New Brake Time

[Rob_P]

Yo,

Basically I'm in serious need of a new back brake. I've had the same magura since I started trials, the tpa has broken numerous times and one slave has stopped returning, i'm forever setting up the pads as whenever I set it up, pull the brake a bit hard and the pads have moved in again. Constant Nightmare.

So as I ride an Ashton and ride street all the time, i'm thinking a vee brake may be a better option.

Been talking to Ali C about this and he highly reccomends it, as does bigman who is also a magura to vee convertor.

So as I can't find a new '04 maggy anywhere and I cannot stand the new style ones, I may get this:

Avid 7 arms and lever £40

Heatsink backings with joypads - £20

Odyssey Linear Slic Kable - £6

Heatsink v brake adaptors - £29

Total = £95 ouch

I do like the feel of a V brake and the fact you can just replace the pads easily, easy set up and that, no bleeding or tpas to break.

This is all sounding pretty good to me but is there anyone out there whos made the same choice?

Is £95 for one brake going to be worth it, i need it to work well and even better that it'll be near silent.

I don't want to spend all that and be dispointed so thought it was worth this (long) topic.

Thanks a lot fellow TFers

[GTF]

I think they are worth it, but Ali C is the man to ask there.

Go for some Ultimate levers and arms Cant go wrong with that

[Todge]

I "had" always been a magura person. When I got my 24 it came with a vee setup, avid ultimate all round, and thought I may as well give it a chance to see how good it is. Since that day, my rear brake has been absolutly faultless. So nice to set it up and have minimal maintenance. Has always been silent, great power, doesnt flex the frame, never slips, absolutly awesome. Pad life has also been rather impressive. My red heatsinks have worn down about 2mm in over a year, with 6 months of that on a grind. Cant beat it!

Id advise to change to rear vee

[CurtisRider]

i know i bum v brakes, but theres a jolly good reason: they rule

that 95quid is nothing once you get it, its such a good investment (simplicity, ease of repair, ease of setup, cheap to fix, blah blah), and remember, a magura+pads+4 bolt mounts(if not included)+a booster aint cheap....work that out

anywho, sd7s, as good as they are, arent any better than a deore really, so i would recomend gettin a deore (cheaper you see) and a xtr/sd7 lever(personal preference but i prefer xtr, then ultimates)

however, having a silent brake may just be pot luck...i usually have a pretty silent brake, the odd squeak but nothing more, but the noise is usually because of vibrations, and seeing as more basic v brakes have bushings, they tend to wobble a little, causing vibrations=noise, same with maguras and pad wobble really

thats where avid ultimate arms absoloutely rock, as theres nay play in them so they tend to be much more silent in my experience

[Rob_P]

Sounding good, sounding good

Yeah your right, compared to a maggy that isn't a great deal I suppose.

Ultimates do sound very good, but at £54.99 a crack i'm not feeling that. It's something I can upgrade to later on I suppose.

Yes again I do love the xtr levers, i've got one on the front for the avid, so I suppose it's only the law to get matching?

Cheers guys, any more help would be grand

[CurtisRider]

Yeah your right, compared to a maggy that isn't a great deal I suppose.

Ultimates do sound very good, but at £54.99 a crack i'm not feeling that. It's something I can upgrade to later on I suppose.

Yes again I do love the xtr levers, i've got one on the front for the avid, so I suppose it's only the law to get matching?

exactamundo, you probably wont even need a booster either

get an ultimate if you can, i really would recomend it, they are nuts and if you get a deore now, i can show you how to make nice 'not-so-easily-broken' ultimate internals with the old deore (its happened once out of the 6 ultimates ive had, the tension pin snapped, so i made new steel internals)

and yes, get an xtr lever to match, your bikes damn pimp, be a shame not to keep it that way

[26inch]

Xt calipers and levers are both pretty good, if you cant afford an ultimate a shimano with parallel linkages is the way to go, also as the pads are always flat against the rim vibration is reduced thus the brake is quieter. With tha cable unless your planning to do barspins/ whips i wouldnt get a linear cable as they are more likely to break than a normal cable, id go for a good normal cable

[Mat Smith!]

