Any Mtn. Bike experts - Equipment upgrade ?

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  1. #1

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    Any Mtn. Bike experts - Equipment upgrade ?

    I am thinking of upgrading the equipment I have on a 11 year old mountain bike.

    I am mostly concerned with the brakes. I currently have it fitted with V-brakes but would like to upgrade to discs, however because of the age of the bike I only have the necessary mounts on the front (retrofitted rock shoks).

    I would like to know if there is any benefit from only having a disc brake on the front (The front seems to have the biggest effect on stopping a bike) If not are there brackets available that would allow the fitting of a disc brake on the rear of an old style bike.

    Any help is much appreciated


  2. #2

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    You're correct- if you know how to brake properly, then most of your stopping power comes from the front brake.

    So a disc brake on the front and a v-brake on the rear is a good upgrade. That's the setup that I have on my cross country bike because I like the simplicity of v-brakes. I find this combination provides adequate stopping power for anything in HK.

    If you want cheap and effective disc brakes, get Avid BB7s (not the BB5s). They are cable-actuated so you can re-use your existing v-brake lever. If you want marginally better stopping power, go with hydraulics (considerably more expense and messier to tinker with).

    Last edited by jgl; 09-11-2007 at 12:27 PM.

  3. #3

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    Thanks for the info...

    Is it easy enough to buy a single brake in HK?


  4. #4

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    It should be easy enough. As far as I know, brakes are not usually sold in sets.


  5. #5

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    Are you perchance riding a Killer V?


  6. #6

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    Did you perchance see a similar question in a different forum?


  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Stoob:
    Did you perchance see a similar question in a different forum?
    How'd you guess

    Hopefully this forum was a little more relevant than the bikeforums response.
    Last edited by jgl; 10-11-2007 at 05:57 PM.