Hello fellow riders! I bought a custom Trek Remedy 8 and been riding it for a few years. The bike has Shimano ZEE brakes and no matter what I do there absolute garbage. I’ve bled and replaced the oil three times last year (once by professionals at a reputable shop) and sanded the disks multiple times. Whatever I do it doesn’t make it difference. They still suck.I do a mix of downhill and cross country and there not responsive and borderline dangerous when trying to stop at fast speeds. Looking for some advice on a potential replacement or if there’s something I’m missing. Thanks in advance!
by SmokesLetsGoBud
8 Comments
Zees are generally very good brakes. Have you tried a different sort of brake pads?
What does your bedding in process look like?
Check for leaks in calliper/hose/lever. Throw new pads to rule out pads as the issue, if not sand them, wash them under hot water with dish soap, dry and put alcohol/brake cleaner and light them on fire to burn the oil if there is. So it till it it just burns the alcohol. Sand them, wash them and voila. Don’t do the burning part if they are resin.
Clean the pistons and apply mineral oil to them.
Try new discs and new pads at the same time. I’ve fought bad brakes for ages which I managed to fix simply by swapping the discs out. Either because the disc is worn, or because a new caliper has a different swept area so the pads don’t contact fully on the existing wear pattern.
Maybe it’s just the picture, but are you running the correct sized rotor for that adapter and caliper combo? The wear marks on your look sus and the rotor looks too small.
Time for a upgrade to some Magura mt5 pro brake set
I have zees on my fat bike and they are garbage too. Squeal and are weak. Sanded and swapped pads, cleaned my rotors with brake rotor cleaner ready to give up on them
Those rotors…it’s either the lighting or they are contaminated to all hell. That will definitely affect braking performance.
I have zee brakes on 8″ disks. I have to be careful with them or the bike will throw me over the bars. They’re more than adequate for most use.
The meat popsicle on the bike may be weak, squishy, and timid. The brakes, I have found, are not.