Upgrade time........

[EFMAX]

After a few incidents with thieves, decided to use my insurance money to get myself back in the saddle and rebuild my e-mtb with some different parts.. I weigh in about 90Kg and my bike is about 24Kg so stopping power is important to me.. so I have gone with this OTT set-up..

* X-Fusion Metric 180mm Forks
* ICAN 65mm Carbon Rims
* Schwalbe Nobly Nic 2.40 tyres
* Hope Pro 4 Hubs
* Hope M6 & M4 Brakes (with Ceramic & Kevlar Pads)
* Hope 225mm & 205mm rotors
* Hope Tech 4 Levers

 

[Stihldog]

I was gonna suggest at least 220mm rotors for the front, but I see you’ve already done that.

Thankfully I don’t have any experience with thieves …yet.
Nice upgrades.

Is there a valve washer/adapter that fits the profile of your carbon rims? My rims are offset so those were provided.

 

[Paulquattro]

Nice but it looks like the caliper is mounted to far off the disc brake area , From the picture it looks like only half the piston is doing any work if you get what i mean
Too many spacers between the caliper and adapter .

 

[EFMAX]

I was gonna suggest at least 220mm rotors for the front, but I see you’ve already done that.

Thankfully I don’t have any experience with thieves …yet.
Nice upgrades.

Is there a valve washer/adapter that fits the profile of your carbon rims? My rims are offset so those were provided.

No offset.. everything seems to just fit snuggly with no issues..

 

[EFMAX]

Nice but it looks like the caliper is mounted to far off the disc brake area , From the picture it looks like only half the piston is doing any work if you get what i mean
Too many spacers between the caliper and adapter .

It looks like that from the image but I must say that with a bit of fiddling, it just seems to get there (I have checked the scoring on the rotors and the overall coverage area is good) - in reality the bite force from the pads on the rotors is ferocious and the grip is crazy mad...

 

[Stihldog]

Nice but it looks like the caliper is mounted to far off the disc brake area , From the picture it looks like only half the piston is doing any work if you get what i mean
Too many spacers between the caliper and adapter .

Now that you mention it …it does look like too many spacers or the rotor-to-pad alignment is off a little bit.
Could be the camera angle though?

 

[RustyIron]

Adapter orientation?

 

[Stihldog]

Adapter orientation?

Maybe? It would probably work really really good at first …but over time there could be excessive or incorrect wear on both the rotor and pads. Maybe even the piston(s).

But again …the camera angle …difficult to really tell??

 

[Stihldog]

I just replaced my nephews forks with some new-ish rebuilt forks. Had to start removing spacers in order to get the proper alignment for the brakes. Fortunately I had the extra saved bits and got the proper alignment. I also convinced him to increase the front rotor to 203mm. The 180mm is just too small for him now.

 

[John_likes_bikes]

I won't claim to know every brake setup for all forks/calipers but usually the spacers are oriented like this:

 

[Paulquattro]

It looks like that from the image but I must say that with a bit of fiddling, it just seems to get there (I have checked the scoring on the rotors and the overall coverage area is good) - in reality the bite force from the pads on the rotors is ferocious and the grip is crazy mad...

As long as you have checked all is good
Just Didn't want you stuffing your new pads up from the word go
Enjoy

 

[EFMAX]

If you look at the score marks on the rotor, you can see that the pads are biting on the main meat of the metal (the Hope Rotor on this model has an semi-elliptical shape.. This photo angle makes it look like the two small pads are missing the rotor but they are not).. I know the angle looks a bit off and the spacers have been played with to get the best out of the whole set up.. I have used M6 brakes on 225mm rotors before and it is always a fiddle and a half to get it right - but, if there is more bite to be had, then that is scary because the stopping power on a 1km decent at around 30mph is just scary and brake fade is all but nill.. I do thank everyone for their feed back because that is how I keep learning.. cheers.

 

[Stihldog]

Over the years I’ve collected a few calliper adapters, spacers, washers, bolts etc. with each brake brand, or rotor size, a different method of mounting was needed for frame or fork mounting.


I prefer a flat and square mounting surface whenever possible. I tend to avoid long mounting bolts, washers, conical or convex washers. Square and secure mounting of the calliper is important for me.

I’m our area NSB (North Shore Billet) machine a variety of calliper adapters for almost any style of mounting options. Magura brakes also provide a chart with a variety of adapter options.

Park Tools has a tool for squaring up mounting post ( never needed this) but some LBS’s may have one.


In this pic I was able to mount the calliper with only an adapter and two bolts. There’s less chance of improper angle or orientation, and centering a calliper is fairly easy.

 

[Arminius]

No expert but agree that calipers & pads seem not to match with rotor disc:

 

[Onetime]

No expert but agree that calipers & pads seem not to match with rotor disc:

View attachment 146070

It’s not the camera angle. They definitely don’t line up. You can see the score marks on the rotor on the bottom of the pic and the exposed holes on the rotor that would be covered by the caliper if it was installed properly. And I concur with stihldog, lose all of the conical washers and put on the correct adapter. Also whats the width on those rims? They look really wide, like they’re for plus size or fat tires. I have wide, (40i) carbon rims, but I run 2.8’s on them. Those 2.4’s seem too small for those rims. Just sayin.

