rumrunn6

Anybody put disk brakes on a '70s era 10-speed? I don't know that I would go through the trouble and expense myself but I thought it would be interesting to read about what would go into it.

rhenning

Huffy/Murray sold such a bike in the early 1970s. It didn't work all that good. Roger

rotharpunc

i think they mean adding modern discs to a vintage bike

rumrunn6

OK, but I meant retrofit.

purevl

You almost certainly have to add a brace between the stays and replace the fork, the torque placed on the frame by a disc brake is huge.

rotharpunc

???isn't that the same thing?

rumrunn6

I didn't see your post

tatfiend 

I do not know of any frame adapters available which means a trip to a frame maker to add disc brake caliper mounts to the rear of the frame and the fork at a minimum. Probably easier, and safer, to retrofit a disc brake fork if you can find one with a 1" steerer.

Then you have to think about a frame repaint at least in the brazed on area. Probably cost for modifying frame and fork will be in the same range as adding braze ons for canti brakes to a frame that did not originally have them.

roccobike

From a practical and cost standpoint, would it not be easier to buy a used, low end mountain bike like a Trek 4300 or Specialized Hard Rock that's only three or four years old and add disc brakes to it and convert the tires (maybe rims too) to a more narrow road set up? How about a hybrid, maybe they are more adaptable.

jjvw

Didn't Phil Wood have a rear disk brake add-on kit many, many years ago? If I recall correctly, it didn't work very well.

rotharpunc

yes and yes, a novelty now, but Ive heard it was crap

FirstFlight

We had bought several hundred old Shimano disc brakes that were destined for those inexpensive 10 speed bikes from the late 1970's. We're down to the last 20 or so of them. The instruction book has a date of 1978 on it so I would guess that would be from that era. The torque arm had a clamp that wrapped around the stay but there were no frame mods. The main difference would be in the amount of power generated by new discs. These old one were more in the "speed modulator" category.

BuffaloJim

I still have my AMF Black Gold disc break 10 speed. Still works fine but used very little over the years. Very heavy frame. If the disc were to wear out or fail I would have to retrofit with caliper style rear break.

AlexCyclistRoch

If I remember, those were considered more of a "drag brake", good for loaded touring bikes for descending long hills. Only recommended as a third brake.

T-Mar

Shimanio had a disc brake at least as early as 1972. By 1978, they were into the 3rd generation, the "self-energizing" Type E disc brake. The prervious generations included both a mechanical and hydraulic disc brake. Bridgestone also had a disc brake in the mid-1970s.