Difficult to change between wheelsets on a disc brake bike?
05-27-17, 01:55 PM
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Difficult to change between wheelsets on a disc brake bike?
I don't have a disc brake bike except for MTB but I only use one set of wheels for those. I was looking through another forum and one thread was talking about how many wheelsets per bike people have. I usually have 2 or 3, maybe a light weight set, an aero set, some tubies, maybe a training set...changing between sets on a caliper brake bike is pretty easy. Realistically, my next road bike will probably be hydraulic disc. For those of you who ride disc bikes, is it very difficult to change between wheelsets? Are there circumstances where the disc doesn't line up, or some other problem I don't even know about that requires a lot of time to change between sets?
05-27-17, 02:23 PM
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I have a cyclocross bike with hydro disc. Stock rims with 35mm knobby and Zipp 30 Course with 32mm road tires.
No problems swapping them.
No problems swapping them.
05-27-17, 02:38 PM
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I had to shim a disc on one rear wheel relative to the other to make it seamless. I still wind up messing with pad alignment a bit.
05-27-17, 03:24 PM
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So in other words, not a huge deal...even with calipers I usually have to adjust them a little bit, I can't just throw those on either except in an emergency like during a race or something. I imagine you need to have the same discs for each of the wheelsets or does only the size matter? Since the pads probably wore a groove in the disc like a fingerprint, do they squeak or make a bunch of noise until they get seated?
05-27-17, 03:47 PM
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If one disc was much more worn (thinner) than another, you might have to wedge the pistons out a bit, but that's really a non-issue, too.
They shouldn't be any noisier, they just don't bite as well until they're bedded in. With hydro brakes it wouldn't really be an issue, because the braking pressure/stopping force is still pretty good even when not fully bedded.
05-27-17, 07:57 PM
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Hydraulic calipers will self adjust to a certain amount. So even if the pads rub a little bit initially the pistons in the caliper will soon move to the correct place.
