what is the real difference between front and rear brakes?
 

they look the same to me.
is there any mechanical difference?
would running a rear brake in front be bad for any reason?

as i understand it, it is not about the brake itself, but that they are attached. thick fork in front vs thin brake bridge in the back.

i've run a rear on the front by getting a reeeeeallly long recessed bolt. running a front on the rear would involve a little more work.

edit: this is for calipers. for cantis and v brakes there isn't any difference.

yeah, i've swapped the bolts out before depending on what i wanted to run. i just wondered if the bolt was the only real difference.

dirtyphotons, where did you find a recessed bolt that fit?

i had it laying around, most new brakesets come with several different length recessed bolts.

this is a perfect job for a lbs or bike co-op.

looks like you can order a titanium one online here but i'm not sure if it's long enough, and with shipping it's probably half the price of a nashbar long reach caliper.

Extra-long recessed nuts are made by Problem Solvers and may be found in the QBP catalog (that any LBS can order from):
http://aebike.com/page.cfm?PageID=30...and=312&type=T

I'm currently running a recessed rear brake in the front using one of these nuts.

For a vast majority of brakes there's no difference between front and rear. However, current high-end Campy road brakes feature a dual-pivot front brake, single-pivot rear brake. They call this a 'differential' system.

man, i love problem solvers. that might be my favorite bike company.

they always got my back when i'm trying to pull some crazy ****.

in the interest of weight campagnolo and shimano both now offer differential brake setups with their top gruppos..
they figure that the front brake does most of the stopping and therefore is the more important caliper..
makes sense i guess

problem solvers = surly = dimension = QBP

i guess my point is that i'm glad there's SOMEBODY out there helping make parts work together, rather than manufacturing parts that only work with their stuff.

that they're just a brand name and owned by a big conglomerate is less of a concern.

thanks for the info. i'm going to check out the problems solvers. seems like a good alternative to having a parts box full of rear brakes :D

The rear brake is your legs and the front brake...well, the front brake is both dangerous and not fashionable...I would advise against it.

i was just thinking that this thread needed a brakes vs. no brakes debate :rolleyes:

hahahaha doesn't every thread need that?

Come to Bike Church on Sunday and I'll set you straight. Making frankenbrakes out of multiple sets is good times.

cool, i was actually already planning on coming, so that works out well. :)

i run a rear 105 brake in the front, no problems in a year..

Damn, I wish I knew this a couple months ago - I just bought another set of calipers just for the front one, leaving me now with 4 rear brakes. But now I just need four of these bolts and I can set up four more bikes!

No difference
They BOTH suck LOL

Sorry I couldn't resist

haha

ha, i was thinking about the same thing yesterday. I got a set of brakes for my wifes bike but only needed the front. So I semi-took them apart to check the diff, and all the part numbers were exactly the same. The centerbolt was the only difference.

This is so blatantly false that it can only be a TROLL.

yes...I was being a troll when I wrote that.