Disc pads

[Paul Bromley]

Fitted a new set of replacement Aztec brake pads to my bike yesterday. They recommended 10 minutes
bedding in time. I was pushed for time last night and decided to combine this with my 30 mile round
trip to work. BAD IDEA! The wheels were so stiff to turn the extra effort nearly killed me !

Guenuine Magura pads have worked fine in the past

Anyone else had problems like this?

Paul

[Ian]

Paul Bromley must be edykated coz e writed:

> Fitted a new set of replacement Aztec brake pads to my bike yesterday. They recommended 10 minutes
> bedding in time. I was pushed for time last night and decided to combine this with my 30 mile
> round trip to work. BAD IDEA! The wheels were so stiff to turn the extra effort nearly killed me !
>
> Guenuine Magura pads have worked fine in the past
>
> Anyone else had problems like this?
>
> Paul
>
>
What are they like now? Sounds like sticking pistons in the callipers, did you / is it possible to
adjust the pistons for pad clearance or are they supposed to be self adjusting?

Ian

[Rupert Smith]

Not sure what your brakes are like, but I usually find it's a good idea to adjust the caliper
position when fitting new pads to my shimano hydraulic disc brakes. Just slacken the caliper
mounting bolts a little and apply the brakes such that the caliper moves to its ideal position and
then retighten the bolts before letting go of the brake lever. If they are hydraulic and work in
the same way as my brakes then before you install the new pads you need to remove the lid from the
fluid reservoir at the lever end and then push the piston carefully back into the caliper so that
there is enough room for the new pads which are thicker. If you do both these things then the wheel
should spin freely with completely unused pads. The bedding in time is just the time it takes for
the pads to reach their full effectiveness, surely it shouldn't be the time it takes for the wheel
to spin normally?

Rupert

"Paul Bromley" <paul_bromley@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:MwRZa.1699$6M1.1652@newsfep1-gui.server.ntli.net...
> Fitted a new set of replacement Aztec brake pads to my bike yesterday.
They
> recommended 10 minutes bedding in time. I was pushed for time last night
and
> decided to combine this with my 30 mile round trip to work. BAD IDEA! The wheels were so stiff to
> turn the extra effort nearly killed me !
>
> Guenuine Magura pads have worked fine in the past
>
> Anyone else had problems like this?
>
> Paul

[Dave]

I am thinking of replacing my old tourer. My current machine has changed over the years with hardly
an original component. The mix and match has usually worked though.

My bike has down tube friction, not indexed, shifters. This has meant that changing components has
never given much trouble. Looking at the new tourers such as Dawes, Thorn, Orbit. Edinburgh etc.
they all seem to have either bar end or STI type shifters. It looks as if down tube levers have
bitten the dust.

STI & indexed gears are mechanically complex so not ideal for straying away from a friendly
supplier. They are also designed to work with specific gear mechanisms which suggests that you are
at the whim of the supplier and changing one component may mean upgrading the whole gear train. I
gather that the cable routes mean that bar bags are out as well.

I have never used bar end shifters but they have always seemed a strange design with relatively
sharp levers sticking out and not, to me, in a natural place to change gear. They are friction so
this may be an advantage.

So three questions:

What are your thoughts on bar end and STI style shifters?

Do I really have to abandon down tube shifters (and why are they disappearing)?

What decent tourers still use down tube or what would you be looking at in my place?

Thanks Dave

[Peter Connolly]

> What are your thoughts on bar end and STI style shifters?
>
> Do I really have to abandon down tube shifters (and why are they disappearing)?
>
> What decent tourers still use down tube or what would you be looking at in my place?
>
> Thanks Dave
>

I have indexed bar-end shifters on my tourer. I would never go back to down-tube shifters again.

I went to bar-end because I ride a large frame (24.5"), and it's a long way to the down-tube! In 10
years, I've never ever caught anything on the ends of the shifters, and they've never got in the
way. The cables to the gears are a bit longer, so have more of a tendency to stretch, but rarely
more than can be fixed by twiddling the adjuster. The bar-ends are indexed on the rear, and friction
on the front, and can be set up so that the rear one is friction also, by turning a bolt around.

HTH,

Pete.

[Dave Larrington]

Squinting between the lines, Mr Shimano does still make down-tube shifters, but only for braze-on
fittings and, distressingly for the bank manager, only in Dura-Ace.

Other shifters are still available in the dustier corners of the Interweb; I recently upgraded my
old tourer from a six to a seven-speed rear end, and got some shifters from St John Street - these
can be switched to friction should the need arise. I'd be surprised, though, if anyone made
off-the-peg bikes with down-tube shifters these days.

Bar-end shifters are the Work of Stan.

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================

[Anonymous]

"Dave Larrington" <legs_larry@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:bhd022$10ihjm$3@ID-120318.news.uni-berlin.de...
> Squinting between the lines, Mr Shimano does still make down-tube
shifters,
> but only for braze-on fittings and, distressingly for the bank manager,
only
> in Dura-Ace.

5 quid cheaper than bar ends (but 35sq is still quite a lot!)

Their bar end shifters are also dura-ace only these days. Don't look any different from when they
were called ultegra (apart from the number of clicks) so I suspect it's a marketing thing.

Re the OP's original point - I too thought they looked vunerable/leg-pokey when I first saw them,
but five years after actually getting a bike with them on I'm entirely happy.

cheers, clive

[Tim Downie]

> So three questions:
>
> What are your thoughts on bar end and STI style shifters?
>
> Do I really have to abandon down tube shifters (and why are they disappearing)?
>
> What decent tourers still use down tube or what would you be looking at in my place?

Like yours, my bike has been modified over the years, sometimes less successfully than others. The
one change I have no regrets about was ditching the friction down-tube shifters. I went for indexed
bar end shifters (along with a new rear mech and sprockety thingy) which whilst not being quite as
handy as some fancy brake lever/gear change devices, does me well enough for the moment. I feel much
happier (and safer) keeping my hands on the bars when I'm shifting now.

One day I might treat myself to new brakes and levers, but until then, my bar end shifters are fine.

Tim
--
Time for a new sig.

[Al]

Dave <dwj0308@uk2.net> wrote in message news:<nmUUihBQ0TO$EwCa@tuber.demon.co.uk>...
> :
> They are also designed to work with specific gear mechanisms which suggests that you are at the
> whim of the supplier and changing one component may mean upgrading the whole gear train.
> :

At least for Shimano, all rear mechs move the same distance for the same amount of cable-pull, so
only the shift lever has to be matched to the sprocket spacing. Probably.

But you're right: tourers should always have mudguards, luggage racks and little levers on the
down-tube. Definitely.

Al.

[Tim Downie]

Al wrote:
>
> But you're right: tourers should always have mudguards, luggage racks and little levers on the
> down-tube. Definitely.

Hmm.... I suspect this was tongue-in-cheek but I'd disagree. They definitely *look* right but unless
you're an extreme advocate of form over function I call down-tube shifters antiquated and
potentially dangerous.

Tim

--
Time for a new sig.