Brake upgrade

[joeadams]

I'm just curious since everyone raves about disc brakes so much. How much work/skill/parts are involved in switching from a rear drum set up to a rear disc? Obviously a new wheel is in order but otherwise what is involved? New swingarm?

Also, to put dual discs on the front. Whats that gonna take? New forks and new wheel? I read another post that made me think of this dealing with putting spoked wheels on a bike and earl(i think) said that one didn't need a new wheel with one brake disc or 2.

Pardon my ignorance, I'm just curious and I got tools for christmas and some spare cash so.....well most of you know.

[earlfor]

Re: Brake upgrade

Joe, if you are changing from mag rims to spoke rims, It does not matter if your bike has one front disk or two because the only difference in the rims is if only one disk is to be used, the wheel has a plastic plate that snaps into the lug holes on the undisked side to cover them up for cosmetic purposes.

But.........if your bike has one front disk and you want to change to two,
(whether your change wheel style or not) you will need to change your triple trees and at least the left lower fork tube assembly because the lower left tube assembly on a bike that was not made with a double disk setup will not have the mounts cast into it for you to mount the 2nd disk brake. The triple tree spacing (fork tubes) is wider on a dual disk bike than it is on a single disk bike. (at least, that is my experience for 750's and I suspect the same was done with other models)

For the rear wheel, yep, you will need to get a rim made for a disk brake, a rear master cylinder with a bracket probably welded into place to mount it (or another swingarm) and a stabalizer bar and mount for the swing arm that bolts to the disk brake.

Earl

I'm just curious since everyone raves about disc brakes so much. How much work/skill/parts are involved in switching from a rear drum set up to a rear disc? Obviously a new wheel is in order but otherwise what is involved? New swingarm?

Also, to put dual discs on the front. Whats that gonna take? New forks and new wheel? I read another post that made me think of this dealing with putting spoked wheels on a bike and earl(i think) said that one didn't need a new wheel with one brake disc or 2.

Pardon my ignorance, I'm just curious and I got tools for christmas and some spare cash so.....well most of you know.

[joeadams]

Well I saw this on ebay and thought it might work. They are kinda ugly though. Any other model forks that would work? I figured new forks would be in order. I don't know about the rear set up, it seems as though it may be more of a pain in the arse than its worth.

Is having dualies up front worth it? I've never thought "Man these brakes suck" but comments I've read on here seem to point to dualies up front is essential.

[Anonymous]

Is having dualies up front worth it? I've never thought "Man these brakes suck" but comments I've read on here seem to point to dualies up front is essential.

Dual discs will stop harder, with less lever effort and better feel and fade less over repeated hard stops. So, yes, they are worth the effort.

In back, a well set up drum is fine, since so little stopping power is needed on the rear anyway. Just make sure your shoes are good and everything is clean and adjusted properly, then don't worry any more about the back end.

Mark

[redliner1973]

Also, it is somewhat harder to lock up a rear drum brake than it is a rear disc, so keep that in mind..