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Brake question (putting a back caliper on the front)

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Singlespeed & Fixed Gear "I still feel that variable gears are only for people over forty-five. Isn't it better to triumph by the strength of your muscles than by the artifice of a derailer? We are getting soft...As for me, give me a fixed gear!"-- Henri Desgrange (31 January 1865 - 16 August 1940)

Brake question (putting a back caliper on the front)

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Old 06-22-15 | 01:04 PM
  #1  
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From: Portland, Oregon

Bikes: Centurian frame fixed gear (my daily commuter) MTB

Brake question (putting a back caliper on the front)

Hello all,

I'm building a fixie up for my son. He's ridden mine and loves it. So clean... So low maintenance...

I've got the left over rear brake from building my fixie years ago so I figured I'd just put it on the front of his. The problem is that the bolt that easily fits through the tube on the rear of the frame is not long enough to fit through the front fork of the nice, old Fuji frame that we've got for him.

Think I can just replace that with a longer bolt or is there some sort of functional difference between the front and rear calipers? I'm not looking at them, so I can't tell you the brand, but they are old (more than 20 years) side pull road bike type. They are really nice.

Great to be in the forum.

Ta!

Tony
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Old 06-22-15 | 01:48 PM
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From: ATX
Yeah, should be no problem using a longer hex nut.

Could give this one a shot if you don't have a long one. Or you can do what Sheldon Brown(and myself) have done and use the same one, just screw it in inside the fork from the bottom.

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Old 06-22-15 | 04:15 PM
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From: Marigny/Leucadia
Might need to swap the shoes to achieve toe in

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Old 06-23-15 | 09:29 PM
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From: Portland, Oregon

Bikes: Centurian frame fixed gear (my daily commuter) MTB

Thanks guys, putting the nut inside the fork is just too simply genius for me to have thought of it. I'll put it to work. When my son told me how brilliant that was, I gave credit where it was due.

BTW, franswa, in your post the words "this one" were hyperlinked and I clicked on that thinking you might have a photo to show. That necessitated a mad scramble to keep malware from loading. Not sure, but there might be some hacking going on in the forum...

Tony
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Old 06-24-15 | 05:58 AM
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From: ATX
Haha it is too simple and brilliant to have thought of. Others may feel that it isn't strong enough but my experiences say otherwise. Just be sure to check on it every so often.

Not sure what happened with that hyperlink, I hope it doesn't cause you any grief..
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