Greetings.
Joined this site specifically to look for advice on this exact topic. Glad it's been discussed, and within the last year no less.
My question is about
strength of mounting a disc brake in front of the right fork leg, which seems to be my only option. I want a fork I can market to dirt jump / skate park riders. Though it's not the same kind of stress a mountain bike front brake would have to endure, it does need to be durable. I have access to professionals to do the welding, and the fork will even be heat-treated afterward. Are there any concerns with the disc brake pulling off the fork leg? If there aren't, any way to put in to words why it's just as safe as mounting behind the fork leg?
Thanks for your time. No need to read on, but here's the whole story: I have S&M Bikes making forks for my own brand of unique 24" bikes (commongroundbikes.com). I have a customer looking for a front disc brake, and S&M is willing to have a prototype made, but only if they will end up with something they can also sell to their 20" and 22" customers. The long dropout offset (which gives the feel I want) prevents me from using an I.S. mount behind the fork using any rotor smaller than 170, which I believe Sram still makes. Problem is, that's too big even for my 24" wheel, and especially too big for a 20" or 22". Mounting in front of the dropout would allow for even a 140mm rotor, and on the right side the cable could still point upward on a standard caliper.
Any input on the strength of a front-mounted front disc caliper would help.
Thanks again!
Travis
travis@commongroundbikes.com