Redbullet

Hi,
I have a question about road bikes with disk brakes (I use rim brakes for the moment): How do disk brakes behave in case of repetitive mounting / dismounting of the front wheel, for transportation inside the car? Do they need special care and adjustments each time, or are they as simple to mount / dismount, as rim brakes?

Thanks

davidad

as long as you are careful there should be no problems. The disc is thin and it can be easily bent if not handled properly.

JanMM

Never a problem with the one bike I own with a front disc brake and which must have the front wheel removed to carry the bike on a roof rack.

trailangel

This is why you get a frame with thru axles. Lines up the same way every time.

dsaul

Just be careful not to pull the brake lever with the wheel out and it will be fine.

ted_major

That’s been my experience. I have one bike with discs and quick releases, and I think maybe once I’ve been able to reinstall the front wheel without the brake rubbing. Just about every time the wheel comes off, I have to re-align the caliper.

The bike with thru-axles? The caliper lines up with the disc perfectly every time. I don’t plan on having another bike with both discs and QRs.

Retro Grouch 

If you flip your bike over when replacing the wheel, try this trick insted:
Hold the bike upright while you thread the disc onto the brake caliper and the axle into the fork ends. Set the bike down until the axle bottoms in the fork ends, tighten the QR and you'll be good to go.

JanMM

Good advice for hydraulic brakes.

Olefeller77 

I do lots of one way riding then enjoy lunch with the wife. I remove the front wheel and roll the bike in the back of the mini van. Never an issue with the hyd brakes.

ted_major

I do that, but the caliper still rubs almost every time I reinstall the front wheel. I’ve gone through several sets of calipers, all of which behaved the same way. The bike in question is a 2016 GT Grade, which came w/ TRP HY-RD brakes (and Shimano 105 brifters). I went through a couple of pairs of those under warranty because it was impossible to adjust them so that they wouldn’t bottom out on the handlebars. TRP eventually sent me a pair of Spyre calipers, which worked w/o bottoming out, but like the HY-RDs needed re-aligning every time I took the front wheel off. Those were eventually replaced with Yokozuna Motokos, which worked great, but still required caliper re-alignment.

My best guess as to the root cause is that I use Nitto Randonneur bars, which have a traditional round bend instead of modern ergo bars that angle backwards in a straight line. I suspect an ergo bar would leave room for more lever travel, so that I have to adjust the pads close to the disc (which gives me a nice, firm lever feel) and there just isn’t any room for even the tiniest misalignment without caliper rub.

DorkDisk

On QRs, the lawyer tabs are to blame. Since one has to turn the skewer a few times to remove and install the wheel, different tensions are placed each time which throw the alignment out of wack. I've had good luck counting revolutions (usually 4 or 5) when removing the wheel and tightening the same amount of revolutions.

ted_major

I do that too (it takes 4 revolutions for this bike). Still can’t get the disc & caliper to stay aligned. Mostly I just don’t take the wheels off.

Bigbus

I've never not had to realign the caliper everytime I remove my front wheel for transport. It only takes a second to loosen the caliper, lightly squeeze the brake and retighten, but it's still a pain in the arse.

katsup

You can get some DT Swiss RWS skewers which are similar to thru axles. I never had much of a problem with normal QR skewers, maybe reseating the wheel once or twice. But a friend gave me some RWS skewers and I have yet to have a misalignment with them. These skewers are new to me though and I haven't taken the wheel off much since owning them.