I do run Kool Stops and it's kinda tough to keep a rim clean while it's passing through 3 inches of muddy rain water. I'm super glad V's work fine for you though :thumbup:

I hated rim brakes, more wear on rims replace them more often not as fun to adjust. I love disc brakes and I will never go back!!

Not to sound like a roadie jackass but discs have to weigh considerably more than calipers as well.

I wouldn't want to ride in traffic without discs, they're that much better. Once you have a good front disc brake you'll realize that you can do almost all of your stopping with just the front. You only need a rear brake as a backup in case the front fails, and a v-brake is good enough for that.

A rear disc brake makes it hard to get the wheel on and off.

As a roadie, significantly better stopping power is worth the marginal weight gain.

As a roadie, stopping - she's no important. Guido will put his a frame a pumpa into my spokes if I need stop.

About 1lbs difference. That's all.

How much more would a fork like that weigh? Any upgrades out there yet for carbon bikes?

What no end-overs? Very cool. For US riders, it would help if the right hand could be used for braking (while the other hand is signaling.)

The front brake is always by far the most effective way to stop. If you are emergency braking, you MUST use your front brake; it'll stop you in a fraction of the time as the rear. If you can't modulate your brakes well enough to do a maximum power stop without endo-ing, you need to practice more.

not sure about the weight, sorry

CF forks there are quite a few - redline, winwood, bontrager, on-one, whitebros, etc., all do CF 700c disc only forks.

Remember in addition to the extra weight of the brake itself when considering a disk, the
necessary fork upgrade will probably be heavier than the old one.

Wrong.

My disc capable carbon fork was lighter than my old steel fork.

And this is the commuting forum. I got 15 lbs of crap strapped to my bike already with lights, fenders, mudflaps, more lights, batteries, panniers, lunch, clothes, repair gear, raingear, more lights, more batteries, and 32 spoke wheels, kevlar tires and tuffy liners. Do you really think a few grams is even a consideration?

If i lived in dry arizona or wet but flat florida, i wouldnt consider disc brakes. But i live in the wettest corner of northamerica on the side of a mountain and have to go down my mountain and over 1 more on the way to work. At 6:30 AM in the pouring rain, with 15 lbs of crap, going downhill, when some suv pulls out in front of you, discs help.

Agreed, having ridden the area Jarery commutes often, riding down these hills on a 18lb road bike with caliper brakes in the rain makes a very scary stopping experience should any situation requires an instant stop.

Speaking of riding in the rain in Coquitlam, I use to ride up and down Burnaby Mtn on the trails everyday before disks were commonly available. In the winter I use to go through a set of brake pads once a week! All my bike have disks now and they are so much better. The only bike I have without disks is my single speed and it has a disk compatible front fork so when the rim gives out I will be upgrading the front wheel to include disks and get a Avid on the front of that bike.

I thought roadies believed brakes are useless, they only slow you down.

One end-over too many was what got me off of V-brakes and onto discs. The difference in modulation is no comparison.

Nashbar sells a pretty good carbon disc fork:
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...20Road%20Forks

I have it on two of my bikes, one MTB, one road and I'm happy with it.

That's the same no badge version as the Winwood Muddy Carbon Fork for $315 (some places sell it for $200-250).
http://www.winwoodbike.com/muddydisc.html#

Ok, Ill specify- When replacing steel for steel (as I did) a disc capable fork is likely to be
heavier than a fork made only for rim brakes. This is the case in my conversion.

When riding through snow and ice, rim brakes require constant attention to make sure they are not frozen when you actually need them. I put a nexus hub on my commuter with the roller brake (the front is still a v-brake) and it was so much nicer in the snow.. no ice build up on the pads. It's also nice to know that in the rain, the brake works the same as in the dry.

