e0richt

has anyone tried a disc brake conversion kit for a road bike?
was it worth it? problems?

DVC45

I'm sure its more trouble than its worth.

modernjess

+1 That's my first thought as well. The bigger question is why? Are your brakes not working in your conditions? If you already have disc compatible hubs, fork and frame and your brake levers are compatible, then it's a pretty simple but not necessarily cheap "upgrade". If you dont have those things already then you are into lot more money.

I'm a big believer and rider of discs off road, but on the road I don't see it as being worth a swap. That said I would buy a new (or used) road or cross bike that came with disc brakes, but it would not be because it had disc brakes. That is pretty low on my priority list for road biking.

So is it worth it? Only you can do that value comparison. For me for a road bike? Not a chance.

jimc101

A lot of work needed when starting with a road bike, new fork, wheels, calipers, and cables, frame needs welding and re-spacing and possibly new hose guides fitting, by the time you have done everything, you may as well have just bought a disc read frame in the first place.

DVC45

Cost is one thing, but frame and fork failures (brake attachments) and facial surgeries are more of a concern.

fietsbob

If the Fittings are not on the frame and fork the kit is your BankCard to buy another Bike

calipers discs and wheels add up quick , a modest priced bike somewhat Identical in All other ways

the disc version would add the cost of less than just buying new wheels for the Disc Hubs.

Summary : Why not just go shopping for a New Bike . for the disc feature ?



I have 2 bikes both can use rim or disc brakes,, 1 came wit Maguras hydraulic rim brakes, they work so well I have no reason to replace them.

& a Bike Friday it came with BB7 discs , but has V Brake posts too . original order probably wanted a backup option.

ratell

My bike needed new wheels, so I took the opportunity to get a new fork and put a disc brake on the front. Even doing that was more because I'm attached to my bike. From a purely rational viewpoint I would have been better off selling my bike and buying a new one with disc brakes.

dagray

For me I have a 1985 Centurion LeMans 12 speed that eventually I will need to convert to 700cm rims due to tire selection. This means I either try to find different caliper brakes, or go disk. Going disk intrigues me.

I have a newer road bike that I ride with caliper brakes and a newer 29er mountain bike that has the disk brakes.

ratell

Look at the math:

Therapy components conversion package with the converter, two wheels fork and two brakes cost $809.00
Therapy Components

Now on clearance you can get a Novara Zealo with disc brakes for $598 which is crazy I admit. A more normal price would be around $1200 for a solid road bike with discs. Basically for $400 more than the conversion you can have a brand new bike.

If you factor in a a few hundred for selling your old bike you are talking about the same price or possibly cheaper to get a new bike.

Andy_K 

I did that too with my 2008 Kona Jake. I already had road BB7 brakes and a disc wheel set sitting unused in my garage, so for me it was just the cost of the fork (~$100). That was easily worth the cost. If you didn't have the wheel and brake, you could still probably do the front conversion for under $300 if your bike will take a CX length fork (~395mm), though at that cost it's probably only worthwhile if you are really attached to your bike.

Many road bikes will have the additional problem that the only disc forks available in typical road lengths (~370mm) are high end carbon models in the $500+ price range.

So, yeah, probably not worth it.

Darth Lefty 

I decided a little while back that it's almost never worth the effort to turn a bike into something it isn't. To convert a bike from whatever it was to a disk requires new wheels, calipers and rotors at a minimum. You may or may not have a convertible fork. On a road bike, probably not. At the rear you really ought to have a frame that's made for it. If the bike didn't come with this stuff to begin with then you're probably lipsticking the pig.

Example: My Hardrock came with V brakes. It has a disk boss on the rear frame but not on the cheapass fork. If I'm going to buy it a fork I'd like to have one with some actual damping (ching!) and then I'll need disk wheels (ching!) and calipers and rotors (ching!). The whole bike cost like $350 new, and it's 12 years old and has lots of plastic components that are showing their age. And then I'll have updated it to 26" wheels with cable disks when its new counterpart has 29er wheels and hydraulic disks.

dynaryder

Conversion kits are kludge,and I don't think they make them for frames without canti bosses.

Front disc only is doable with a fork swap,but in most cases you're better off just getting a different bike.

Mr IGH

Not worth it. If you want to get away from rim brakes on an old frame you like, consider drum brakes:

dkmatdrum

I have an old Schwinn Passage which I had already converted to Ultegra Brifters and a quill to threadless stem converter so I could swap handlebars easily. I changed the cantilever brakes to Tektro 539 caliper brakes to match up to the lever pull ratio of the Ultegra brifters. It stopped ok in the dry but only marginally in the rain even with Kool Stop pads.
After scaring myself one too many times in the rain I switched the front fork to a Nashbar carbon disc version ($129 on sale with an additional 20% off), a TRP Spyre brakeset ($60 on Ebay) and a wheelset from Velomine ($239 for front and rear with Velocity Blunt rims and Shimano XT hubs) and a Cane Creek threadless #40 headset for $48.
I did all the conversion myself. I did not change the rear wheel because I did not want to respace the dropouts.
These brakes work perfectly with the Ultegra levers and make stopping with 2 fingers from the hoods a piece of cake. All the pieces will work on my next bike a Gunnar which will have rear disc brakes as well