Sppedster with disc on frontwheel?
 

We are about ordering a Co-motion Speedster - it has discbrake as standard on both rear and frontwheel. Will it affect riding performance negatively with the disc on the frontwheel? Will the fork have to made sriffer to take the forces from the disc? We are going to use the tandem in brevets.

Looks like its the same fork as used on the Primera which is spec'd without a disc. So I doubt there will be a ride difference versus rim brakes and a steel fork.

Front disc prevents you from using Co-Mo's carbon fiber fork, which likely would make some difference in the ride.

I don't see the CF fork as an option on the Speedster, so you might have to go to the Supremo if you wanted a CF fork anyway.

We have a Speedster with disk brakes. We also have a tandem with V brakes and one with cantilever brakes, so have something to compare it to. We are vary happy with the ride and handling of the Speedster. The disk is nice in the rain.

Dave

Check with Co-Motion about the front disc brake. They can give you some good insight about the front disc brake. I noticed the IbisTouche on your post. Are you replacing the Ibis with a Co-Motion? If so, I think that you will like the Co-Motion. I went from a Touche to a steel Co-Motion a few years ago and have liked the Co-Motion.

Stopping power will be over the top with the disc up front. We miss ours.

We own the 2010 Speedster with the carbon fiber Wound-up Duo Disc fork. It is a very nice setup which provides a great ride and amazing stopping power. I did lock them up a few times by accident until becoming accustomed to the braking performance.

I am not sure what your worry is regarding the performance with the disc on the front wheel. If you are concerned about the ability of the fork to handle the braking forces, that will not be a problem with the forks offered by Co-Mo. They sell many tandems with disc brakes and will not sell you a bike with an inadequate fork. If you are worried about having excessive stopping power on the front wheel, this is actually a good thing. When braking on a bicycle, the front brake does most of the work. Once you become accustomed to the braking power of the discs, you will enjoy the comfort of knowing you can make controlled emergency stops quickly when needed.

Good luck and enjoy your Speedster. It is a fine machine.

Just switched our 05 Speedster to a Wound-up Duo Disc fork - after having a rear disc and V-brakes in the front. Stopping power is improved as is brake modulation and now I won't have to worry about heating up the front wheel on long descents.

What I am worried about is if the tandems ride become too stiff by a fork which might be made more tough to take the braking force from the front disc.

Thank you for all the answers.
Carsten & Dorte

I don't have a lot of tandem experience. We just received our Speedster with the Duo Disc fork in late July. I can tell you that we typically ride 150 to 200 miles per week with a century every weekend. We plan to complete a SR brevet series on it next year. We have not experienced any significant comfort issues on this bike which says a lot since our single rides are recumbents. Since getting the tandem, our bents have been sitting in the garage gathering dust. We are having a blast!!

Dawn of Co-Motion mentioned the possibility of a stiff disc fork on T@H several years ago before Co-Motion started offering a front disc brake. I am sure that he could give you an answer and some insight as to how they worked out the disc fork. If the disc fork is still a concern then you could spec a V brake on front and a disc on back. That combination works well on my tandems.

I read that some half bikes with front discs had problems due to insufficiently stiff forks.
Have a half bike with a front disc on a curved fork. Have had no problems on mountain downhills. My Rawland Drakkar has been super in every condition I have encountered.

Don't mean to hijack but I'm converting a front V-brake speedster to disc and I'm torn about what spoke count to use when building the wheel. Team weight is around 310. 32 or 36? Using a Dyad rim...

Anybody got a Wound Up disc fork they'd trade for a non-disc Wound Up? :rolleyes:

Thanks,
Jeff