Cheaped out on disc brakes and now my hands hate me

Been piecing together a winter commuter bike for the last few weeks and hit a dead stop on the brakes. I had a set of older mechanical disc calipers sitting in a parts bin, but the local shop in Portland quoted me $180 to install a full hydraulic setup with new levers. I went with the cheap route because my budget was already blown on fenders and studded tires, and honestly I regret it a little. The mechanicals work fine on dry days, but after two mornings of wet slush they need constant cable tension tweaks and the lever pull feels like squeezing a stress ball. A buddy told me "you get what you pay for" when I showed him the install, and now I'm wondering if I should just bite the bullet and swap before winter really hits. Has anyone else run mechanical discs through a full wet season and actually gotten them to stay consistent, or am I just fighting a losing battle?

1 comments

1 Comment

hannah24011h ago

Cable tension drifting on mechanical discs in wet slush is usually more about the cable housings than the calipers themselves. If you didn't use compressionless housing, water gets in and makes everything stretch and feel spongy. That $180 quote probably included new levers and full housing, which fixes most of the gripes you're describing. Before you drop cash on a whole hydraulic swap, try replacing just the inner cables and housings with good compressionless stuff, it's like $30 and an hour of work. Also, make sure your calipers have the little pad adjuster knob, some cheaper ones don't and that's where the constant tweaking comes from. Wet weather is hard on everything, but a simple housing swap might save you from that full system upgrade.