Detectorguy
Member
I added hydraulic brakes to my bike and I only wish I had done it before ! Riding around town or on the trail I feel a lot safer with the new ad on of Hydraulic brakes.
Brakes Hydraulic Brakes
- Thread starter Detectorguy
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Absolutely, hydraulic brakes on a bike are the best thing ever. You have full stopping power with just two fingers on the brake lever. There's also no cable stretch and therefore no delay when you hit the brakes.
major masingil
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Dude, I'm jealous. I bought Maguras this past winter. The rear wheel conversion went easily. I wanted to upgrade from 185mm to 203mm on the front, but didn't realize that there wasn't a rotor post adapter from magura which would allow me to do that based on my fork's brake cylinder mounting hole dimensions. The best I could do is go down to 180mm on the front. I said frig it and put everything back to original calipers. By the time I decided I would be OK with 180 Hydraulic brakes on the front, it was riding season again. Hopefully this coming winter I can figure out how to get Hydraulics on the front.
Detectorguy
Member
The front brake cable was Major stretched and broke off in some of it, but that's the one I replaced 
Yeah
Yeah
m@Robertson
Well-known member
You sure about that? I have done Maguras on a variety of suspension and fixed forks. I have done 205's on everything except a Marzocchi Bomber fork that was manufactured in 1999... it had IS mounts and, even though I could have used a Magura adapter to match it, I was a little leery of putting a ring on that big on a fork so old.
Here's the Magura chart of all of their adapters (pdf link on this page. Scroll down a little)
https://magura.com/en/EUR/bicyle/original_spare_parts/adapters
If your fork has the typical 160mm post mount, then you need a QM42 to step up to a 203. If instead you have 180mm posts, then its a QM44. If your fork has a flat mount then yeah you are out of luck. Also, if things are just a bit out of alignment, get the Magura 1.5mm spacers. Better at realigning than a washer whose width will vary from one to the other.
major masingil
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Thanks m@. I wish you were right. I bought both of the adapters you referenced in a vain attempt to get-er-dun. My front forks 2010 Rock Shox Tora and are PM 140 (PM 5"). You should have seen some of the adapter/washer stacks I attempted. I'm pretty sure I can go to 180 on the front with the QM 45 adapter according to the chart. One of this winter's projects.
Bummed a bit because i was hoping to step up in rotor dia., but I'm telling myself, I'll be good with 180 Hydraulic on the front. I'll be going from160 to 203 on the rear. I'm only losing 5mm in rotor diameter on the front but gaining a piston.
Dude if no one has told you lately, I appreciate you and the thoughtful help you offer to the riders here. I've learned a lot from reading your blog and responses
m@Robertson
Well-known member
Oh wow a PM 140??? Yeah thats out there all right. For a fork like that I wouldn't even try a 203. For the same reason I wouldn't try it on my old 20th Century Marzocchi Bomber.
I think your plan to do a 180 is a sound one. But its worth mentioning I put a 160mm rotor on my Marzocchi forks, and coupled to the MT5 calipers my stopping power on steep hills was just fine, and I had a smaller disc that was kinder/gentler on my vintage forks. Maybe doing nothing is not such a bad idea.
BTW the back rotor on that bike is a 180 (same deal I'm trying to preserve an old frame never meant for that kind of torque) and its just fine, too. The brake performance really is defined by the pads and the calipers, and the feel comes from the levers. The big rotors in context with the rest of the system seem more to be about the ability to resist fade. With that in mind, I scored some Tektro 2.3mm thick rotors in a 160 and a 180 to use when I wear out the Magura 2.0mm ebike rotors on there now.
I think your plan to do a 180 is a sound one. But its worth mentioning I put a 160mm rotor on my Marzocchi forks, and coupled to the MT5 calipers my stopping power on steep hills was just fine, and I had a smaller disc that was kinder/gentler on my vintage forks. Maybe doing nothing is not such a bad idea.
BTW the back rotor on that bike is a 180 (same deal I'm trying to preserve an old frame never meant for that kind of torque) and its just fine, too. The brake performance really is defined by the pads and the calipers, and the feel comes from the levers. The big rotors in context with the rest of the system seem more to be about the ability to resist fade. With that in mind, I scored some Tektro 2.3mm thick rotors in a 160 and a 180 to use when I wear out the Magura 2.0mm ebike rotors on there now.
major masingil
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The front shock on my bike came with an adapter for the Avid caliper making the rotor 185mm. It doesn't work with the Maguras of course. It won't be very much of a sacrifice on rotor diameter.
I'm glad to hear your thoughts on the value of the additional set of pads. I wondered about the risk of the additional rotor diameter on the wheels. Mine are 29ers from 2010 and are narrow rims. The geometry on it is a lot different than today's mountain bikes. She's a Gary Fisher Cobia if anyone's interested.
One under reported benefit is the fact that rim brakes can actually eat up your rim, and lead to rim failure. It happened to me with an old BikeE recumbent that I rode all over the place for 20 years. No injury from that failure, but there could have been.
100% agree with you. My new e-bike not only has hydraulic brakes but for piston calipers and 203 mm rotors. Thing stops very
Not true.
