The thing with V-brakes is, not neccesarily a bad thing, it's just that they can be a bit on and off. A decent set of XTR's may well stop you like you rode into the back of a bus, but who really wants to drive into the back of a bus? Most of the time you don't want clouds of tyre smoke and an 86 degree endo, just a nice smooth stop. This calls for some modulation, disc stylee!
I don't have the bank balance to shell out for the forks, wheel and brake set-up discs call for, so I tried the other route, Hydraulic rim brakes. Initially I was told that I could put a single Magura HS33 on the front for £80 or so, but a swift look around convinced me that a set of Magura HS12's at £70 the pair was a much better deal. I could have spent twice as much on a special edition set of HS33's, but other work needed doing at the same time, and I needed to buy some shifters at the same time to be able to use the new brakes.
The brakes come largely assembled, all they need is the cables trimming to size and bleeding. I paid the shop to do this as I am not exactly a bike techie (yet), but they assured me it wasn't that difficult. I can vouch for that now as I rebuilt the system yesterday and it really didn't take that long. The only mod you need to make to your bike is to the right hand brake mounts, which need to have the supplied quick release bolts fitted instead of the standard ones. Other than that, it's just a bolt together system, requiring allen keys in 2mm, 4mm and 6mm sizes. The cable that goes along the bottom of the top tube is a little scruffy looking, but Magura do a handy dandy set of brackets to tidy this up for about a fiver, something else on the 'to-buy' pile for now.
Setting up the brakes for some shove tends to be the tricky part, properly bled and installed, they are fine, you can pull up hard, smooth or anywhere at all in the middle. Just don't try pulling an endo, because you can't. Time to tinker. out with the Allen keys again and to the two tuning bolts on each brake lever, one of them adjusts the block position, the other is something to do with the master cylinder. About an hour (yes, an hour for 4 allen bolts) of playing and I have them setup pretty mean and can lock both wheels for some scary fishtailing if I so choose.
Durability, well, construction wise these things are as tough as old boots. Put together pretty damn solid, the cables feel sturdy, the levers are reassuringly rattle and vibration free, and the brakes are tight and tough. What about the blocks you ask? Well, those are a bit of a different story. If you use the hard blocks that come as standard, they don't stop you up awfully hard for awfully long, regular tweaking is in need to obtain maximum grunt. Soft blocks are probably the better option here; they don't last long (2 months hard riding, as opposed to my not yet worn out 4 month old hard blocks) but stop you dead.
In summary then, would I recommend them? I gave them a good review, but I wouldn't recommend them. For starters the £70 cost isn't enough. No. You need an extra £20 for the boosters to give them something that could be described as power, the standard retaining system just moves out of the way. You also need to budget for regular block changes if you ride on the sporty side, unless you can put up with the finger ache you'll get from pulling so hard on the standard blocks. Honestly, if you can afford it, go for the single HS33 with is more powerful and comes in cool colours (the booster is included too). You can keep your V on the back for now, as won't need to use it. If you can't afford it, theres nothing wrong at all with the HS12's (or the very similar HS11 system). They are particularly well suited to road use, as they are smooth and can take some punishment for when the taxi drivers knock you off. I'm swapping the front one out for a Formula disc set-up as soon as I can, but for now, I have my HS12's tweaked up to the eyeballs, and can pull some pretty hairy endos.
Last Updated 01-08-2001
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