Try looking on Ebay for cheaper parts, Ali C's vee is really REALLY good, I'd have one, but I'm affraid it wouldn't be as good.

Takes alot to get the same amount of power out of a vee than does magura.

Mat

[Brian Bleech]

Xt calipers and levers are both pretty good, if you cant afford an ultimate a shimano with parallel linkages is the way to go, also as the pads are always flat against the rim vibration is reduced thus the brake is quieter. With tha cable unless your planning to do barspins/ whips i wouldnt get a linear cable as they are more likely to break than a normal cable, id go for a good normal cable

nope, i would stay well away from parrallel push vee on a trials bike (or street too), the linkages go very wobbly and make the brake feel horrid.

dewhore arms are fine and just as good as sd7s really. Ultimates are amazing.

Wiggle are doing a pair of sd7 levers for £20 at the mo, so you could still have matching levers

Even deore levers are decent

http://www.pijin.co.uk for cables as its free postage

Try looking on Ebay for cheaper parts, Ali C's vee is really REALLY good, I'd have one, but I'm affraid it wouldn't be as good.

Takes alot to get the same amount of power out of a vee than does magura.

Mat

LIES!!!!

I am not having a go but it really doesn't. Good pads and a grind will give as much (if not more) power as a maggie, with the same pads and grind.

[Joe Papasnap Maher]

right...im gonna sway the other way

i had maguras..then got an avid ultimate.

Seriosly was the best thing sliced sliced bread, cant really fault it...then it broke...and i got another magura.

I wont be changing back to v's anytime soon i can assure you of that.

Rob to honest...all them problems youve mentioned...are pretty minor..could all be sorted with abit of tlc.

Stop being a girl and keep the magura

[Houseface]

i have felt a few good vees on trials bikes but prefer maggies myself.

only bad point with what you have there is the odyssey slic cable. on my bmx they kept streching and last me only about 3 months each time. now i have a wethepeople cable which hasnt streched much at all. im on my second wtp cable in 1 and a half years unlike odyssey.

but yeah back to main point, you might aswell try it, just set the up nice.

steve.

p.s: wtp cable cost 8 quid on winstanleys bmx if you search on google or find it anywhere else but its best cable imo.

[scott-mad]

seems to be loads of these threads around recently! about 8ish months a go i got sick of my magura, id spent a shit load on it and it still wasnt performing how i wanted so i swapped it for a cracked xtr lever heatsink v brakes pads and ultimate arms, i lost out big time realy. I also bought an ultimate lever. once i put it all on it was amazing and i didnt care about what id lost swapping my pimp maura. i wasnt even bother when my v-brake mount frame cracked and i had to buy the heatsink adapters for my new frame!

V-brakes do rock!

[Vasil]

Been talking to Ali C about this and he highly reccomends it, as does bigman who is also a magura to vee convertor.

He is fan of Ashton and vees...

Anyway vees are good if setted up properly.Maguras are good too, much better with 4 bolt.I have 2 bolt but with a good booster it's awesome.Some vees are awesome too but you have to choose the best ones.i saw vees working better them my magura.Depends on the person who set up and in case of magur much on the fact if it's 2 or 4 bolt frame and what oil u use.

[Alex.loves.boys]

Get the vee

bigmans rocks!

holds soo well.

[Rob_P]

Ok thanks for all the replys.

Joe- Your right, last night before I went riding I took all my magura off, cleaned it up, filed the pads blah blah blah and it worked really well all night, BUT it's only a matter of time before it fecks up again.

