Fitting disc brakes to older mountain bikes

[The Doctor]

Hi all,

My aunty renovated couple of units and some tenant left behind 2 very old
MTBs (15 speed). I was wondering whether I could fit disc brakes to them.
It will probably cost more than getting a brand new MTB.

Thank you
Anthony

 

[flyingdutch]

Hi all,

My aunty renovated couple of units and some tenant left behind 2 very old
MTBs (15 speed). I was wondering whether I could fit disc brakes to them.
It will probably cost more than getting a brand new MTB.

Thank you
Anthony

yeah, it would.
gotta change fork, hub and rebuild wheel.
And that's only the front!
and if the mtb's are 15yrs old the quality may be dubious as well

 

[dewatf]

On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 22:15:43 GMT, The Doctor wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> My aunty renovated couple of units and some tenant left behind 2 very old
> MTBs (15 speed). I was wondering whether I could fit disc brakes to them.
> It will probably cost more than getting a brand new MTB.

MTBs with disk brakes have mountings on the frame for them, usually two
luggs on the left front fork and at the rear. 15 year old MTBs wouldn't
have them.

dewatf.

 

[Zebee Johnstone]

In aus.bicycle on Sat, 11 Mar 2006 05:25:37 GMT
dewatf <dewatf@!coldmail.com> wrote:
>
> MTBs with disk brakes have mountings on the frame for them, usually two
> luggs on the left front fork and at the rear. 15 year old MTBs wouldn't
> have them.

Nothing a decent welder couldn't fix? SHould be a steel frame after
all.

Zebee

 

[eddiec]

Hi all,

My aunty renovated couple of units and some tenant left behind 2 very old
MTBs (15 speed). I was wondering whether I could fit disc brakes to them.
It will probably cost more than getting a brand new MTB.

Thank you
Anthony

The real question here is 'why'? If you're that keen on restoring/using something that old then v-brakes would be a hyper-leap in performance enough already... Fussing with discs would just be creating trouble for yourself.

 

[tony f]

"The Doctor" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi all,
>
> My aunty renovated couple of units and some tenant left behind 2 very old
> MTBs (15 speed). I was wondering whether I could fit disc brakes to them.
> It will probably cost more than getting a brand new MTB.

Yes, yes it would.

Forks
hub
Disc rotors
Disc calipers
Disc levers (maybe not)
Rims (not essential, but why not)

Value of 15 spd mtb? Under $100.

Price of brand new (entry level) Giant mtb with discs and front suspension
$500-600.

The left behinds would probably be OK commuters - to the station and back!

Tony F

 

[Peter Signorini]

"The Doctor" wrote:

> My aunty renovated couple of units and some tenant left behind 2 very old
> MTBs (15 speed). I was wondering whether I could fit disc brakes to them.
> It will probably cost more than getting a brand new MTB.

In the MTB world, 15 speed MTBs are archaeological specimens, probably
pre-1984. If they're in good knick and significant name brands (eg. Araya,
Kuwahara, Fisher, Klein) then they may be of more interest and value to
someone like the Canberra Bicycle Museum. Otherwise they're only of scrap
value.

As other poster have said, if you want a disc equipped MTB go shopping, and
get suspension while you're at it.

--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)

 

[Theo Bekkers]

Peter Signorini wrote:

> In the MTB world, 15 speed MTBs are archaeological specimens, probably
> pre-1984. If they're in good knick and significant name brands (eg.
> Araya, Kuwahara, Fisher, Klein) then they may be of more interest and
> value to someone like the Canberra Bicycle Museum. Otherwise they're
> only of scrap value.

Dammit Peter, I went for a ride around the block this morning on my circa
1986 18 speed Repco Bush Bike.

Theo

 

[Terry Collins]

Peter Signorini wrote:

> In the MTB world, 15 speed MTBs are archaeological specimens, probably
> pre-1984. If they're in good knick and significant name brands (eg. Araya,
> Kuwahara, Fisher, Klein) then they may be of more interest and value to
> someone like the Canberra Bicycle Museum. Otherwise they're only of scrap
> value.

If this scrap is in SW Sydney Metro, then I'd be happy to come buy and
take it off your hands to save you the effort of cutting it up to put in
the scrap bins.

My 1984 MTB would definitely like the company. {.

 

[The Doctor]

eddiec <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

>
> The real question here is 'why'? If you're that keen on restoring/using
> something that old then v-brakes would be a hyper-leap in performance
> enough already... Fussing with discs would just be creating trouble for
> yourself.
>

Why? Well only to have a commuting bike. V-brakes sounds like a good idea.
How do I fit a V-brake where there was once a caliper brake?

