Few Q's about rear discs...
JonnyNoStars
Posts: 36
Sorry, yet another post about disc brakes I'm afraid! :roll:
I'm trying to decide if it's worth replacing my current rear V-brakes with a disc setup. The V's work OK in the dry, but add a bit of water and dirt and they become near-useless - good at making noise and chewing up brake blocks, useless at slowing the bike down.
The snag is that I'm eternally skint, and going disc will also necessitate buying a disc-compatible rear wheel (rear rim isn't worth having a new disc hub fitted to as it's dented and crap!). Hence, if I go disc, it will have to be as cheaply as possible - which means a mechanical caliper as that avoids the extra cost of a hydraulic lever and hose.
So far I've found the Deore rear mechanical disc kits for about £25-30 on a few websites. These have the advantage that the existing lever and cables can be used, question is will this kit make a useful improvement over the V's? And does anyone know of a cheaper and/or better alternative?
The other question is about the caliper mountings. My frame has rear disc caliper mountings (the non-Hayes type - ISO?); do the mounts limit the size of rotor that I can use, or do all sizes of rotor/caliper sets use a standard mounting?
I mostly ride XC rather than downhill, so I don't need anything too extreme, just want a quiet, reliable back brake that doesn't eat its pads after a couple of muddy rides.
The rest of my machine is as follows:
- 2004 Merlin Malt 1 frame (alloy hardtail)
- 2004 Shimano Deore/LX groupset
- 2003 Marzocchi MC Comp fork
- 2005 Hope Mono M4 front disc brake (180mm)
- 2004 Shimano Deore rear V-brake & Deore lever
- Deore hubs front & rear
- Mavic XC717 front rim
- FIR MT232 rear rim (crap)
Any (sensible
) advice much appreciated.
Cheers!
Jonny
I'm trying to decide if it's worth replacing my current rear V-brakes with a disc setup. The V's work OK in the dry, but add a bit of water and dirt and they become near-useless - good at making noise and chewing up brake blocks, useless at slowing the bike down.
The snag is that I'm eternally skint, and going disc will also necessitate buying a disc-compatible rear wheel (rear rim isn't worth having a new disc hub fitted to as it's dented and crap!). Hence, if I go disc, it will have to be as cheaply as possible - which means a mechanical caliper as that avoids the extra cost of a hydraulic lever and hose.
So far I've found the Deore rear mechanical disc kits for about £25-30 on a few websites. These have the advantage that the existing lever and cables can be used, question is will this kit make a useful improvement over the V's? And does anyone know of a cheaper and/or better alternative?
The other question is about the caliper mountings. My frame has rear disc caliper mountings (the non-Hayes type - ISO?); do the mounts limit the size of rotor that I can use, or do all sizes of rotor/caliper sets use a standard mounting?
I mostly ride XC rather than downhill, so I don't need anything too extreme, just want a quiet, reliable back brake that doesn't eat its pads after a couple of muddy rides.
The rest of my machine is as follows:
- 2004 Merlin Malt 1 frame (alloy hardtail)
- 2004 Shimano Deore/LX groupset
- 2003 Marzocchi MC Comp fork
- 2005 Hope Mono M4 front disc brake (180mm)
- 2004 Shimano Deore rear V-brake & Deore lever
- Deore hubs front & rear
- Mavic XC717 front rim
- FIR MT232 rear rim (crap)
Any (sensible
) advice much appreciated.Cheers!
Jonny
<center>I\'m not schizophrenic, and neither am I.
*INSERT SOMETHING WITTY HERE*</center>
*INSERT SOMETHING WITTY HERE*</center>
0
Comments
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you wont need more then 160mm on the rear TBH. You probably have IS mounts on the rear.
Its probably best to get another hydro on the back (considerd second hand?)Giant TCR advanced 2 (Summer/race)
Merlin single malt fixie (Commuter/winter/training)
Trek superfly 7 (Summer XC)
Giant Yukon singlespeed conversion (winter MTB/Ice/snow)
Carrera virtuoso - RIP0 -
I went from V to mech disc and then to hydro's and while the mech disc are better than the V's I found the hydros to be light years ahead of both.
Go secondhand hydros0 -
To be honest for the price Id stick with v's, but maybe think of getting a better set. they strill make xtr and xt v's and can be got pretty cheap too. Also shorten your cable as much as it will go. Ive found that most people who complain that v's are rubbish have about 6 inches too much outer, although they do collect dirt quite a bit.0
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have look at merlins disc and wheel packages, you will be unlikely to find better quality cheaper anywhere else, also it will be two of the best areas of your bike to upgrade anyway so should be money well spent.0
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I'm sure you could find a Juicy 3 for not much more than the price of the Deore cable setup. That'll be the better option in the long run.0
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Avid Juicy 3's for £49.99 http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=22185 and Mavic Crossride Disk wheel for £69.99 http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=15706Giant XTC 2.5 '08
Felt Virtue 3 '10
Giant Defy 2 '11
Giant Terrago Disc '07 - Convereted for CX
Fit Team Park Bmx '080 -
Ta for your replies everyone
I'll keep an eye on fleabay and the ads here but from what I've seen 2nd hand hydraulic stuff is going for silly money. Where else is good for finding secondhand bike bits?
The XT/XTR V-brakes are still silly money for what they are (more expensive than the Deore discs!) and since my back wheel is on its last legs anyway it makes sense to replace it with a disc-compatible one and do away with V's altogether.
I had a look at Merlin, their deals all seem to be for complete front and rear wheel/disc packages though and I only want the rear. That said, I'll fire an email off to them to see what they can do in terms of a rear disc & wheel kit - never know till you ask!
The Juicy 3's come in at around 50 sheets which makes 'em a bit on the dear side, unfortunately. Much as I'd like another hydraulic on the back I don't think I'll be able to afford it for a while - but once I've got a disc-compatible rear wheelset and a basic disc setup then it'll be easy to upgrade to hydros in future.
My initial idea of a Merlin-built wheel with XC717 rim, stainless D/B spokes and Deore disc hub comes in at £47 + £6.50 delivery = £53.50. The Deore M495 mech disc set is £23.99 from Winstanleys with free postage. This gives a grand total of £77.49 which is about as much as I can spare for bike stuff!<center>I\'m not schizophrenic, and neither am I.
*INSERT SOMETHING WITTY HERE*</center>0 -
If thats your limit, then that might be the best option to go with for now, unless you find something secondhand. Like you say, you can easily upgrade to hydraullic in the future 0