In all fairness the same magura has lasted me a good 2/3 years so I think it's time for a change. I do like change

So I've ordered the xtr lever and avid ultimate arms from a local bikeshop who are price matching, now gonna order the adaptors and metal backings. They also have in stock the oddasey liner slick cable I've seen on alansbmx.com in red (tart) and it feels super stiff!

I'll let you all know how it goes and post pics when it's up

[Thom]

Almost the same setup as me except for I have ultimate levers and I have V mounts on my frame. You'll love your new brakes.

[Jez]

I "had" always been a magura person. When I got my 24 it came with a vee setup, avid ultimate all round, and thought I may as well give it a chance to see how good it is. Since that day, my rear brake has been absolutly faultless. So nice to set it up and have minimal maintenance. Has always been silent, great power, doesnt flex the frame, never slips, absolutly awesome. Pad life has also been rather impressive. My red heatsinks have worn down about 2mm in over a year, with 6 months of that on a grind. Cant beat it!

Id advise to change to rear vee

My sentiments exactly.

I've had many maggies AND vees over the years, and keep coming back to V's. Less to worry about, and IMO just as powerful if not moreso as long as you take the time to set em up right first time around.

Take with a pinch of salt any advice from anyone who tells you that V's are crap, but don't have a bike with a set of V's on. Likely they've either a) never ridden a set or have only ridden a badly setup V.

Heatsink reds on a smooth rim unless you ride in the wet I'm still on the same set I was a year ago with barely noticeable wear (smooth rim though).

Oh and if you get SD7 arms, make sure you get two sets of FRONT cantis only, the rear ones flex a bit and for some reason don't spring back as well.

EDIT: and on the subject of cables, XT are more than good enough. Had a set on for a year, no noticeable stretch, no signs of fraying or anything else horrible. Just make sure your noodle isn't bent or buggered in any way and has plenty of grease in.

Edited December 29, 2006 by Jez

[Rob_P]

Ok guys bit of a bump but check check one two:

SomE1s Neickd uRz Sea8ts Mateszz

Works pretty mint so far, only tried it with the standard avid pads on which are naff, but it does feel really nice! My Joy rubber came today (thanks Ali) so i'll be trying that over the next few days and report back!

[chrishayton]

booster?

btw your bike is beautiful

[Rob_P]

Na don't think i'll need a booster, and thanks

Does look/ride extremly nice! Absolutly how I want it too.

Can't wait to try these pads, feels like Vee has a lot of modulation but still locks enough to hold. We'll see...

[future orange 660]

personally i think the pads have more to do with it. a few years ago nobody used vees (on the rear) now we have sooo many pads available it makes them a decent option. even a deore with heatsink pads was mint and what..50quid max for total set up?

[[INH]Serg_rus]

I don't think I'd ever use V instead of magura. I have no problems with it. Slaves don't return -- use silicone spray, it washes out the dirt and lubricates the surfaces. It also makes the rubber parts live longer.

[Janson]

don't you vee guys find it annoying that the pads always wear at an angle with a vee brake? the way they work (except the parallell push?) makes the pad wear angled as soon as it starts wearing. or is this not a problem?

i ran vee almost 3 years ago (shit, long time ago) with some adapters i made (and let heatsink replica ) but i didnt like it so much, too little grabbiness for my taste.

[Bigman]

Looking awsome there Rob, you best report back soon, i want to know what you think, i know that i will be sticking with the vee for a while yet

Oh, and Janson, it doesn't bother me to much realy, brake works well so i do not touch it......

Adam

[Brian Bleech]

don't you vee guys find it annoying that the pads always wear at an angle with a vee brake? the way they work (except the parallell push?) makes the pad wear angled as soon as it starts wearing. or is this not a problem?

i ran vee almost 3 years ago (shit, long time ago) with some adapters i made (and let heatsink replica ) but i didnt like it so much, too little grabbiness for my taste.

my heatsink reds used to wear at a (slight) angle, but my koxx browns have been fine! I found my vee to be just as grabby as my mates magura, depends on pad/grind/rim set up really.