Used Product For
1 Month
Strengths
Makes any disc brake work better.
Weaknesses
Although it costs less than the Magura Gnann-o-mat, it's still a little expensive.
Similar Products Used
None
Review
I have used the same set of 2001 Magura Louise disc brakes on the front and rear of my past three trials bikes. While they have always worked "good enough," they've never been significantly better than rim brakes and a good grind. The main problem being that the pads never lined up perfectly with the rotor. Whether it was due to bad dropout alignment or bad mount alignment, the pads always seemed to drag a little and never hit the rotor squarely on every bike I've had. I've tried every combination of washers and spacers and have even tried hand-filing the mounts but that only made it worse.
All during this time, I knew that Magura made a tool called the Gnann-o-mat that is a facing tool for trimming material from mis-aligned caliper frame mounts. However, when I checked into it, none of the bike shops within a 100-mile radius had one (or even heard of it) and it would cost a shop $300 to get one. No one thought it was worth it and neither did I. Enter the Hope "Spot" Disc Mount Facing Tool.
I just received this tool last week but I've already witnessed how much it can improve a disc brake setup. The tool is machined to very high quality (i.e. tight tolerances) and is relatively easy to use, once you read the included directions. It comes with two axles, one for a standard MTB width front wheel and one for a standard MTB width rear wheel. The alignment gage has six holes: front, rear, and boxxer top mount hole; front, rear and boxxer bottom mount hole. It's just a simple matter of mounting the axle and gage in your dropouts and aligning the cutter through the appropriate gage hole and into your frame mount hole. Once you set the tool with one mount hole, move to the other mount hole and either cut away the excess material or re-adjust the cutter (if too far away) and move back to the first hole.
The time required to learn how the tool works and face both front and rear is about ten to fifteen minutes if you take your time and do it right. The effect it has on the performance of your brakes is immeasurable. No more drag, less squeak, instantaneous lockup AND better modulation. These three alone WILL make you a smoother rider. Trust me.
If you run disc brakes and want better performance or if you have been thinking about going to dual-disc but have heard all of the negative reviews, consider this tool. I promise you, it will make a HUGE difference. |
