comment just fine. And I wasn't having a go at you at all.
Very nice thanks
Brilliant!
Thanks for help
If you have brakes that have any cam system (Shimano Servowave for instance), pushing the pistons in means that you'll be squeezing on the rotor when your lever is in the "hard" part of the cam, which is to say, the bit of the stroke where you have less mechanical advantage. It's fine if you have strong forearms, I suppose.
Thank you
I've heard of brake bleed before but didn't know what they mentioned now I do thanks. Now if something in the brake feels weird or I need to bleed the lever now I can thanks.
We'll miss you, Scotty! Best luck to you in your upcoming challenges, man.
The last hack is pretty good! I use to change the angle of the lever up and down (+ and - 45 degrees), then squish it a cuple more time and you will see more bubbles coming out! #gmbnrocks
The zip-tie fix is the bomb!
I swear they made the same video a few months ago.
IceCreamTrucker yep
IceCreamTrucker You're probably right. I think this is a re-run. I miss Scotty already.😥
@@bullwhipjohnson8247 where did he go
R.I.P. Scotty, gone but not forgotten.
definitely going to try storing the bike with the levers depressed, nice tip
pressed?
depressed means pushed in and is therefore correct
J S so what's when not pressed in
J L not pressed? Unpressed? Normal?
do a positive pressure after your lever bleed. leaving your back wheel on, be careful not to get the mineral oil or dot on the disk. use the syringe and push the pads to the disk for super solid stopping power. works well with tektro and hayze.
Don't use the ball end of a hex key to loosen or tighten a bolt with lots of torque.... unless you like rounded fasteners.
Cool vid with a few things I haven't tried. A few people in the comments saying they have to realign their calipers every time they remove the wheel; that's usually because the orientation of the spindle in relation to the dropouts has changed in the process of removing the wheel. In engineering there's no such thing as a straight line so even if there's nothing wrong with your hubs this will make a noticeable difference. After aligning your calipers, put a spot of paint on the spindles where they align with the open part of the dropouts, then put them back in with the paint at the same place every time and the calipers/rotors should still be aligned. This is more noticeable with rim brakes but I've had it happen on discs as well, even with small (160mm) rotors
A really helpful video, especially the tip about ziptie-ing the levers. My brakes are now firmer than they were. Still not perfect though.
Du Flanke Yes. Tektro HDC330.
Great tip on reducing piston travel mate. I bled my 4 pot deore XT brakes yesterday. Even though it was a perfect bleed, the lever has way too much travel before the pads engage.
Think it was the Shimano bleed block being to wide when bleeding.
I was going to re-bleed after taking some material off the side of the bleed block but I'll try your hack first.
Thank you.
Rich
Same. I did a perfect bleed and once pads were back in too much level travel and no worthwhile bite adjuster on those brakes. So that trick works really well.
Same ere. Only for you tube I would be fucked.
Another really good way to make your breaks better is to rub some Cain loob on the discs really helps
Dave Garland stated that way of centering the caliper is the easy quick fix and that you should always use your eyes to center the disc between the pads. Personally I would agree but this method do work well enough.
Is anyone else confused on how that paper works? Clarification would be awesome thanks guys for the vid
MTBdropIN yeah I am
Mee too :/
It's just another method to centre the caliper, it can be pretty good if one piston is outperforming the other one(In this case the pulling the lever then tightening method doesnt work). Loosen the 2 caliper bolts, pack out either side of the rotor with an equal amount/thickness of paper/card either side then retighten the caliper bolts.
Get your caliper fixed!
MTBdropIN the trick he forgot to mention is that you have to write a note on the paper saying "Brake pads, please align".
Good hacks, nice bike btw... Propa xc shredder...
Would like to see scotty come back for a visit on the shed.
Looking forward to trying the zip-tie hack!
at last I saw a proper brake setup - right front and left rear!
Maybe not a big deal trick, but - ALWAYS! break-in your new pads, at least 12-15 progressive brakings without completely stopping the bike. Breaked in pads will have better brake power and longer life.
have a improvises bleeder kit you can buy at a pharmacy, easy to use, i had to improvised due to they dont sell shimano bleeding kits here in our country , i simple use a cyringe :)
Perect
I find every time i take my wheel out and put it back in its never the same!!! Anyone else or is it just me?
Same here. I have learned to adjust the caliper every time I put the wheel on.
Matty B is the caliper this?
@Matty B That's usually because the orientation of the spindle in relation to the dropouts has changed in the process of removing the wheel. In engineering there's no such thing as a straight line so even if there's nothing wrong with your hubs this will make a noticeable difference. After aligning your calipers, put a spot of paint on the spindles where they align with the open part of the dropouts, then put them back in with the paint at the same place every time and the calipers/rotors should still be aligned. This is more noticeable with rim brakes but I've had it happen on discs as well, even with small (160mm) rotors
8:56 is that time on your watch am or pm?
Can you do one of these vids but for disk brakes without the fluid in it
what shoes do you where when mountain biking?
You forgot to rotate thr lever 30 degrees forward and back during the lever bleed process as per shimano recommendations....sometimes a few bubbles come out by doing so.
Those rims sound sick af
I have a MT5 (front) and MT6 (back) combo and although I recently bled those brakes, I dont have a real endpoint when pulling the levers. I can pull right trough to the grips. The wheels block at the desired point, but I can pull a bit harder and go through. They really don't feel firm and I hate it. Can anyone help?
