Someone teach me about discs

mk1Matt

Retro Guru
Yeah I know it's not entirely retro, but I'm thinking about switching to discs. When riding home from work the last couple of days in the rain I've realised that a 5 second plus delay in waiting for my rims to become dry enough to stop me, is just getting a bit too scary.

What I don't know, is anything about discs whatsoever. My front forks are late 90's Bomber Z4 Air's with disc mounting holes a few inches apart, and the Klein has a rear disc mount on the chainstay with the holes about one inch apart.

I take it that these are standard mounts? Are there specific names for them so I know what I'm ordering?

Now onto hubs. I'm going to need to build new wheels (will probably keep the Sun Big Mammoth rims though), so are there different disc mounting types for the hubs? Any recommendations?

Lastly, I want to run cable operated discs to try and keep the cost down. Is the cable pull similar to that of a v-brake? I'd like to keep my Avid SD1.0 levers if possible.

That's all for now...
 
Yes the disc mounts on your frame and fork are a standard size, however there are varying types of hub fittings ( 6 bolt, 5 bolt and centrelock that i can think of) The most common ones are the 6 bolt one and yes you can use your v-brake levers with them. Even cheap cable discs can be set up to work really well and they are really easy to adjust.
 
your forks will almost certainly take a standard mount but I think your frame disc mount might not be international standard, have you got a pic of it?
 
while the cable discs work okay, the hydraulic work masses better. jez is selling a pristine pair of hope mono minis with new pads for £120 (well he was, dunno if still available) if not I've probs got another set.
I've only been on hydraulic discs for 3yrs, but I'm totally sold.

IS fork standard is 2 holes 51mm apart. post mount are threaded holes IIRC 74mm apart. looks like the industry is slowing moving to post mount as the fork standard. but both types are readily available with adapters for the older standard. 22mm hayes chainstay mount etc (TFM1160, wish I'd bought that 1 :(
 
If you're looking for new discs i can't recommend the latest Hope Mono M4's enough, they are simply brilliant.

I had Mono Mini's a couple of years ago (so either the '06 or '07 ones) and they were a pain. The older style levers seemed to leak on pretty much everyone's and i never got very good feel from them and they would fade quite badly too. I appreciate the quality with Hope brakes was (is?) a little variable, but the differance between those Mini's and my current M4's is like night and day - and their only a little more expensive.
 
Tallpaul":huksbfw4 said:
If you're looking for new discs i can't recommend the latest Hope Mono M4's enough, they are simply brilliant.

I had Mono Mini's a couple of years ago (so either the '06 or '07 ones) and they were a pain. The older style levers seemed to leak on pretty much everyone's and i never got very good feel from them and they would fade quite badly too. I appreciate the quality with Hope brakes was (is?) a little variable, but the differance between those Mini's and my current M4's is like night and day - and their only a little more expensive.

tired the new mono minis? the new pistons make a massive difference. honestly! they pump up slightly on real long alpine DHs, but I havent had any fade!
 
scant":22ihio25 said:
tired the new mono minis? the new pistons make a massive difference. honestly! they pump up slightly on real long alpine DHs, but I havent had any fade!

No, my old ones were such a PITA i wanted something differant. I tried a bike with Avid Juicy 5's and another with Hayes HFX9 and the Hayes felt great, i was very impressed. The Juicy's felt the same as my old Mono Mini's :roll:

But being a sucker for all things Hope i kept faith and figured, if nothing else, the M4's would fade less.
 
Thanks for the info guys.

I'd love to go hydro but I've got a wife, a baby and a golf gti, all of which suck all of my available cash away from bike projects!

I've just had confirmation that a mate of mine has a set of Deore cable discs left over from an upgrade. Looks like they'll do fine then, though I'll need an adaptor for the rear from the sounds of it.
 
mk1Matt":2lymas2a said:
Thanks for the info guys.

I'd love to go hydro but I've got a wife, a baby and a golf gti, all of which suck all of my available cash away from bike projects!

I've just had confirmation that a mate of mine has a set of Deore cable discs left over from an upgrade. Looks like they'll do fine then, though I'll need an adaptor for the rear from the sounds of it.

BETD do a mass of different adapters :)
 
Just started using dsics , well not yet bikes are not ready .

I have both , Lx hydraulic and Deore mechanical .

I think I am going to need an adaptor too for the Deore .
 
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