OCR Touring disc brakes?
 

This thread has probably been run in the past, but I'm new and don't know anything about disc brakes. I am looking at possibly buying a used OCR Touring bike that has disc brakes. Are disc brakes a good idea on a touring bike? Are they hard to maintain? Are they reliable? Are they easy to take off if I want to put on regular brakes? Thanks for helping the newbie.

The mechanical disc brakes on the OCR Touring are reliable and easy to work on once you learn how. Parts availability would probably be the major drawback. I am pretty sure the OCR T has posts for cantilever brakes, so it's just a matter of removing the disc hardware and installing the canti's and re-routing the cables.

I love my disc brakes on my 2004 Giant OCR Touring. They are so much more powerful than any other brakes I've used (V and cantilever). Also I like that they are much less affected by the weather. When I have a flat, the discs make changing the tube much easier. I want to have discs on all my touring bikes. Discs forever!

Moose, the OCR Touring frame "does" have posts for the changeout to cantilever brakes, but when you take disc brakes off, do you have to do anything with the hubs of the wheels or with the brake levers or do you just redo the cables? I really know nothing about them, it just seems like there are a lot of parts.

OK, all you need to do is remove the discs from the hubs and the disc brake calipers from the fork and chainstay. You can probably get away with just shortening the cables, but you may just want to save them as is and use new ones with the new brakes, in case you decide to re-install the discs. Your hubs will work fine without the discs, just a little funny looking.

Your road brake levers will work best with cantilever brakes, and you'll need to install cable stops at the headtube and seat post/stay (unless the OCR T has those already too).

V-Brakes can be used too, but you'll need to install cable transports (there's another name for these things, I can't remember). Some people think those things can be problematic though.

You could use V Brakes with the road levers if you use the travel agent.