I never really liked my Juicy 5's. I think there was something wrong with the front from day 1. It was always a pain in the butt to set up, whereas the rear always went easy. Ironically, the rear's lever has been broken since about the second week I owned them, and still works fine with the temporary rubber band repair I made to them. The straw that broke the camel's back was when I was trying to un-freeze the front's pistons and blew fluid past the seal shooting one of the pistons out of the caliper. The other piston still ain't moving.
So anywho...I swapped the brakes, and somehow the bike looks "cleaner". Maybe it's my cable routing, or the simpler levers, but it seems somewhat Spartan.
I like that.
But I did have to go and swap the rotors for these crazy Gusset ripsaw looking things to offset the weight of the mechanicals.
I hope they don't suck, but if they do, I'll happily take the extra 2 ounces and go back to the centerlocks, and the reliability they provided.
I'm quickly relearning the lesson I learned last year; reliability trumps light weight seven ways to Sunday.
before
after
Other than better exposure, does it look any different to you?
4 comments:
Did you ride the Juicy's on salted roads at all? Hydro disk brakes and road salt do no play nice with each other at all. I ride only one MTB all winter, my Jamis Durango for which I paid $69 for the frame. I have cheap Hayes hydro brakes on there, and it is a given every fall when I get it ready for another winter of riding I have to rebuild the calipers. The pistons are frozen in the aluminum housings rock solid. In fact, I have to chissel out the pistons in pieces, which are made out of a phenolic like material. Real PIA. Piston kit with new gaskets costs under $20, so cheap repair. The hydro stoppers are still worth it. They seize up because salt attacks the aluminum around the very tight clearance to piston. The corrosion gums up the works. I have to scrape out the corrosion before putting new pistons in.
Actually our town switched to the non-salt alternative a couple of years ago, but most of my time is in the woods anyways. Still, I would guess the front gets the brunt of it being up front and all.
I actually like the bb7's better; more pad clearance, feel at the lever, more than enough power for me (I was fine with v-brakes), and ease of set up.
I was this close to swapping to XT hydros though, but decided to stay consistent with my other bike so I only would need to buy one type of pad.
What's next? Dirt Drop Bars? ;)
I prefer the mechanical brakes too. I have a pair of Avid hydrolic brakes, but the BB 7's are so easy to tune and maintain. Wheel changes are very easy with the mechanical brakes.
I have similiar rotors (Alligator from Price Point). They are light and I find that braking is improved because the holes in the rotor "scrub" the pads clean, much better than the standard heavy rotor that comes with the BB-7 brakes.
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