Mechanical disc brakes

Mechanical discs are often thought of as a halfway-house between V-brakes and hydraulic discs. They’re not as powerful as hydraulic brakes, but they’re much cheaper. The simplicity of cables may also be appealing, though hydraulics aren’t any more complicated to maintain.

The advantages of not using the rim as the braking surface apply equally to mechanical and hydraulic discs, though hydraulics escape the drag issues that affect V-brakes and mechanical discs equally once the cables start to get wet and dirty. Since mechanical disc callipers all work in slightly different ways, there isn’t space here to show you how to strip and service each and every one but the general method is the same. Refer to your neatly filed manual for full instructions. There are two designs of mechanical disc brake. The first, and most common, consists of one moving and one stationary pad. The moving pad, mounted on a piston mechanism, pushes against the rotor when the brake lever is operated at the bar. This bends the rotor slightly so…

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