Brake power?

N

nacuot

Banned
Hey,

I have a Fly brake, Odyssey linear cable, odyssey lever and a machined sidewall/stainless rim (stock on Fit Flow). Despite this top of the line setup (besides the rim) my brakes still don't live anywhere near up to what I'd expected them to be.

Last night I rubbed some alcohol onto my rims and rubbed it off again. Today, my brakes were pretty good, well much better than before. I was happy, but after an hour and a half or so of riding it all wore off and my brakes were back to their original selves. :mad:

What would you recommend for me to do to improve my braking power heaps, with little or no maintenance? Or should I just put on more alcohol every day? I also thought of buying a chrome rim, would this help a lot?

Josh
 
MUGEN

MUGEN

Likes Bikes and Dirt
alcohol will maggot your pads if you use it too much.
its not that it "wore" off, its because ur rims attract dirt/dust.
u need chrome rims, machined aluminium rims are shit.
clean chrome rims + clean pads = win
 
Renegade

Renegade

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Ive herd of people running over their rim walls with sandpaper to give a rough finish which gives them better breaking power - despite the squeeling noise they say its great.
 
julianwisbey

julianwisbey

Banned
take your tyre off and take to the rim with a angle grinder and totaly roughen up the surface that will give you deadly stopping power

or you could buy some rim tar for trials
 
Drew.

Drew.

Eats Squid
Renegade said:
Ive herd of people running over their rim walls with sandpaper to give a rough finish which gives them better breaking power - despite the squeeling noise they say its great.
Click to expand...
That is true. Trials riders do it to their rims, but it's gotta' bit pritty rough to have a decent affect. As said above, with an angle grinder.

As far as the squealing, I'm pritty sure chrome rims would squeak more than roughened up surface.

And check that your brake is setup properly! (Or a bike shop if you don't quite know what you're doing)
 
user name

user name

Likes Dirt
Take your brakes off! they're for wussies! NEVER RUN BRAKE LESS....mine broke and i got 4 stiches in my eyebrow....

Try the pad idea first...

Some trials riders i know have put sugary stuff on thier rims, eg: cordial to get more 'bite'...
 
Mr Sparkle

Mr Sparkle

Likes Dirt
I have recently bought a fit team trail, which came stock with black rear rim. It has good braking power but not that great. I put creamie soda on the rim, and the braking power was a bit better but it squealed. Though the power was only for like 10m of braking. So i don't think you can do much better if you have black rim.

I have seen riders with chrome rims use creamie soda, and it helped them, brake better.
 
sockman

sockman

Likes Bikes and Dirt
The idea might sound rediculous at first but go brakeless, i know a few people who do it and its sooooooo much more fun! Takes a while to get used to but its awesome after that...

other than that i have no idea about brakes...
 
bowzaa

bowzaa

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Drink some alcohol, that'll fix your problem:p
No, in all seriousness, get some sandpaper or a light file and file away the top of your brake pads so they are a bit courser(sp?), you'll get a lot better performance. Either that or just learn to deal with it, my evolvers with ody 1by4 's and a linear cable allow me to do tail taps and such, sure they dont bite like a mtb brake but you gotta expect that.
 
bmx

bmx

Likes Bikes and Dirt
theyre probably not set up right. my mates ran same set-up but with evolvers. his worked fine coz he had them set up right. he could fufanu and all
 
S

sam44

Likes Dirt
mabey its got to do with the amount of tension on your springs? also the koolstops that come stock on the fly's are eagle 1 brake pads which are shit and to make it worse its the black compund. try get eagle claw 2's or thinlines in either salmon or red that should fix your prob. as for the rim i woudl just clean it up with water and try out a new set of pads and try putting a little less tension on your calipers or more if they arnt springing.
 
monkeymagic

monkeymagic

Likes Bikes and Dirt
chrome rim for sure.......
ody evolver on mine, with stock pads and my ody chrome rim. even when its dirty i can still abubaca. try fiddling with spring tension, and cable tension and stuff on your brakes till you can find some settings that agree with you.
also. if your not the strongest of people your gonna have trouble braking anyways. just ride lots, and tinker... youll figure out what works.

apart from tinkering, before i got my chromey, it was all about coke.. sure it squeals, but damn it grips good.
 
Caine

Caine

Likes Dirt
learn to set up breaks?

Mabby you just fucked them up when you set them up and now there shit?
 
philfbm

philfbm

Likes Dirt
a few words for ya fellas, i have spent about a year now looking for the best brake pads to use. i tested odysse 1x4's, koolstop thinline, odyssey a-brake pads, koolstop eagle 2's and the list goes on. i found what worked the best though was the salmon compound koolstop eagle 2 pads which i picked up from Greensy Cycles. i rekon they produce the closest result to perfect braking, i can fufanu anything in my way now and i think for $22 you cant go wrong. oh and for the record i run an odyssey trigger lever, odyssey linear slic cable, odyssey evo2's (the shit) and a chrome odyssey hazard lite rim.
Happy braking, Phil
 
ironhorse_sunday

ironhorse_sunday

Likes Bikes
kool stop make a bmx specific brake pad and they work about 50 times better than the normal koolstops that come wid the fly brakes
 
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