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Clarks Skeletal Disc Brake


Laurence--Trials

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I got a skeletal disc brake from work which has a broken caliper, and i'm wanting to fix it as a little project or something the brake looks like this for those who don't know:

1301307432684-1tu7ljt8iqua8-399-75.jpg

1281432654663-1art3w2zp41h9-399-75.jpg

So i've got a few questions about it:

1. How do i go about fixing it? The piston is like comming out of its little pot where it sits, thats all thats wrong with it as far as i know.

2. Does anyone know if theres a diagram for the brake kinda like -This hope one-

3. Does anyone know if the brake is crap then could i change the caliper on it to something like a hope etc?

4. Whats the difference between These gold pads and some organic pads for example?

5. Whats this brake like for trials? Anyone tried it?

Any info about the brake atall would be helpful i guess.

Thanks in advance.

Edited by Laurence--Trials
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Push the piston back in, put the pads back in, stick a 2-3mm piece of plastic/cardboard in between, bleed the brake, fit it onto the bike.

The width of the pads + the disc will mean that the piston can not come out of the caliper far enough to pop out :)

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Theyre not amazing for trials.

Know a lad who used one for a fair while. Not contaminated or anything, but lacked bite and hold.

This was up front.

Oh right, what size disc did he run? and what type of pads? sintered organic or gold? Not sure if i should run organic or gold for trials though.

Push the piston back in, put the pads back in, stick a 2-3mm piece of plastic/cardboard in between, bleed the brake, fit it onto the bike.

The width of the pads + the disc will mean that the piston can not come out of the caliper far enough to pop out :)

Oh fair enough then.. Either way it needs a few bits for it.. bar clamp, sure most bar clamps would fit to be fair though, correct? Also need pads and an adapter.

Yeah, but if you look at the ones at the bottom, haha :)

Shhhhh ;)

I'll look in a sec.

Edited by Laurence--Trials
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i`ve got one of these on my jump bike, and i wouldn`t use it for trials due to the fact it has no initial bite, it is made for dh/freeride ie trail braking. resin pads are not very good for thid, and wouldn`t last a day. resin are miles better for trials, due to them being softer. i`m running an avid juicy 7 with organic pads and its awesome now i bedded it in right.

the pads you mention are sintered, not resin/organic, and only really work with a lot of heat in em. see below for the difference. top set are shimano resin ones, bottom are clarkes sintered

IMG_0060.jpg

hope this helps

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From memory, recall him using the gold pads on a 180 disc.

Ahh okay thanks.

i`ve got one of these on my jump bike, and i wouldn`t use it for trials due to the fact it has no initial bite, it is made for dh/freeride ie trail braking. resin pads are not very good for thid, and wouldn`t last a day. resin are miles better for trials, due to them being softer. i`m running an avid juicy 7 with organic pads and its awesome now i bedded it in right.

the pads you mention are sintered, not resin/organic, and only really work with a lot of heat in em. see below for the difference. top set are shimano resin ones, bottom are clarkes sintered

IMG_0060.jpg

hope this helps

Oh right i see, either way its still worth building it up though, thanks for the review :)

Still a bit confused..

So here we have

Goodridge pads which come in sintered and ceramic, i guess if i go for them ones i want ceramic?

Original magura marta pad which come in performance 5.1 and 5.2.. any help atall with these?

and last the Clarks gold pads which only come in gold.. are those the same as sintered then? EDIT: these are sintered, sorry just saw you mentioned that

So out of all the pads when i buy them i want to be getting goodridge caramic pad? Yeah?

I feel like a dumb ass :( thats what the forum is for though i guess...?

Just thought, it probally needs a new piston seal, do those exist? Fluid was comming from around the piston i think? Could i water bleed it just to test it where the leaks in the brake are?

Edited by Laurence--Trials
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not had any experience with goodridge pads, i would imagine that they being ceramic, would be good for very high heat applications ie proper dh, and don`t understand magura product codes as they are usually in german. my suggestion would be to get a shimano brake and get some resins, as it will be better than the clarkes brake. or just cough up and get a hope

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To be honest id just get rid and get soemthing you know will work well. The money you spend on getting decent pads could go towards dare I say it, a hope or a BB7.

