Bicycle Mechanics - Upgrade recumbent to disc brakes

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Seanholio
05-17-04, 12:08 PM
Two weeks ago, on a long downhill, my front tire suffered a blowout. I believe this is due to overheating from the braking I was doing, and I understand there are techniques to reduce this, however I'm still strongly considering an upgrade to disc brakes on the bike so that I can ride with more confidence.

To describe, the bike is a short wheelbase recumbent. It is similar in appearance to the bike below:

http://www.isoeasy.org/images/recumbent.jpg

The front wheel is a 406. There is currently no suspension, and it's not a feature I want all that badly, but I'll take it if that's the only way to get to a disc brake reasonably. There's not a whole lot of wheel to take all the heat. There are no current attachment points to the fork to which I could attach a disc brake.

So, I'm wondering what would be involved. I'm pretty sure I would be happy with a mechanical disc brake at this time. I've heard about disc brake wheels, but I'm thinking that a 406 is so small, it's mostly bombproof, so I think it could handle the forces of transferring the force of braking out through the spokes to the wheels.

Regards,

Sean

RobotSonic
05-17-04, 01:04 PM
i could be wrong but i always thought that the in order to put on a disc brak you need to have a hub that can accept the disc part.
cerewa
05-17-04, 01:17 PM
For the front end, disc brakes require a fork with disc brake mounts. For the rear, the disc brake mounts need to be part of the frame.

It's almost certain that the hubs on your wheels aren't designed to have a brake disc attached. You need to have brake disc mounts on your hubs in order for your wheels to work with brake discs.

the message boards at www.bentrideronline.com would be a good source of info for getting a 20-inch wheel and fork (and brake lever if necessary) designed for disc brakes. They could also give you more info about the possibility of having brake bosses added to your frame.

You may or may not find that the most practical route would be to sell your bike and buy one that's designed for disc brakes.