99 Specialized FSR Ground Control Brakes

banksy

Dirt Disciple
Hi all,

Im looking for some advice on brakes for my bike, it currently has the standard V brakes that came on it however im wanting to upgrade them to discs. Ive been told that i may need an adapter or something for the rear, also is it difficult to do?(i lose patience and concentration easy), any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers Guys
 
The 99 FSR had a special adaptor available which bolted to the v-brake mount and through a hole near the dropout, finding one might be a bit difficult tho as they only made them that year. They are very easy to fit (2 bolts) so if your happy fitting a disc brake then its no extra hassle.

I should say, there are other adaptors available, just im not familiar with them, so ill let others guide you on those.
 
Fantastic thanks for your help mate


If anyone does know about other adapters which are not as rare or of anyone selling one could you let me know please,

cheers
 
I have to say most of us with these frames have been through the pain barrier looking for these convertors and the sensible advice is to forget it, use a set of Magura V Brakes but keep your eyes open in the usual places and you may get lucky.
 
STATO":30czb3t4 said:
The 99 FSR had a special adaptor available which bolted to the v-brake mount and through a hole near the dropout, finding one might be a bit difficult tho as they only made them that year. They are very easy to fit (2 bolts) so if your happy fitting a disc brake then its no extra hassle.

I should say, there are other adaptors available, just im not familiar with them, so ill let others guide you on those.

Good luck looking for one,they really are quite literally "rocking horse ****"
 
Ok, as above i have been using a A2Z adapter on my 98 FSR since i bought it, it works OK, but twice now while attempting a steep climb and me stopping + holding the brakes, the A2Z adapter has rotated back on the dropout, this is a pain.

So i ordered the Onza adapter to see if it will fix things.

And it fits.....

You can see where the A2Z adapter has scratched the paint away on the dropout :roll: the bike is currently in the man cave drying out as i have resprayed both dropouts


20120407_134713.jpg



20120407_134727.jpg


Some thoughts, one of my dropouts is a little worn (done before i bought the bike) so i need my QR nice and tight, the supplied QR has broken!?! due to me over tightening it, not a problem for me as i converted the rear axle to a 10mm solid one anyway this after noon and now its bolted up with some track nuts.

You also get a little grub screw that is supposed to go through the adapter and into the dropout, i never fitted this,

1. because when fitted its overlapping the end of the dropout anyway, so i could not get a clean part of metal to drill the hole.

2. removing my rear wheel is a little bit trickier now because the adapter looks like its also for vertical dropouts, so it needs rotated a little to allow the wheel to come away from the dropout.

On the A2Z adapter i had to loosen all the allen head bolts then rotate the adapter rearwards to get the rear wheel off, with this one you cant rotate it rearwards because its braced up to the V brake mount, if you remove the QR you can get it off a lot easier, i cant do this no more as i converted to solid axle, but i can loosen the rear brake cable adjuster and it gives me enough slack to get the wheel on and off (tested this a few times)

My verdict, this is superior to the A2Z adapter in every way, i was never realy confident in the A2Z adapter, mainly because its free to slide about if you go backwards, this Onza one seams a LOT more secure, and looks a bit more trick!!
 
i have been on this mission before. and i got lucky after about a year of trolling ebay and this forum. however, in the meantime, i used a magura hs33 for the rear, and to be honest, i've not been in a hurry to replace it :)
get these:

http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... highlight=

they are second to none in an alternative to disc brake stopping power and low maintenance. i've had my set for years now and only bled them once! still provide ample power to the rear.

only reason i want to use a disc on the rear is to preserve the rim on my lovely minty Mavic D521 :p

you'll need a longer skewer for that onza - not sure where you'd get one thats decent quality though. but it does look to be a better solution that that A2Z adaptor that has q sketchy reputation ;)
 
To be honest, my bike came with a longer skewer for the rear anyway, not sure of the brand as its old and unmarked, but the skewer that came with the bike works fine with the Onza kit as i also tested that.

One of the first things i did when i got the bike was buy some nice shiny skewers for it and the rear would not fit with the A2Z adapter on it :LOL:

I had full intentions of converting to a solid rear axle anyway on the rear of the bike as i was curious to its benefits, its hard to tell from my minor ride around the car park at home, but it felt stiffer to me with less flex from the back end.

The part that failed on the Onza skewer was the section of thread that screws into the external cam, its an easy fix but to be honest i suspect that most other people with have no trouble with it, but as i have a worn dropout on the drive side, i had to have a few goes at tightening it up, as getting the power down in a high gear was moving the rear wheel on the drive side and the disc was rubbing on that chainstay bolt you have to file down.

If you can not get a sharkfin anywhere, then get the Onza adapter IMHO, its cheap, secure and works spot on, plus it looks pimp :)

The problem with the Magura stuff is that i want to keep the oldskool retro XT combined brake/shifters on the handle bars, i have a long term plan to swap the brake calipers on my bike for Avid BB7`s at some point, the Tektro ones that came with the bike are a bit crap, although the front now seams to have a reasonable amount of power on it now that it has a 203mm rotor to grab onto :twisted:
 
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