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Afternoon all,
I have just acquired a new Genesis Flyer (Single speed) for my weekly Commuting duties.
Whilst I love the single speed life, the brakes which are Promax DSK-300 Cable disc's
are just terrible. My other bikes are all hydraulic so I may be harsh however....
after 250 miles of bedding in, they remain noisy and jerky. I have cleaned the discs
with a proper disc cleaner, re-seated pads and also tried adjusting.
Any other ideas welcome.
Can anyone recommend a good replacement pad for these brakes or should I visit
ebay for a cheap set of Hydraulic brakes?
Cheers
Usually folks will say get compressionless cables, but in my exp pro max brakes are so bad that they are beyond saving
Chinese Ali express cable operated hydros were noticeably better (and just as good as the trp version), but still miles behind a full hydro setup
Avid BB7 Road calipers are excellent ime. Use a non-compress housing and good rotors, take a bit of care positioning them and they're very close to a hydro in modulation and general power, with hydros only really having the advantage in a smoother lever feel and power at the extreme end of braking.
TRP Spyres can be good but are a bit more fussy on set up and more adjustment-needy.
Yeah, compressionless outer is a must for cable disks. But you can pick up a set of Deore 410s for £60 at CRC...
I had some Tektro cable discs which were terrible, replaced with a set of Zoom/X-Tech Chinese cable operated hydraulic calipers. They were only cheap but they are miles better than the cable discs.
I got a set of THESE CLARKS ONES for my daughter's bike to replace some rubbish cable ones that needed no end of asjustment and were still useless.
They're already set up in the box (might want to bleed them if the mood takes you) so really simple to fit assuming there's no silly/internal cable runs. Night and day difference to the cable ones and if it's urban singlespeed riding then they'll be plenty.
The Clarks ones are truly a thing of joy and beauty for the price - I got some for my son's bike to replace his terrible cable discs. Just the job for his flat barred MTB but no good for your curly barred Flyer.
Avid BB7, Shimano or Hayes CX are all good mechanical calipers that do actually work, espescially with compressionless cables.
I've used this set from Wiggle a few times and its been great. https://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-performance-brake-cable-set-shimanosram-road
Another vote for the Zoom X-tech calipers here.
cheers Chaps for the replies, I will investigate these options
hmm, noise and grabbyness is less to be the caliper itself, and more likely to be alignment. If its a cheapy frame have you checked that the disk-brake mount is faced correctly relative to the wheel?
I swapped my BB7s for a pair of those Clarks hydro , night and day , excellent 👍
I’ve used deore cable (really good) hayes cx (really good) and BB7s (not as good as either of the others)
Compressionless cables and careful setup goes without saying tbh.
Cheap deore hydros would be a vast improvement though, definitely consider that option.
Wife's genisis has these promax on.
While they ain't going to set the world on fire they are reasonable enough brakes once set up right there's nothing fundimentally wrong with them once you accept they ain't rx4 m4s....
Just had a quick look at the Promax DSK-300 spec - they use BB5 pads and from what I remember the big difference between BB5s and BB7s was the pad size/shape, BB7s were larger and more effective. BB7s were more easily adjustable too but that didn't account for the difference in brake effectiveness.
Bb5 only adjustable on one side and a bit shit.
Bb7 both sides of the caliper are adjustable and really good.
At least bitd about 15 years ago
My Genesis CDF has TRP Spyres on it. I’m really, really impressed how good they are. I’m asking them to do a LOT of work, 160mm discs and I’m a fat biffer.
I’m a Hope Fanboi and have used Hopes exclusively for the last 15 years. The Spyres are at least as good as Hope Mono Minis in my opinion.
I've changed to Juin Tech hybrids (unable to go full hydraulic with cable shifters). They are much better than "pure" cable brakes, but if you can go hydraulic do it.
Cable discs can't compete against hydraulic.
IME, even low-end cable discs can work pretty well if you have decent levers, cables, and keep them adjusted properly (i.e. pretty much before every ride). Larger rotors and sintered pads will probably make a big difference too, stock pads are usually designed to be quiet, not to be powerful.
Just putting some cheap hydros on will be a better long-term solution though. I wouldn't waste money trying to improve cheap cable brakes.
On my/my fiancee's bikes I've variously got Juin Tech F1s, Avid BB7 roads, and TRP Spyre SLCs. All with Kevlar pads and nice neat full-length cabling (but not compressionless - I prefer the flexibility of Shimano brake outer).
They work great. Only caveat on any of the above is the cable pinch bolt on TRP Spyre SLCs is stupid, the one on standard TRP Spyres is much better.
Mind you she weighs 48kg and I weigh 65kg 😀
But you can pick up a set of Deore 410s for £60 at CRC…
for some reason if assumed the op’s bike had drop bars. If it’s flat bar, then no question those deore will be far better than any cable disk combo
It has. My comment was more of a generic "value" thing. Maybe I should have made it clearer though.
keep them adjusted properly (i.e. pretty much before every ride).
Maybe on a mountain bike in muddy conditions, but on a commuter/road bike it's easy to do 1,000 miles without a need for adjusting (I guess I don't ride down many big hills)