Originally Posted by
sw20
I had hydraulic disc brakes on my hybrid, loved them at first, then hated them! Constant rubbing and sqeaking and adjusting. Bought a road bike with rim brakes prefer the rim brakes, haven't got the regulation of the discs but for me they are easier to maintain.
Just my opinion.
You custom the gap with fluid quantity piston-to-piston, using the bleed nipple.
My front brake has little gap and clamps very early, and yes, this means it's tricky to keep it from touching, but thats how i like it (and the floating 203 disc stays very straight).
The rear, however, is another story. The pads have huge gap. They never bind. The lever is halfway before the pads even touch the disc. I did this because i have electric regeneration at the first few degrees of lever travel, and i don't wanna bind the brake whilst charging the battery...
Setting pad clearance up is simple. You start with the levers adjusted fully in, close to the handlegrips. This brings the lever pistons right back.
Then fill by syringe from the caliper, until it bleeds out at the lever.
Now you can adjust your levers out.
Here your brakes are done but you have no travel. New pads will be binding the discs. So now you want to custom your travel.
Release the nipple, wrapped in tissue or with a pipe attached, and very slowly squeeze the lever until its where you want your biting point to be. Then nip up the nipple whilst at that point.
There is no reason to have binding hydraulic discs unless you have a very bent disc.