A rear brake is really important is riding with very little traction, like ice, where you want to be able to bleed off speed without worrying about locking up the front wheel. But normally the front is so much better that I think upgrading the front would be a great idea.

this is an old forum --------------- but very timely, considering the acceleration of the road/cx disc brake inclusion in '15 and on to improve safety and control.

there are MANY Ti and high end steel newer road bikes out there that would perform nearly as well even with the change out of the fork to add the disc brake, and add under a pound for fork and wheel weight. no everyone has 1200(low high qual-3000 upper high qual) to pay for a new full disc bike, and like their old early 2000 rode bike with rim brakes. if you don't race but do most everything else, you won't notice the 1 lb diff and you WILL realize much better stopping power in wet/muddy conditions, especially if you live in that type of environment at least 6mo out of the year.

I've been dealing with road/gravel disc bikes and rim brake bikes for a few years, and finally converted a Lemond Ti frame to front disc. worked ok, but the geometry was set for standard rim brakes, and the fork raised the front of the bike up about an inch. that bike would have worked, but I didn't like the conversion. the other ride is a road ti Quiring, its about done now and was a better conversion. trp brake in front, ultegra in rear, stans wheelset with the front only in disc. doing it yourself with good lightweight and strong components can cost700-800, keeping your shifters and everything else.

it comes down to whether or not you like your existing ride enough to convert. a front disc conversion will be unique now, but in about 5 yrs you will see many more.

you commuters need to value your lives enough to do it, a second or two could be worth that money in adverse conditions.

if you never have those conditions, don't bother.

a more modest substitution is a wheel built around a Drum brake hub *.. then the wheel is all you are replacing .

thy are not going to stop like someone stuck their pump through your wheel , but to my mind that is a good thing..

Ive been running drum brake hubs on my winter bike since the 80's.

* Sturmey-Archer makes a 70 & 90 mm drum.. drum shoe pads will last your lifetime ..

Go disc; superior IN EVERY WAY except weight, they do weigh a little more. Less than a 2nd full waterbottle.

If your frame isn't disc-ready, go V's in the back and the best pads you can get.

HINT: ceramic disc pads will SPOIL you.

The goal is to get a brake that works in the wet. Not one that works poorly in all weathers.

Before I got my Marin Pine Mountain frame I was using an old late 90's MTB frame, running a disc brake up front on a Nashbar rigid fork, and a Tektro v-brake in the rear with Kool Stop salmon MTB pads. It was a great setup. But considering I use only the front brake most of the time, I don't think it would really matter what pads I had on the rear.

I always laugh at people who say they are great for the rain...my experience with discs is once they get wet they end up squealing like a banshee. Of course, I'm sure there is a difference in rain vs the wet and mud mine get when mountain biking. Personally I don't really care for discs. I find them finicky and unnecessary. Koolstop pads have great stopping power, and if you are still having problems, if you have cantis or v, you can add a brace. Dual pivot brakes are very effective. Disc pads wear quicker, if you have hydraulic, you have to bleed the lines, there's no real weight savings, and then you need compatible wheels.
If buying a new bike, sure go for it, but retrofitting one not made for discs can be unnecessarily expensive when we have been using rim brakes with no problems for a long time

If you regularly ride in mucky conditions (like commuting in the PNW) then disc brakes might be good alternative to rim brakes and wearing out the brake tracks on the rims. For me personally, I think they just look cool. A disc-only wheelset with no brake track looks cleaner, and then you also have more options for attaching reflective tape to the sides of your rims.

a poor mechanic blames his tools .. Mine work quite well . & have for 30 years.

Opinions vary.

Squealing does nothing to diminish braking capacity. If you found them finicky and unnecessary, then you had weak cheapies. Disc pads wear quicker? Again, weak cheapies.

I have to laugh at your 'brace' suggestion; those were tested about 15 years ago, and found to be WORSE than nothing at all.

No one has ever touted weight savings for discs; but if you can't handle that tiny bit of extra weight................

Retrofitting a frame not disc-ready is something best limited to a new fork; front discs/rear V's are a viable combination.

The rest of your yak is Luddite offal.