Disc Brakes for Big Guys (or Gals)

[funnyhaircut]

Hi there,

I weight about 215 lbs. I'm not huge, but definitely heavier than a lot of guys that mountain bikes are made for.

I have a Rocky Mountain Trailhead and it has some stock Shimano disc brakes. I'm not sure which model they are. The rotors say m495 but those are mechanical brakes and these ones are definitely hydraulic.

Anyway, I don't always feel like these brakes are able to stop me during steep descents, and the other day I actually had a pad go missing, which made the rest of the descent a little scary as I only had my rear brake.

Have any other Clydes out there had any luck with other types of discs? I'm considering upgrading to something like the Hayes Carbon. Is this necessary?

 

[Wlfdg]

I have about 30lbss. on you and have had very good luck with Hayes brakes. I have the Mag's on my downhill bike and Nine's on my all mtn. No troubles.

 

[garage sale GT]

I have the base Nashbar-branded mechanical system. I believe it's a Tektro. It stops as well as any bike. I weigh about what you do.

You may have gotten some kind of lube on the disc.

I left a spacer out of my system once. The pad wasn't putting any pressure on the disc. I also tore or damaged a cable housing. Hydraulics would leak if a line was torn, but still, there may be something else compromising your pressure.

 

[2088bob]

I am 265lbs at 6'6" this is what i ride

7" Avid BB7 up front ,6 " Avid BB7 out back, I can stand this thing on it's nose with this combo, in fact the juice fork is going, because it keeps wanting to pitch me over the bars. This is an 8 speed sturmy archer internal rear hub I much prefer this to any derailluer setup

this is my other rat bike /city bomber
teny wheels generic 6 " shimano up front and rim canti's out back and it gets things whoa'ed up pretty good as well

mind you this is all street riding I am not into down hill stuff