I'm building a couple ebikes - first time. Anyway, they both have entry level single piston mechanical disk brakes. They'll both be Tongsheng TDSZ8 motors and 26" MTB frames. Ones for my son who only weights ~105lb, but I come in at a hefty 215lb and my frame is a large Montague Paratrooper Pro - not the lightest bike. Should I look into upgrading to hydraulics for me or both of us? My job often sends me to mountain towns all over Colorado for a month at time and plan to use the bike as my mode of transport while I'm there. No mountain biking, just hitting the trails. We also live in a hilly part of town. The main role of the bikes will be commuters and occasional trails.
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Brakes
- Thread starter Jimi7
- Start date
Can you test out how the current brakes perform for you before you rush out to buy upgrades that you might not need?
Doesn't sound that demanding.
Good advice. I'll go that route.
Hydraulics are mostly for feel and come with extra maintenance down the line.
180mm rotors and a nice disc brake ( Avid BB7 is calling ) and you're good at that weight unless you're going up/down mountains or decelerating from >30mph often.
180mm rotors and a nice disc brake ( Avid BB7 is calling ) and you're good at that weight unless you're going up/down mountains or decelerating from >30mph often.
I'll need to see how I often I even get up to ~25mph commuting. I was considering the Avid BB7 too. There are a ton of nice brake options out there.
That dual sided adjustment on the bb7 is great because disc brakes tend to get out of alignment for one reason or another.
Stopping power/heat capacity on 180mm discs is more than good enough for 25mph and mildly hilly terrain.
Stopping power/heat capacity on 180mm discs is more than good enough for 25mph and mildly hilly terrain.
OlderGiantFan
🚴♂️ Mega poster
I went from riding older MTBs with rim brakes over to full hydraulic brakes so I have no experience with the cable versions But I would expect they are a lot more efficient than rim brakes ever were. I wouldn't be unduly concerned.
Fitting bigger disks (200mm or even 220mm) will increase braking performance regardless of the calipers and pads used.
I would also recommend thicker 2.3 mm rotors for reliability and longevity.
I am very happy withe these:
Aliexpress disks
Avner.
I would also recommend thicker 2.3 mm rotors for reliability and longevity.
I am very happy withe these:
Aliexpress disks
Avner.
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I used the BB7s for a few thousand miles with 203mm rotors front and back. They stopped great, but I had regen at the time, so I never changed pads the whole time I used them. I switched to some cheap 4 piston hydraulics that had a decent review on YouTube. No regen, and because I live on pretty steep hills, I was changing pads every few months. The brakes with the big rotors are a strong combo, but on long steep descents, I can feel them fading a little near the bottom, but still have good stopping power.
These cheapos are close to the same price as the bb7’s, but great for one or two finger breaking.
LeoSuperMoin
🔌 New-ish
I had a a bunch of tektro disc brakes and hydraulic Shimano ones but for my daily I found the zoom db680 (dual piston mechanical) with some sintered pads are the way to go for stopping power. The y don't have modulation and precise feel of the hydraulics but they have insanely strong braking power. Also I am using 2,3mm thick 180mm rotors helps with the heat.
I only run TSDZ2(B)s mildly tuned and have standardized on 180mm fronts and 160mm rears using a good quality hydraulics brakes, Shimano, Clarks or Sram along with IIIPRO Bicycle Brake Rotor with Floating Discs for no reason just they look good. The next question is what is the maximum disc / rotor size you can fit in your forks without them folding up on you. Most forks are around 180mm, I now tend to use Rockshox 35 Silver air forks, pick them up cheap, rated for e-bikes, cheap to modify and will take 180mm to 220mm discs / rotors and have a tapered steerer which suit the frames I currently use as they have taper head-stocks.
Built a bike years back for a friend using a folding frame with a 36V 250 watt rear hub motor and a 36V 10Ah mini bottle battery which was small enough to mount on the existing bottle mount, Are you going to use a rack mount battery on the folding frame. Built a few bikes with rear hub drives but have settled on TSDZ2(B)s may try the TSDZ8 in the future. I have gone for lightweight full suspension e-bikes with a built weight of 40lbs, I get a range of 30 miles which suits my needs..
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That looks like an old Montague frame. I'm going to hang the battery from top tube. Hopefully I'll finish up this weekend. Decided to go with the Bucklos IIIPro IV4. The existing ProMax brakes felt a little mushy without the extra weight and speed of an ebike system. Then while pulling the ProMax brakes, found they didn't use compressionless housing for the brake cable. I guess I could have upgraded to the compressionless housings, but at that point I was already committed the IIIPros.
I use a threaded rivet insertion tool and put in threaded M5 rivets positioned to suit the battery mount, like a normal pop rivet tool but takes threaded rivets, but I have made a lot of use of the tool. If the battery is under-slung I put two 20mm / 25mm velco straps around the battery and bottom tube. Just an idea but there are many ways, first two are mine.
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Apartunis
⚡ Regular
I never saw a Promax brake that did not disappoint in one or most ways. Some more than others. However do not mistake hydraulic actuation for "better". It is not. It can feel nicer at the lever when it works (for a while) but it has more ways to fail and it does not stop harder. Hydraulic leaks do not get better when you bleed the system like cable brakes get better when you replace the cable and housing.
I've never had any problems with hydraulic brakes. Got a 12 year old MTB with shimano hydraulic brakes and they were never serviced (just changing the pads). And they stop like no other I had (probably because of larger diameter of the brake disk). I usually ride in mostly flat terrain, but remember one mountain trip where the brakes reached their limits - overheated, ate up all the pads, lost stopping power and i felt they're going to fail any moment. Survived, but in some cases you need even more heavy-duty stuff.
They are a bugger to set up, but quite easy, or it's called perseverance, I use a multi-meter and a old cable the correct connector. Lately I took the lazy way out and use Clarks Sync-2E or HD-M3000 which have the cut-offs built in as they are e-bike specific. I have some NFOX GT267 hydraulic power off brake levers to try out with 3 pin connectors came with brake hose olives and I do not mind bleeding the brake system.
