I noticed the failure starting to happen on my first run down Alpine on Friday afternoon. On Saturday morning I decided it was probably time to change the pads. I did so even though the existing pads still had a little bit of life left. Took it for a short ride on Salmon Creek to break in the new pads and now my stopping power was even worse. I got back and asked around and one mechanic suggest I clean the rotor with rubbing alcohol, tried that and nothing. Others said I probably just needed to brake them in more on a good downhill. I finally asked one of my fellow guides, Tori from Gracie’s Wrench, explained what was happening and what I’ve done so far. Tori said the only thing she could conclude was a contaminated rotor.

So how does one contaminate a rotor? Brake rotors are made with a very porous metal and absorb oils very easily. It’s likely that I may have gotten over spray on it while lubing my chain. Even the oils from our fingers can contaminate a brake rotor.

Fortunately for me I was at MBO with industry vendors galore and a big thanks to Mike from Titus (you have a six pack coming at August MBO) for kicking me a 160mm Avid rotor that he happened to have laying around. I replaced the rotor, took some sand paper and cleaned up those new brake pads. Considering all I had done at this point,  I figured I might as well recable the rear brake too.

About 1 minute into the first DH I had all the stopping power I needed for another great bombing down Alpine Trail in Oakridge. I’m pretty sure Tori was right about the contaminated rotor because having new pads and knowing the brake cable wasn’t that old… what else is left?

I started shopping around and fortunately for me I found a pretty good deal on Craigslist. This being a first for me.. disc brakes that is… I went to google for instructions on installing these bad boys and lucky me again a YouTube Video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Avid BB7 comes in several sizes. 160mm, 185mm and 203mm.  My DOD friends said for what we ride here a 160mm on the rear and 185mm on the front is good way to go.  The reasoning behind it from what I understand is the 185mm on front won’t heat up as fast.

As a closing note, consult your local bike shop on sizing because some frames and/or forks can’t fit all the sizes.

I went with 160mm on both the front and rear becuase that is what was available to me. So far things have been fine and I’m enjoying learning how to ride with my new Avid BB7 disc brakes.

I installed my own disc brakes simly because I like to wrench around on my bike but i’m no professional. Once I got the bb7’s installed and upgraded some other compenants.. I took her down to my local bike shop and had them tune everything up for me.