Fixed Gear.... with a front disc brake?
 

I had a daydream today about a fixie with a 203mm Avid Code DH brake in the front. Behold my new faceskid-stop technique!

Then I wondered... why don't we see more fixies with a disc brake? Or is that the ultimate in jackass?

My friend has a disc on his Miyata 1000 conversion... it is an excellent setup.

I'd do it but I'm incredibly not cool.

I plan to run a disc up front on my next build, actually...

crazy stopping power! everyone is going for that vintage conversion look that newfangle stuff is shunned! :lol:

Disc brakes are not jackass. I am strongly considering front-discing my new Crosscheck. It makes a lot of sense for an all weather commuter that sees a lot of braking---discs are a lot cheaper to replace than rims.

disc hub laced to non machined leopord print deep V. I can smell it already.

With Avid's proliferation of mech. disc brakes for both road and v-brake levers, it makes sense to me that we'll start seeing more and more discs show up.

Hydraulic though..... I pitched the idea of running the Avid Code to a buddy of mine. He then suggested that I replace my rear wheel with a fan and nose-wheelie my way around town.

07 was the year of no brakes. 08 will be the year of max braking power. A fixed gear with a front disk would probably give you the most versatile and powerful stopping system ever devised. I wouldn't spend the money on it myself but if I saw it on someone else's bike I would probably think it was cool.

There was once a picture of a Merlin track bike with a front disk... sexiest thing I've ever seen.

A good dual pivot with decent pads gives plenty of stopping power for my purposes for good road conditions. You also would need a fork with tabs to mount the brake.

Disc brakes are really nice of wet or muddy conditions, though. The sand a salt they use in the winter here can scour through a rim faster than you would guess. Post a pic of your Crosscheck, mander. I am considering picking up either that or a Soma cross frame this spring.

I've considered a front disc on my long distance fixed gear which sees a lot of long tiring descents.
Or simply having both front and rear calipers may be just as effective......as far as braking arm fatigue is concerned during these long descents.

i was having the same thoughts of running a disc on my bike today

Disc is good for all weather

My winter rig next year is going to rock a Drum brake, Even better than disc for snow. You don't have to worry about brake fade when its -5

Well, I've never seen a track fork with disc tabs....I think you'd have to run either a cyclocross fork or some sort of clamp adapter...or maybe something really cool, that I don't even know about.

As for why/why not...there's not really any reason to. Not any reason not to either, besides overkill. I run discs on both my mountain bikes, but have zero use for them on my fixies, rim/no brakes are just fine.

does anyone have any pics of bikes with this setup?

^^^^^^^Exactly.

Rise and come out of hiding!

all I have is the surly steamroller fork so far, but I got the disc mount TiG'd on by my buddy (one of those "can weld a beer can" guys),...now all I need is the steamroller frame, and wheels, and,......

I have wanted a disc FG since I first thought of it, over a year ago

cool sheit

Any place that does frame work will braze on a set of disc mounts,

Or you could go with a lugged and bonded carbon fork so as not to disrupt for "vintage" look to much

disc brake front wheel is gonna kill some cheapie headsets.

it was suggested to me by my fellow wrenches, that if you're gonna run anything stronger than caliper brakes, you better be rollin' on some chris kings.

I'd love that kind of stopping power. My puny little center pull almost didn't stop me in time today when some idiot mistimed the yellow and ran a red in front of me. It is only the ultimate in jackass if the brake isn't connected to a lever.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2085/...b497e0e013.jpg

But it is a mountain bike. You can just see the disc at the top of the photo. Chainline looks odd because of camera angle. It is set up as a 26" rear / 29" front, but has a 26" front right now. Cog is bolted to the disc side. I may have to try a 700 rear wheel just to see...
Does it count as a flip/flop if you change cranks?

my weinnman centerpull brake stops so freakin hard, I actually have to be careful, because it's actually rather easy to lock up the front end, great for nose wheelies (FG's make manuals impossible tho)

the disc is just for the "thats so freakin tender" factor

It sounds like they are trying to sell you a Chris King headset. I don't believe that to be true.

I find that hard to believe. How is decelerating to the point of lifting the front wheel going to stress your headset more than running over a little bump? Bike shop wrenches say some of the darndest things... one told me that running chains with slack on a fixed gear stresses the bearings because of the snap when the drivetrain switches between forward and reverse.


****


It's not forum relevant, but here's my Crosscheck because barba asked to see it (attached). It's a dogs breakfast build of things I had around... heavy 36 spoke touring wheels with Marathons, 11-34 mountain cassette, 53-39 road crankset, 9sp DA barcons, mismatched stem spacers... It's totally fun as a nukeproof all-weather commuter. With a disc in front it ought to work even better for that purpose. I might fixify it when I get around to not being poor.

The Crosscheck frames aren't pretty but they sure get the job done. I considered the soma but with this sale I was able to find, this frame was much much cheaper, and the horizontal dropouts sort of sealed it. The colour is misty mountain grey, which is a genius marketing term for primer grey.