>>1140662And as for increasing the stopping power... a few things to consider.
If there's no pads, then just install pads obviously.
If there are pads, there's a few things to consider. First, make sure they are adjusted properly. If your brake lever is bottoming out against your handlebar, that's obviously a problem. But even if your lever is not bottoming out, your brake may be bottoming out before fully engaging. Make sure that when you pull the lever as far as it will go, the factor stopping the lever from going father is that the pads are fully against the rotor, as opposed to the swinging part of the caliper being pulled against the fixed part of the caliper. If this is happening, then even if the pads visually appear to be fully engaged, they're not. To word it another way, there are two ways in which a disc brake can bottom out: The lever hits the bar before the pads are fully engaged, or the rotating part of the caliper hits the fixed part of the caliper before the pads are fully engaged.
This advice is moreso related to mechanical disc brakes rather than hydraulic. I assume you have mechanical. If you have hydraulic, then it's possible they need to be bled.
If you have brake pads installed, and your brakes are properly adjusted, and you are still not getting enough stopping power, you've got a few things to consider. You could get better brakes obviously, bigger rotors if your bike has clearance for them (might need new calipers as well if you go that route), and/or metallic brake pads instead of resin (if they are available for your model of brakes).
Also keep in mind that new disc brakes need to be burned in before they gain full stopping power. To burn them in, get on your bike, sprint as fast as you can, then pull the brakes as hard as you can (careful not to go over the bars lol), and do this like 20 times. But don't try doing this until verifying that you actually have brake pads and have the brakes adjusted properly.
