|   Hey MCMs! Booster info please! | Bear
Sep 23, 2001 4:00 AM | | Hi all,
Just bought a Kona Roast 02 and immediately replaced the Hayes cable disks for magura HS33. Finished setting them up minutes ago (gee, getting faster at this everytime! ;o) ). I do quite alot of urban riding, trials, and need tuff, easily "lockable" brakes. Going to upgrade my mags this week with red pads and the steel braided magura lines (mainly because they don't breakor rip off? do these also give an increase in power?). Would like to upgrade to a better booster also, looking at the carbon woodman one or maybe the alu CNC magura one. Which one would you recommend?
My brakes are stopping really well right now (ie, set up is as close as good as possible, thanks cult page info!) but seatstays are flexing a little so a better booster would really make a difference i think.
Thanks for any info on boosters or braided lines,
Cheers,
Bear |
| damn, had a nice long answer and netscape.... | pedro
Sep 23, 2001 1:50 PM | | ...crashes. but the simple answer is this, save your money. neither of your planed upgrades are actual upgrades. the steel braied line is expensive, sizing becomes an issue....and it's not like the stock plastic stuff is weak (remember cutting it for the first time?) the ionic boosters provide the least amount of "boosting" they cause your brakes to feel almost as mushy as no booster at all. sooooo take this $100-150 i just saved you and take your significant other out for dinner, or donate it to the diabetes Assc. (or another charity), or heck get youraself a nice shiney king headset.
this is just my opinion of course, i havn't tried the full on stainless hose, just the cross over. and have never tried the woodman booster, but have tried the liken carbon, the ionic, both moonlighters, the stock steel, and the kule units. so i have had some experience, just not EXACTLY what you are planning. also remember that the stainless hose kit will chew through your paint faster then DOT 5 (hehehe, long live mineral oil!)......
also, who the heck am i to tell you how to spend your money, by almeans do up these things, just don't do so on the concept of upgrading the feel, all they will do is make them look cooler.....as long as you know that's the reason for the upgrade, by all means go for it (i'm the guy that got king hubs because they matched my maguras....)
cheers! |
| re: Hey MCMs! Booster info please! | CoyoteBoy MCM756
Sep 23, 2001 5:38 PM | | Now this is a booster you'l notice a difference with :) |
| wow! more | Bear
Sep 24, 2001 10:35 AM | | hi,
wow thats pretty impressive! made it yourself right? any dimensions i could use any close ups? how thick? what material?
thanks,
Bear |
| wow! more | CoyoteBoy MCM756
Sep 25, 2001 3:39 PM | | drop me an email for details
j.buckle@btinternet.com |
| I don't agree with Peds over there... | CODMAN
Sep 24, 2001 4:54 AM | | Sorry Pedrow, but my personal experience says other wise about the boosters. I bought the AL boosters made by Magura (they are the lightest of the bunch by the way... 27g Hmmm.... maybe the woodman are lighter, not quite sure) and it did increase braking performance! They are a bit stiffer, but I don't think that's what increased performance. The hole in the AL booster that slips over the evo-adapter bolt is machined to a much tighter standard. Mine fits very tightly over the bolt! My steel booster didn't quite; it had about 0.25 mm play in it! By buying an AL booster, I removed this play and increased the power of my brakes considerably!
Check yours out for this and if there is any play, change for the AL!
As far as the braided lines are concerned, I think Peds is right! Unless you do lots of trials!!
Luego!
CODMAN MCM#101 |
| Boosters and steel line | Wolfman
Sep 24, 2001 5:20 AM | | I agree, almost any booster will do as long as you can reduce the amount of play needed to engage the thing. I have had the best brake performance when I put a normal booster on, without being able to quick release.
The carbon ones probably are not worth the money. They won't give better performance, are not really lighter and you can't modify them to fit as easily as a metal one.
As far as the braided cable, I have run mine for one season and love it. I had a couple of pull outs with the old style line and none with this one (Maybe due to my installation ineptitude with the old line). The only draw back is that it does scratch the hell out of your paint. I just took a piece of clear hose (like you use for fish tanks), sliced it lengthwise and slipped it over the steel.
TTYL,
Wolfman |
| i agree that yes, the tightness of the hole matters... | peds
Sep 24, 2001 10:48 AM | | (hehehehe, pun sorta intended)....however, like i said, the magura/ionic aluminum is by far the least stiff that i have tried, granted that providing it fits on some bolt heads tighter, others, just as sloppy (i forget the tolerance difference, but it's a couple thou....). and i stand by that it's not as stiff as the stock steel one (all things being equal). however i still also stand by my grand pecking order of the boosters i've tried (firmest to mushiest lever feel):
moonlighter Ti XC
moonlighter Ti FR
kule AL
stock steel
liken made carbon fiber
ionic Al
again, this is my opinion and going by lever mushyness is HIGHLY subjective..... i've also swaped out the boosters with my kule levers (these things are powerful!!!) and my ranking sticks, even though the kule hole is a weee bit larger then the bolt head, it still provides a firmer feel then those others.
as for the weight issue, someone considering the braided lines on a kona chute i don't think is too concerned over the 20g's to be saved going to the ionics.....
he was interested most in improving his braking performance and feel. so again i stick to my original post, if his boosters have slop at the hole then a small beer can shim will do the exact same thing, and you'll still have a stiffer booster then the ionic.
heck if he wanted to improve braking (he does have a disc front hub) i'd put that $100 towards an avid disc.........
cheers! |
| Good points Pedraugh... | CODMAN
Sep 24, 2001 11:22 AM | | and you've obviously tested more boosters than I have! But to be honnest (and this is by lever feel also, so take it with a grain of salt!), I got the impression that the Al boosters were stiffer than the steel. And I'm comparing to my old HS-22 boosters the didn't use a quick release as well as my current HS-33s!
Ah, but that just my impression and no where near a scientific measurement of stiffness! You're right about the rest: weight isn't that important!
Luego!
CODMAN MCM#101 |
| Beer can shim... | Wolfman
Sep 25, 2001 5:36 AM | | I never even thought of that, and have never seen the suggestion before!!! I have been living with slop in my new brake booster all season. Maybe a candidate for submission to the MCM pages?
Good Post,
Wolfman mcm 9.871 |
| My $.02 | Pat T.®
Sep 24, 2001 8:50 PM | | About the only thing I have found to give any significant performance increase has been the red pads. Boosters, very slight difference, never tried the line because according to those in the know the line does not swell (well not enough to lose any braking performance). That and they were too expensive for what you got. As far as the booster goes I set all of mine so that there is no play, one trick I do is take a set of Quick Grips and squeeze the cylinders slightly. Then set the booster, once the clamp is released you have a tight fit for the booster. I also make sure my pads are set really close to the rim, closer than what most people would probably run them. I even ran two Q/R's on the rear and it was still quite stiff.....I'm also 230lbs, so I need good brakes.
Pat T.® MCM #69, MSPS #003 |
| thanks for the info (more) | Bear
Sep 24, 2001 9:16 PM | | Actually i've already owned maguras before (sold them, still can't believe i did!) and was constantly ripping off lines, so i'll go for sure for the braided lines.
I heard the red pads (as pat t said) were quite an improvment so it seems like a good purchase
for the woodman boosters i can get them at a very good price and they have an extremely tight fit (actually you even have to sand them a little so the bolt can fit) so they should be perfect!
THanks again all,
Bear |
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