Avid Mech discs. - Can you one finger brake?

I've never own a disc brake equipped bike but I've ridden plenty of other people's bikes. Since I started MTBiking which was 1999, I've always set my bikes up for one-finger braking.
Let's pick one bike I've ridden recently, someone's Epic front Hayes and rear Coda. Unfortunately my friend is not a lever-blade-tip braker like I am, so the Hayes lever forces me to use the center of the lever blade and I hate that. The Coda's while having poor modulation, have a neat and useful flattish lever blade profile.
All my levers have quite flat profiles for my freaky one-finger, lever-blade-tip gripping and late braking technique. (Freak!)

I use the extra leverage of lever-blade-tip braking to counter the use of only one finger, anyway it's all you really need. One finger+low-end V-brakes= I still stop properly and endo behind people at races on the downhill sections of the XC course.

A tip for setting up levers for my type of freaky braking is set the lever angle quite vertical. Instead of braking by curling your finger like a worm (which causes strain on long braking), you simply swing your finger back.
Because there is less strain, modulation feels easier and you feel more confidant with braking. (It works for me, not a STP fact)

avid set-up

db-raven said:

Thanks to everyone so far for the great responses.

Capt_phun - if you dont mind me asking what did the your avid brake set up cost, assuming that you got frt and rear + levers? What cable housing do you run? Im looking for a complete set up so Im trying to gather as much info as I can. Thanks.

Click to expand...

I purchased the avid ultimate levers from an online retailer, I think I paid like $119 or some outrageously high price, but they have been worth it in my opinion. The ultimates are not "springy" like the other avid brakes so it feels softer and smoother. I had the Avid Ti levers but your could feel the spring return the handle sharply and make that avid "clunk" as the lever returned. I spent the $$ on the ultimates, I look at it as an investment. They will last a long time and always feel great. The avid mech's came on my bike, and I really like there simplicity and ease of maintenance. I love my Marta hydros as well, but the avid are just plain simple, no brain breaks. Really I could never understand how people say they have problems with the mech's. They ARE that simple, if you can do basic wrenching,then the avid mech's are simple to use, fix, and adjust.

You can find mech's at a decent price on ebay or use the www.qbike.com search. Airbomb is also go for spare avid parts, like when I busted the outboard adjustment knob on a heavy duty fall on a rock.

As far as cables, I just buy the bulk 30meter roll of lined housing and run full housing from the lever to the caliper. I run a jagwire teflon coated iner wire, seems a little smoother, but in a bind I will use regular inner wire. I'm really not that picky, they bike and brakes work, its up to the rider is what I believe in and I don't think dropping $$30 on a cableset is a worthwhile spending since I replace the whole outer and inner cable hosuing and wire every year.

So i would say look on ebay for the levers and mech. It will set you back a little $$ and I would also recommend looking into the louise FR which are hydro and pretty inexpensive.
I'm not a fan of Hayes, yes they work and are easy to adjust and bleed, but personnally I never like the feel at the lever. Not saying they don't work, they do just fine, bt just never got into them. And the hayes mech's are just pieces of metal poop compared to the avids
.