 

[Stihldog]

No expert but agree that calipers & pads seem not to match with rotor disc:

View attachment 146070

That’s a good illustration of calliper-to-rotor orientation. Those brakes might be good, but with different spacers or adapters they could be much better.

Besides the horizontal alignment, which is adjustable with the mounting bolts for centering the rotor in the slots of the calliper, spacers are usually needed to adjust the vertical, or radial orientation and alignment of the calliper position.

This pic and drawing makes it clear that there could be an issue.

 

[Stihldog]

Also whats the width on those rims? They look really wide, like they’re for plus size or fat tires. I have wide, (40i) carbon rims, but I run 2.8’s on them. Those 2.4’s seem too small for those rims. Just sayin.

Oh man! Another potential issue. Good eye btw.

35mm wide rims is the limit for 2.6” tires.(IMO) Any wider than that requires 2.8”, or wider tires.

30mm wide rims seems to be a standard size for most riding styles on eMTB’s. 2.2” to 2.6” wide tires work with that size. A 40mm wide rim definitely needs a 2.8” tire …or wider.

Those are precious carbon rims. Too narrow of a tire could start causing serious damage/nicks/scratches/burping etc.

I kinda feel bad about the criticism of a single picture provided by the OP.

 

[Onetime]

Oh man! Another potential issue. Good eye btw.

35mm wide rims is the limit for 2.6” tires.(IMO) Any wider than that requires 2.8”, or wider tires.

30mm wide rims seems to be a standard size for most riding styles on eMTB’s. 2.2” to 2.6” wide tires work with that size. A 40mm wide rim definitely needs a 2.8” tire …or wider.

Those are precious carbon rims. Too narrow of a tire could start causing serious damage/nicks/scratches/burping etc.

I kinda feel bad about the criticism of a single picture provided by the OP.

Not to mention the tire will have a really square or flat profile. The whole tread including the side knobs will be in contact with the ground while going straight. And when you need to lean over in a turn, you’ll only have the edge knob and the sidewall in contact with the ground.

 

[EFMAX]

It’s not the camera angle. They definitely don’t line up. You can see the score marks on the rotor on the bottom of the pic and the exposed holes on the rotor that would be covered by the caliper if it was installed properly. And I concur with stihldog, lose all of the conical washers and put on the correct adapter. Also whats the width on those rims? They look really wide, like they’re for plus size or fat tires. I have wide, (40i) carbon rims, but I run 2.8’s on them. Those 2.4’s seem too small for those rims. Just sayin.

I will re-look and re-evaluate the fitting after all that has been said.. if there is more to be had from the set-up then I will willingly have some of that..

The rims are 65mm and the tyres are a perfect hi-volume fit for the rims.. I run them tubeless and have had this size rim and this size tyre (I came down from a 2.8 and a 3.0) for a while now with zero issue.. they are 26in rims and fit inside my fork nicely without looking too fat (which I just do not need for my style of riding) and they are easy tyres to find when need to replace them.

 

[EFMAX]

Okay, I listened to what was said and I took everything off, got some proper spacers cut to size and realigned everything - it does look better. I noted that when the callipers (when off) are placed around the rotor that it was not possible to get all three pistons directly over every part of the rotor, so no amount of fiddling is going to change that fact - the brakes still work just as good as they did before - but everyone's feedback was appreciated.

As for the tyres, I see no issues with how they fit on the rim, although I have come down in size from a 2.8 to a 2.4, the high volume nature of the current tyre shows no issues sitting on a 65mm rim.. the ride is good at 22psi, is good in the wet, the mud and the lightweight berms that I sometimes entertain.

 

[Onetime]

The pistons don’t line up because that is not the correct brake caliper adapter for that setup. Either way, you do you bro.

 

[Dave_B]

It’s not right. Calliper is still too far away from the disc.

If you look into the calliper looking down at the outer edge of the rotor, the rotor should be level with the top of the pads. If it isn’t, it’s not right.

Look how deep this calliper is relative to the rotor.

 

[Dave_B]

It looks like your lower piston is just about right, hence you are seeing the scoring from that on the rotor. But the top piston is far too high.

 

[EFMAX]

I suspect that maybe the rotor is too big, Hope Tech have said that this adaptor (C) is correct and my local bike shop sold me that rotor (225mm) and that calliper (M6) from way back in 2008.. when off the bike the calliper at no point sits in a way that allows all three pads to touch the rotor yet when the pads are taken out, there seems to be even wear due to the shape of the pads - either way the brakes work fine, their stopping power is way better than their 4 piston cousins on a 205mm rotor so I am happy given all that has been said and any limitations that may be.. once again, thanks for all of the input and feedback.