change from block to disc brakes?

pickarooney

Is it possible to change a bike over from block to disc brakes or would this require changing the wheels as well? What kind of costs/assembly would be involved?

ednwireland

mountain bike and (some hybrids) can take disc brakes but you need mounts built onto the frame and forks to take them , if you havent got these then you cant. if you have its new wheel time (+brake assembly levers and discs)

CheGuedara

Well the three things needed to change a bike over to discs are

1. a frame and fork with disc tabs to allow you to bolt the calipers on
2. hubs on your wheels that take either 6 bolt or centerlock disc rotors
3. a disc brake set - hydraulics usually contain fully assembled kits (calipers, hoses, levers, and rotors) whereas mechanical unit often give just calipers and rotors expecting you to provide the cables, housing and brake levers to pull the whole lot together

If 1. doesn't sound like your frame you're going to find it very hard to fit disc brakes - there's ways and means of bolting on disc tabs to the frame but I'm not sure they're great and a don't know what you'd do if the fork doesn't have them.

If 2. doesn't sound like your hubs/wheels then this is an easy fix - pick up a cheap wheelset (CRC should be able to sell you something running Deore disc hubs fairly reasonably)

3. this is the point where you pick your poison - mechanical units e.g. those made by Avid, or hydraulic units. Mechanical are cheaper whereas hydraulic are usually more powerful and therefore more expensive (the Shimano Deore units are well reviewed and are well priced only to find them)

Best bet for specific pricing - check out chainreactioncycles.com, frequently the cheapest out there and free shipping

peterako

Changing to Discs on my MTB was the BEST modification to my bike ever

Consistent, powerful and PREDICTABLE braking!

Your orginal query is answered very well in the other esponses above

With tha additional point to look out for mounting specs for teh disc. There's standard...and there's shimano...and more. Just make sure your hubs suit your discs etc.

CRC has some very low price Disc (MTB) wheels. I've been tempted to get a pair to save me haiving to change tyres over when I want more agressive threads.

Do it!

Even cable operated discs can be great. (My choice was Formula)

doozerie

CheGuedara wrote: »

If 1. doesn't sound like your frame you're going to find it very hard to fit disc brakes - there's ways and means of bolting on disc tabs to the frame but I'm not sure they're great and a don't know what you'd do if the fork doesn't have them.

I know someone who had their MTB (Klein) frame adapted at the rear to take disc brakes i.e. bolted on the mount points for the calipers. He was changing his forks at the time and bought forks which had the disc mounts so he didn't have to look at what options are available to adapt the front end. I believe he was happy with the results but that it fell a little short of a frame with built-in mounts.

Based on his experiences, I'd be inclined to add up the total cost of adapting the current bike to disc and compare this against buying a bike with disc brakes already. The difference might not be as great as you'd imagine (or it might be, but it's worth checking).

Alternatively, a more economical half-way house might be to go for hydraulic rim brakes. When I last looked briefly at this last year there didn't seem to be a wide choice available but they are a step up in power from cantilevers/v-brakes and for less cost given that you don't have to change your wheels.

CheGuedara

doozerie wrote: »

Alternatively, a more economical half-way house might be to go for hydraulic rim brakes. When I last looked briefly at this last year there didn't seem to be a wide choice available but they are a step up in power from cantilevers/v-brakes and for less cost given that you don't have to change your wheels.

I'd second that too - had Magura rim hydros on a MTB at one point, they're a definite step up from V's alright and don't suffer too much until the rim is well covered in mud (where discs do come into their own as there's practically no level of wet muddy riding that will reduce their power to stop you safely).

@ the OP if you do pursue this avenue I can tell you that there's not a massive difference in power between the Magura HS11 and HS33 brakes or certainly wasn't around the time I was using them (OMG - that's like 9 years ago, how the heck did that happen!?) - just looking at them there's a 0.3m/s difference in decelleration power between the two (nothing I'd lose sleep over) with the HS11s having similar power to Avid Code and Hope Race X2 disc brakes, and you won't need to change your wheels

ednwireland

i use magura hs33's on the mtb forgot about that once they are setup right (some people seem to have trouble ) they beat my old xt rim brakes by a mile (no sore forearms from braking onlong descents either)

concussion

If cost is a factor you could just upgrade the front to discs (assuming the forks have the correct fittings) and run hydraulic/mechanical rims on the back. When you absolutely positively have to buy new back wheels you can then consider upgrading to discs.

Greyspoke

3 suggestions:
Merlin in the UK do very good deals on wheel and disc brake packages (but your frame and forks would still need to be able to take them).
You could always buy Dirk's almost new, very reasonably priced Merlin on the ads section.
Finally, if you want to try the hydraulic rim brakes, I have a set of the Maguras as mentioned above which I'd be prepared to sell.

Alkers

concussion wrote: »

If cost is a factor you could just upgrade the front to discs (assuming the forks have the correct fittings) and run hydraulic/mechanical rims on the back. When you absolutely positively have to buy new back wheels you can then consider upgrading to discs.

Agreed, you would easily get away with keeping the v-breaks on the rear and just upgrading the front. Doesn't take much to lock up the back wheel so it would be rare that a v-break is so poor it doesn't achieve this.

pickarooney

Thanks for all the really informative replies. I'm going to look into the rim brakes as realistically I'd have to change both wheels and forks, not to mention the brakes themselves and knowing me I'd end up getting a new bike I can't afford rather than going to the trouble of installing the lot

Alkers

I have a front disc wheel with rotor you can have if you want? Might save some effort if your fork has disc mounts.