What he said. These brakes are lame. I work at Halfords too and I've come across a few.

Edited by weirdoku
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Yeah but the thing is i've bled it with water just to see if theres any leaks etc, i cant find ANY

Disc brakes are f**king awesome to bath bleed, you only have to pull the lever and it does all the bleeding for you unlike a magura :D

I cant decide what to do, i dont want to spend a massive amount of money for it not to work but at the same time i don't want to spend £30 on a new caliper why am i so tight >_<

Edited by Laurence--Trials
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Just thought, it probally needs a new piston seal, do those exist? Fluid was comming from around the piston i think? Could i water bleed it just to test it where the leaks in the brake are?

if you wanted to rebuild the caliper it's highly unlikely you will be able to find parts for it, its a cheap brake, most companies who make budget parts tend not to bother with replacement parts like seals and pistons.. as the price of a complete replacement unit always work's out about the same as buying the parts to rebuild it!

but you may still be able to re-use all the parts on the brake as it stands, if fluid is leaking from around the piston, try taking the pistons out, i normally use a compressor with the air blower attatchment and blow through the fluid port whilst surrounding the caliper with a bit of rag (to stop the pistons flying across the room when they come out) then pop the piston seal out and give the piston and seal a thourough clean, make sure you clean the inside of caliper and dry everything out, then fill the piston seal groove in the caliper with rubber grease and then install the seal (this grease behind the seal helps to push the seal tighter against the piston creating a better seal) wipe away any excess grease and then pop the pistons in and give it a bleed!

my seals went about 3 month's ago, i rebuilt them with grease packed in the seal groove and it hasn't leaked since!! i need to stop being a massive cheapskate though and just buy a tech trial (Y)

Edited by onzamartin
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if you wanted to rebuild the caliper it's highly unlikely you will be able to find parts for it, its a cheap brake, most companies who make budget parts tend not to bother with replacement parts like seals and pistons.. as the price of a complete replacement unit always work's out about the same as buying the parts to rebuild it!

but you may still be able to re-use all the parts on the brake as it stands, if fluid is leaking from around the piston, try taking the pistons out, i normally use a compressor with the air blower attatchment and blow through the fluid port whilst surrounding the caliper with a bit of rag (to stop the pistons flying across the room when they come out) then pop the piston seal out and give the piston and seal a thourough clean, make sure you clean the inside of caliper and dry everything out, then fill the piston seal groove in the caliper with rubber grease and then install the seal (this grease behind the seal helps to push the seal tighter against the piston creating a better seal) wipe away any excess grease and then pop the pistons in and give it a bleed!

my seals went about 3 month's ago, i rebuilt them with grease packed in the seal groove and it hasn't leaked since!! i need to stop being a massive cheapskate though and just buy a tech trial (Y)

Thanks, thats helped alot i'll do that :)

May part with my louise in next couple of weeks.....

Pm me when your ready.

Is that just while you were playing around with it in your hand or actually set up on a bike and tested?

I cant set up and test because i dont have a disc hub, adapter, bar clamp or pads for it at the moment, if i pull the leaver then no fluid comes out etc

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It may not leak now but under pressure when you're pulling the lever it might. Just a note...

Thats true, it'll get a good test when i get the hub.

pm me your adress and i`ll post you the right pads, a 160mm front adaptor and a disk thats a bit secondhand if you want it.

I'll pm you tomorrow, bed time now ;) Appreciate it though mate :D

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you dont need to set it up to test for leaks, just find a spanner, screwdriver or a file or anything you can find that is equivalent to the thickness of a set of pads and a disk and put your chosen object in the caliper in the gap between the pistons and pump the lever out to check the system for leaks, make sure the pistons aren't squeezing the spanner or whatever you find at a funny angle because this can sometime's allow the piston seals to leak because the piston isn't exiting the caliper at the correct angle to allow the seal to work properly!

i always do this after a re-bleed or any work on my brakes to check for leaks, i'd rather do this than setting the brake up and putting the pads in, mounting it on the bike only to find it's leaking and contaminating your pads and disk.

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