-Stretch-

hey i was just wondering what the cost would be if i got disc brakes installed on my front wheel, im cool with having v brakes on my back wheels, im probably gonna get hydralic v's soon, but out of curiousity how much you think it would cost to change front wheel to discs, what exactly would i have to buy to do this??

seely

New front wheel
$80-250

Disc brake
$80-250

Maybe a lever
$20-50

Cable/housing
$8

Installation
$10

seely

Oh if you have a Hardrock XC, I'm not sure how much I would trust that fork with a disc brake, its a pretty flexy fork as is. I honestly don't think I would put the money into a Hardrock XC... you're forever stuck with 7spd stuff as is, so its kinda putting money into something you will probably want to get rid of before long anyways.

mindbogger

You also have to ask yourself....

Do you really need it?

Thats the biggest question. I know most people with disc are better off with V's. Many of them simply don't need all that power. If you doing Xc with little or no steep decents at all, your wasting your money.

OregonXC

$5000 in poker is wasting money. Upgrading to disc brakes on a bike is not wasting money

hooligan

It could be a waste to put discs on your hardrock xc. Really, I use V's and if I'm pulling off endos in mud, I know that avid single digit 5's are good. Escpecially when it's a 43 lb bike and I'm only a 115 lb rider. Trust me, if you were actually to use discs and use themt o the max, i doubt your bike itslef would take it.

Let's say you're going real fast, about to hit a rock garden. Smack goes the front lever, expecting a nice stop because your going at perfectly flat flat land. You don't go over the bars. Your fork snaps in the middle of the endo, your bike falls down, you fall and we all fall down. Good job point dexter.

In other words, get a better bike if you want discs. Xc's weren't supposed to take discs.

The price in CDN dolalrs would probably be about...60.31 for hayes mechs at bikeroom. 20-50 for levers. Front wheel, a lot.

Not worth it to spend so much on your bike. I used to want to upgrade my bike because I was a fool, but now I understand that it's really not worth it to upgrade any higher. In fact, I'm taking off my avid single digit 5's and putting them on my new bike, if it is v-brake enabled and there is no discs to start off with anyways. New bike as Im going to get one.

-Stretch-

ya...probably wont get discs, im not goin hardcore or anythin, i jsut dont really like the stock brakes on the bike...they are the greatest..

if i were to get new v brakes, what would u guys recomend, hyraulic is probably what ill get, but any suggestions are good...thx

rasheed

says who??? my fisher tassajara came with hydro disc brakes (7" front, 6" back) and it's a xc bike. and there are also a ton of other xc bikes that come with disc brakes. just look at all the different manuacturers' websites to see. hayes and magura also make xc specific disc brakes.

Dannihilator

Umm, wrong. XC bikes can have disc brakes.

hooligan

I meant HARDROCK Xc's.

hooligan

But I'd say avid single digit 7's. They'd be pretty good. You don't need hydraulic, I think. Seriously, what kind of riding and in what conditions are you in. Then again, tell us what exaclt you're gonna do on the hardrock. I still say v's hydraulics or not are good enuff.

Dannihilator

Same as with hardrock xc

hooligan

Would you really put that much money into a hardrock xc? Oh wait I'm sorry. I meant that Hardrock xc's aren't good with discs. Heh sorry. Sure they can take discs, butman, I would think that would be a waste.

Dannihilator

You've never really tried disc brakes have you. Disc brakes are a big improvement over v's

Trey

I don't see why he can't put thaqt money into Disc brakes and then move the stuff over when he gets a new bike or better yet wear out the disc brakes then get a new bike.

And KonaRider said it best. You've not spent any real time on disc brakes.

JasBike

It cost me 200 total to have my front wheel relaced w/a disc hub, buy the actual disc components, and installation.


I'd do it.

Whoodie

I have used both V and Disc Brakes. I find the Discs more convinient and better in performance. Discs are not affected by change in conditions, eg mud, water. I say go for the Discs you can move them to your new bike if you change bikes.

One thing to note is that may be your current fork will not accomodate this type of brakes. See, the disc goes on to the hub while other brake mechanism goes on to the fork.

-Stretch-

ya...i know how they work, but if theres a possibility of my fork snapping or cracking cause of the stress that the discs would put on them, i think ill just get new v brakes, when i buy a new bike in a couple years, ill get discs, i just want to get rid of these tektro brakes, they are that great.

as far as condition of riding that goes anywhere from riding to work on the street to riding lite trails for now, but i am hoping that ill get to spend some time out in bc and ride some of those mountain-side trails..that would be sweet..

on a side note, rite now im sick as a dog, i dont even have the energy to ride my bike like down my street...heh

edit: im pretty sure my front fork has a place for the caliper for disc brakes, just for the record...

rasheed

if your fork has disc brake tabs it should be fine for handling discs... you shouldn't have to worry about your fork snapping.

by the way, where in t.o. do you ride?

seely

Not if the V's are setup right.

seely

I'm pretty confident that the discs on an very low end RST fork will exaggerate the extraordinary amount of play thats already in the fork, and probably wear out the bushings even faster.

Astra

I've just changed my squeally XT front V-brake to an Avid Arch Rival and I am seriously impressed. Even covered in wet mud going down steep hills it managed to slow me down just fine .

Personally I'd avoid hydraulic rim brakes. A friend used to run Magura's and they eat rims! Don't get me wrong, they are superb stoppers, but they are so powerful that with a bit of mud chucked in, you need really tough rims to withstand them.

a2psyklnut

I was just looking at one website, (Cambria) and saw a WheelSET (as in both) disc hubs for $139, and there were several hydraulic disc brakes in the $99 range.

That is ALL you would need as a hydraulic disc comes with the hose,lever, caliper and rotor.

Now, if you went with an Avid Mechanical, you could use your old lever and a standard brake cable/housing is probably about $10 total. Avid mechanicals are about $69.00.

So, the hydraulics (on sale) are a better buy (only $20 more for hydraulic performance) than the mechanicals.

L8R

bobblehead

I just finnished a weekend at Mammoth with V's and they performed perfectly. I didn't ride Kamikazee, but I took some pretty sick trails. I thought about ubgrading to disk also, but my V's work great still. Think I'll stick with them for a while.

By-the-way, Di anybody make it up to the championship races in Mammoth this year? It was blast!

hooligan

Yep! Same thing with discs. Discs should have better stopping power in weathered conditions, but my v's are good enough. You can't go anything past locking your wheel. Discs are an improvement, but I don't think that he wants to spend that much when he can lock his wheel with v's for a lower price in the conditions he will ride in.

I've tried discs! Specialized hardrock sport disc, kona scrap, kona stuff. Of course they work, especially since the bike is sub 40 lb. I use avid single digit 5's and they definetly are good enough.