e-Bike Hydraulic Brake Swap (The Juiced Gets Juice-Filled Brakes)

After two years of hauling my less-than-svelte behind around, the Juiced has earned an upgrade in the stopping department.

[I wasn't planning on writing about this, but Jim from Jim's Obsessive Cycling Disorder asked if I'd share my results from this cheap caliper swap and I figured I'd just share it with everybody. Thanks, Jim!]

See Jim's Brake upgrade here

I've been commuting on the OceanCurrent  for two years now. Other than cable adjustments and switching to thorn-resistant tubes, it's been an impressively maintenance-free bike. But the brake pads are almost gone and I wanted to upgrade to hydraulic brakes before winter sets in.

So I started looking at ready-made hydraulic brake kits like this:

But e-bike brake levers have a built-in electric switch that acts as a motor cutout when you apply the brakes, so the set pictured above won't do the trick. I had to find another solution or pay a much higher price for an e-bike specific set of brakes.

A little bit of googling presented another solution - cable-actuated hydraulic calipers. I ordered a pair of these for about $40.

The Zoom Xtech HB-100

Before I did the swap, I made four before runs. From 15mph to a full stop, I averaged 26 feet. Not bad for 300 pounds of bike and rider. (Did I mention that my bike weighs 200 pounds? ;-)

The swap was really easy and took considerably less time than it's taking me to write this post - less than ten minutes per caliper.

Removal consisted of taking the brake cable loose and removing two allen-headed bolts. Installation was the reversal of that with a few seconds thrown in for centering the caliper. (Yes, Jim, you did it the right way - I should've made a video too. Maybe next time.)

The brakes instantly felt smoother and stronger. When I started the distance tests, I had to adapt a bit because it was very easy to lock the brakes up - which was never an issue before. So I shifted  my weight to the back tire as much as possible and did four runs with an average of 17 feet. (Each run left a black stripe on the road.)

Yes, I am impressed with the performance. Will they hold up for the long run? I hope so, and I'll let you know.

For now, I'm excited about the upgrade and have to say - I do not get tired of riding this great machine.

May you continue to enjoy the ride and may it keep getting better.

As always, thanks for reading!

P.S. Be sure to check out Jim's youtube channel for lots of cool bikes and low-dollar upgrades.