Bike feels a lot better after this 👍
0:20 uhhh no.... if we're taking caliper pistons then we're talking hydraulics... and the thing with a pair of opposed hydraulic pistons is... they self center and the load is even, no matter if the disk is to the left or the right.
Centering the disk is not extremely important.. but it does stop the disk from contacting the caliper.. which is when you will get one piston working different to the other.
As the compresability of a fluid is almost zero (I think water compresses about 1% at 200 bar) the volume of oil on top of a piston makes near no difference if it is more on one side than the other.
You can test this for yourself by completely releasing the bolts on the caliper and pulling on the brake as hard as you like... Apart from seal expansion increasing stiction, so there will be some stiffness, you can move the caliper left or right and it will remain where ever you move it, as the force from both pistons will always be providing an equal amount of work.
If the disk goes to one side, you have a jamming piston.
Ahahaha everyone saying Rip Scotty... He may be gone but he won't be forgotten, Legend
Winters chill he left gmbn?
Michael Myers he didn’t die...
Cool
Will this work on road hydro brakes?
Gday, ive got avid juicy sl magnum brakes. Did your favorite brake hack with the levers zip tied over night just as you did in the video. When i cut em off and tested em, back brakes turned out great. Fronts i got one brake application and thats it. Something seized inside and wont release. Tire wont budge, and the brake lever is moves back and forth with no resistance. Took bike to the shop to do a brake bleed and he said the master cylinder seized. Stupid things were working fine. Maybe i had too much air in the system and i dried out the seals when i tipped the bike upright? What do you think? Thanks eh
I can hear the front brake of my new trek roscoe 8 already slipped on the disk when I turn the wheel around. This means that the disk isn’t straight anymore, right?
A trick to put the paper in more easily is to push out the pads all the way, although it takes a little more work
i put grease on the rotor it works great
How often do I have to do the 6:20 minute thing?
I accidentally hit my brakes with the wheels off during washing so I pushed the pistons back out but I didnt take off the pads, is that ok? (I used a flathead screwdriver)
Hi, GMBN? I want to ask you, do you not sales for malaysia?
the brake bleed for the air to go to the brake levers. The handlebars were turned to the left making the brake line higher than the lever.
Great hacks and tips! Can you tell me why my rear disc brake makes like a horn noise when I use them? Not actually a horn sound but not sure how to describe the sound. It's a braking squeak rubbing sound before bike comes to a stop. Only my back brake does this.
Like your videos very helpful...But please stop calling basic bike maintenance and care "hacks". This term is way overused on TH-cam and in most cases is nothing more than common sense.
And also use a rubber band instead of zip tie, no sense wasting a perfectly good zip tie and adding more plastic to the land fill.
best brake hack is to spray wd-40 in to brake pads
Eero Heinälä definitely. Put WD40 on the discs after you clean the bike to stop them rusting.
Eero Heinälä and make sure you rub any dirt off with your fingers 👍👌
wd-40 in the pads?are you taking the piss?
WTF Why did you make me do this man my Shimano XT brakes are ruined they cost me a fortune 🤔
I heard, extra virgin olive oil is much better
The zip tie method overnight works great. I had very soft brakes and now they are nice and firm.
Do you bleed them after?
Big man tomato head . I didn’t bleed them after. I just tied them up for the night. The next day the front ones were solid and the rear ones were a LOT firmer but not solid. So I actually just tied the rear brake up again for tonight. And hopefully it should turn out the way the front one did.
Daniel Lyne okay thanks for your reply
Big man tomato head your welcome
Good tip is to put some silicon lubricant on almost fully extended pistons. It will make them work more freerly which should improve modulation.
A better tip is to put some mineral oil on them.
My shimano zee brakes which came on my new bike are aligned properly and have no contaminants but the lever still feels kinda spongey and can be pulled to the bar with some force. They also don’t feel like they are grabbing like they should. Any ideas on what I can do?
What hub do you have?
my disc brake caliper doesn't have those top "post" adjusting bolts??? is there some other way some calipers aline with the rotor??
What disk brake cleaner is used? I read that canned brake cleaner leaves oil residue.
a tyre puncture will slow you down aswell
Falling off works for me!
So you hold your brake lever in while you tighten the caliper ?
paper towel + alcohol + disc brakes... the must do
such a waste of alcohol :)
Your zip-tie-over-night hack is very nice. But you don't seem to apply much force to the levers here. That is why I suggest to substitute the zip-ties with Velcro cable ties instead. Those are reusable.
perfect is perect in this vid
#askgmbn I have a post mount on my fork and 160mm rotors. Would m6 x 18mm bolts work?
See ya Scotty!
What if my brake lever is too hard how do I make it easier to squeeze?
Does anyone know how to fix a brake lever that is wiggly?
"brakes are the one thing on your bike that will slow you down" haha scotty brakes dont slow me down half as much as I slow myself down.
still usung trustworthy shimano deore xt parallel v brakes....very powerfull...still can send you over the bars...stopie is no problem at all
Two advantages of disc brakes - they still work when you're riding in the rain and the modulation is much better.
Why the levers were squeezed overnight? I think leaving the bike in this position without squeezing the levers would do the same, wouldn't it? Does this aplly to Tektro hydraulic brakes? Don't you need to bleed the oil through the caliper bleeder? Anyway, thanks for the video. I'll definitely try this.
Tomorrow is my birthday and Scotty just left :/ at least he left lots of videos behind him ;)