Disc brake conversion
 

Hi folks, I have a Mongoose bicycle (impasse 650b 27.5" wheels) with a mongoose element front suspension fork. I am thinking of converting both front and rear brakes from what it currently has, v brakes to disc brakes. So would the fork clearances be sufficient to fit a rotor for disc brakes?

You need a fork that has the mounts for a disk brake.

You also need hubs (or wheels) for rotors. You can replace the front fork, but no the rear frame if it doesn't have disc mounts.
Looks like this is a Walmart brand, not really worth the effort. Just get a new bike with disc brakes.

and the brake levers need to be disc compatible too, so they and the grips will need to be swapped out... and the freewheel on your bike will not work with the rear FREEHUB... i've never seen a disc type, freewheel type, hub...

save up and buy a better bike.... with real suspension instead of glorified pogo sticks.

did your bike come with the stamped steel or aluminum brake arms? if aluminum, upgrading to Koolstop pads will substantially improve the brakes... Better cable housings and levers will help too...

Upgrade to Magura HS33 or HS11 hydraulic rim brakes.

A friend here in Germany has an old C'dale 26 MTB that he is very fond of and has had from new.

He has swapped out the original fork for something newer with disc mounts and put in a disc-rotored front wheel.

On the back he has a standard rim-braked wheel but the original V-brake has been replaced by a Magura HS33.

It's a lovely set up and great fun to ride.

Those brakes alone would cost twice what the entire bike did.

This is indeed a Big Box store bike and not worth any ssignificant upgrades.

Realistically, you need to just buy another bike equipped with disc brakes..

Mongoose brand name is now applied to a lower quality bike sold in non bike shops.

this time go to a proper bike shop..

Piffle. Converting over to cheap disc brakes would cost twice what the entire bike did...even if you could do the conversion.

Save your money, bikingdude. Go to a bicycle shop and get a bike that is worthy of upgrading. Better yet, get a bike that doesn't need the upgrades in the first place.

Is there anything you are not satisfied with with your v brakes?

[QUOTE=maddog34;20010626i've never seen a disc type, freewheel type, hub...[/QUOTE]

Check out Forever and many other China low end bikes. Freewheel 7 speed sealed bearing with disc brakes. Also have magnesium wheels with freewheel and disc brakes. Bleah.

So true. Get a better brand bike. Even used is also okay as long as it is branded. Chances are it would be equipped with better parts.

No one did anything at the store to fine tune the bike as they assembled it, at Wally * World..

just the minimum to get it thru the check out cashier.

I suspect even having the wheels trued would make a huge difference in performance. I also suspect that paying someone to true the wheels would cost at least 1/4 of the bike's value to have the service performed.

Given my experiences with lots and lots of BigBox bikes, the wheels don't need truing so much as they need tensioning. All of them have loose spokes.

All the new bikes in China are 650b with disc brakes and stupid triple derailleurs. Get one of them.

and they come with deep-V 19mm wide aero rims to go with the 3" wide tires
cause looking trendy is way more important than holding a tire on

Summary for the OP: Your current bike is not worth putting any significant upgrades into. Save the money toward buying a better quality bike with the components you want. It will not come from any big box store.

And why in the world do you want dick breaks. They are overly complicated and are absolutely no better, if not worse than, rim brakes.

You don't have to be a sheep and get the newest, just because you read bicycling magazine and they say it's the best thing in the world, obviously because they need to please their advertisers who make a dick breaks

Rather late, but frankly folks, my intention of doing this is mainly just as a "winter bike" project I'm planning to do. Yes, a higher end bike will do better, and I do have a couple decent hardtails but would like to have a "fun" project bike, that if I get wrecked in the winter, I won't be too pissed.

The v brakes are fine but as I said before, I'm using it in snow and wet weather so, discs will do way better, whether I ride in bad weather conditions or even out on trail.

...it's still a bad idea from the POV of economics. If you have to have discs, just look for a cheap used bike on the local CL with disc brakes. You don't have the fittings to mount the stuff you need to mount for disc brakes, and any modifications along those lines by you will be of dubious value in terms of either performance enhancement or safety.

Your original premise is deeply flawed. But good luck with it, because you seem determined to ignore all advice to the contrary.:)

Again I'm not ignoring advice, but yet just considering other options to suit my needs. But by the looks of it, I'll probably give it a test ride and if it fails my expectations it'll be going back to the store...

Their are cheap adapters available online, including Amazon, to allow a non-disc frame to mount disc brakes. You could try ordering one of those and a disc-ready fork, then find disc-ready wheels.
Disclaimer - My only foray into this is ordering an adapter off Wish. I have yet to install it and will probably have my son weld it to the frame when I do. And it's for a beach cruiser, so I don't plan to put any real stress on it.

My winter bike has S-A drum brakes , no frame modifications needed , at all .. to an old MTB, I just built different wheels.

It has been reliable for 25+ years.. (Alhough, here, sometimes we go thru the winter without snow and Ice)








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No such thing.

You can do point of sale changes to a new bike and get trade in value from the dealer.. (if you know what you need)

[Unless you think you can eBay it on your own & pay shipping , and do better..]