 

[eddiec]

eddiec <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

>
> The real question here is 'why'? If you're that keen on restoring/using
> something that old then v-brakes would be a hyper-leap in performance
> enough already... Fussing with discs would just be creating trouble for
> yourself.
>

Why? Well only to have a commuting bike. V-brakes sounds like a good idea.
How do I fit a V-brake where there was once a caliper brake?

Calipers? bugger - that makes it trickier. Best thing would be to find a replacement fork that has cantliever post mounts. Local bike store should have some lying around cheap, or just scrounge hard rubbish - you're bound to find one around somewhere. Just make sure it's the same diameter, suitable length steerer, etc... If you're a Melbournian I'd have one you could use..

You'll also require new levers suitable for V-brakes. Again, these won't be expensive and could probably be picked up second hand cheap.

 

[Resound]

"The Doctor" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> eddiec <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
>>
>> The real question here is 'why'? If you're that keen on restoring/using
>> something that old then v-brakes would be a hyper-leap in performance
>> enough already... Fussing with discs would just be creating trouble for
>> yourself.
>>
>
> Why? Well only to have a commuting bike. V-brakes sounds like a good idea.
> How do I fit a V-brake where there was once a caliper brake?

Pick up an appropriate 2nd hand fork and associated parts.

Assemble.

Pull stoppies.

Fin.

 

[Bikesoiler]

eddiec <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

>
> The real question here is 'why'? If you're that keen on restoring/using
> something that old then v-brakes would be a hyper-leap in performance
> enough already... Fussing with discs would just be creating trouble for
> yourself.
>

Why? Well only to have a commuting bike. V-brakes sounds like a good idea.
How do I fit a V-brake where there was once a caliper brake?

"Caliper brake"? Smells like a cheapie MTB to me.
As others have said find a new/replacement fork. For the rear you are in trouble, no mounting posts on the frame. A better caliper will do for cruizy commuting but the whole beast dosen't sound worth much.

 

[Terry Collins]

The Doctor wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> My aunty renovated couple of units and some tenant left behind 2 very old
> MTBs (15 speed). I was wondering whether I could fit disc brakes to them.
> It will probably cost more than getting a brand new MTB.

Since this has mutated into any replacement brake with shocks, I'll let
you know that the latest Big W catle-log had a $88 MTB with front shocks
and matching brakes { if you want to swap them over.

Just compare your head stem lengths first.

 

[Bikesoiler]

The Doctor wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> My aunty renovated couple of units and some tenant left behind 2 very old
> MTBs (15 speed). I was wondering whether I could fit disc brakes to them.
> It will probably cost more than getting a brand new MTB.

Since this has mutated into any replacement brake with shocks, I'll let
you know that the latest Big W catle-log had a $88 MTB with front shocks
and matching brakes { if you want to swap them over.

Just compare your head stem lengths first.

You do get a shock with these cheap POS bikes.

The shock is just how badly they are made. That and the "suspension" is worse than an average rigid fork.

 

[Graeme Dods]

On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 22:15:43 GMT, The Doctor wrote:

> My aunty renovated couple of units and some tenant left behind 2 very old
> MTBs (15 speed).

Better than a friend of mine when his tenant left without warning. All that
was left behind was a broken window, a pool of blood on the floor and a box
load of luminous plaster busts of Elvis. There must have been a story
behing that but nobody could ever work it out.

Graeme

 

[Resound]

On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 22:15:43 GMT, The Doctor wrote:

> My aunty renovated couple of units and some tenant left behind 2 very old
> MTBs (15 speed).

Better than a friend of mine when his tenant left without warning. All that
was left behind was a broken window, a pool of blood on the floor and a box
load of luminous plaster busts of Elvis. There must have been a story
behing that but nobody could ever work it out.

Graeme

He fed the busts of Elvis after midnight, didn't he? No matter how much they plead for deep-fried peanut butter sandwiches, never EVER feed them after midnight.

 

[dave]

Resound wrote:
> Graeme Dods Wrote:
>
>>On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 22:15:43 GMT, The Doctor wrote:
>>
>>
>>>My aunty renovated couple of units and some tenant left behind 2 very
>>
>>old
>>
>>>MTBs (15 speed).
>>
>>Better than a friend of mine when his tenant left without warning. All
>>that
>>was left behind was a broken window, a pool of blood on the floor and a
>>box
>>load of luminous plaster busts of Elvis. There must have been a story
>>behing that but nobody could ever work it out.
>>
>>Graeme
>
>
> He fed the busts of Elvis after midnight, didn't he? No matter how much
> they plead for deep-fried peanut butter sandwiches, never EVER feed them
> after midnight.
>
>
ROTFLMAO THat was genius

Dave