Can I fit disc brakes to a 1989 steel frame road bike?
06-13-22, 11:39 AM
#51
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Do they have enough reach? particularly in front
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06-13-22, 12:01 PM
#52
Blamester
Those brakes should work fine.
Lots of people use them very successfully.
Is the bike the wrong size or are the levers positioned badly.
It could also be you have the pads to close to the rim so your hands can't get around the levers properly at the contact point.
Lots of people use them very successfully.
Is the bike the wrong size or are the levers positioned badly.
It could also be you have the pads to close to the rim so your hands can't get around the levers properly at the contact point.
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06-13-22, 06:40 PM
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The pads are extremely close to the rim, I'm constantly bending over to check that they haven't shifted into it.. front and back yeah.. that could definitely be it
06-13-22, 07:39 PM
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Loosen your damn brakes so the lever moves and you have some power and modulation.
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06-13-22, 07:55 PM
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Love all this insight!
Tell me, what's your take on campy brakes with Shimano levers?
I saw tektro stuff, would they replace my 105 levers? Or just attach to the 105 mechanism?
I like the idea of "short pull" levers, I'm not familiar with them.
I do feel tha power when I ride in my drops, I often get down there on slopes and such, the brakes work fine then.. it's just that feeling of a simple job done badly when my fingers are coming around the hoods and just under the upper swell on the levers.. bums me out. Your tektro stuff sounds great but I've dropped over 1k putting shiny things on this 89 frame and I should probably draw a line somewhere lol (bought the aforementioned campy brakes about an hour ago, woe is me)
Tell me, what's your take on campy brakes with Shimano levers?
I saw tektro stuff, would they replace my 105 levers? Or just attach to the 105 mechanism?
I like the idea of "short pull" levers, I'm not familiar with them.
I do feel tha power when I ride in my drops, I often get down there on slopes and such, the brakes work fine then.. it's just that feeling of a simple job done badly when my fingers are coming around the hoods and just under the upper swell on the levers.. bums me out. Your tektro stuff sounds great but I've dropped over 1k putting shiny things on this 89 frame and I should probably draw a line somewhere lol (bought the aforementioned campy brakes about an hour ago, woe is me)
I was assuming a non-brifter system on your bike. Maybe mis-reading on my part. If you are using brifters, you are out of luck with Tektro. Their levers are basically the levers of 35 years ago with modern engineering, (I've never made the jump to brifters because 1) I'd have to shell out real money; all my bikes are projects from scratch and 2) they limit so many options and flexibility and 3) I learned to shift DTs in my sleep 45 years ago.)
I haven't ridden Campy dual pivots. I'd bet they have a touch less power than Shimano just based on company philosophies but they'd work just fine with Shimano levers. I'd also guess the Shimano levers have a touch less power than the Tektros.
If you want to stick with brifters, I'd second the advice by the other posters. Best possible cable housing. Koolstops (whatever your other choices are), super clean cable runs, as few and as good housing to bare cable and back transitions as possible. Oil the cable at the transitions. And I'd stick with Shimano dual pivots simply because they have proven to me they are real stoppers.
My brain just clicked. Another possibility but more money spent - The Tektros and MicroShifters. Never tried it so I know little about what's involved.
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06-14-22, 04:31 AM
#56
Blamester
Setting up brakes is not actually intuitive.
A close pad distance is not always best.
You can figure out the best distance for you.
Do a little testing at different distances.
In the beginning you don't need to ride the bike to test them.
You will rarely need maximum braking power unless you are very reckless.
But obviously when you need it you must have it.
So that's the first thing to figure out.
The lever can only move as far as the handlebar and that's it. That's the maximum braking that can be achieved with your brake system regardless of anything else. The best cables, pads, levers or calipers can't change that.
If you pull the brake fully and the pads do not engage the rim its to far.
If you pull it and it touches after a 1 mm and you still have 30 mm of lever travel left its too close. Now I just made up these figures as an example and they are not definitive. You have to figure them out.
So the best way is too set the pad distance so the lever moves halfway before it touches.
Now you have to judge is that enough braking for you.
Is it comfortable to pull? Is it easy to pull?
Put the cable adjuster in the middle of it's adjustment and change the distance.
Try it from the hoods and from the drops.
Like I said you don't need to ride the bike yet. All you want is to find the best position for you.
By sitting on the bike and trying the position.
Take your time. Try different distances get a feel for it. Both brake do not have to be the same.
Once you are happy try a slow gentle ride.
Test them out gently. You may decide you need to change them. Like I said take your time and do it right. It's important and a half an hour or an hour is time well spent. Once you are close to that nice spot micro adjust.
Once you have found the best position you can then determine whether these brakes or pads or cables is actually the problem. And what if anything needs changing.
But most important is to test the brakes properly.
Sitiing on the bike but not riding pull the brakes as hard as you can. This is the test.
Does the cable slip or the pads move or does the lever move. Everything goes back to it proper position once you release the lever and you can do it again. Now you know for sure you can achieve maximum power and nothing will go wrong.
I have never seen anyone do this test in all the YouTube videos out there.
A close pad distance is not always best.
You can figure out the best distance for you.
Do a little testing at different distances.
In the beginning you don't need to ride the bike to test them.
You will rarely need maximum braking power unless you are very reckless.
But obviously when you need it you must have it.
So that's the first thing to figure out.
The lever can only move as far as the handlebar and that's it. That's the maximum braking that can be achieved with your brake system regardless of anything else. The best cables, pads, levers or calipers can't change that.
If you pull the brake fully and the pads do not engage the rim its to far.
If you pull it and it touches after a 1 mm and you still have 30 mm of lever travel left its too close. Now I just made up these figures as an example and they are not definitive. You have to figure them out.
So the best way is too set the pad distance so the lever moves halfway before it touches.
Now you have to judge is that enough braking for you.
Is it comfortable to pull? Is it easy to pull?
Put the cable adjuster in the middle of it's adjustment and change the distance.
Try it from the hoods and from the drops.
Like I said you don't need to ride the bike yet. All you want is to find the best position for you.
By sitting on the bike and trying the position.
Take your time. Try different distances get a feel for it. Both brake do not have to be the same.
Once you are happy try a slow gentle ride.
Test them out gently. You may decide you need to change them. Like I said take your time and do it right. It's important and a half an hour or an hour is time well spent. Once you are close to that nice spot micro adjust.
Once you have found the best position you can then determine whether these brakes or pads or cables is actually the problem. And what if anything needs changing.
But most important is to test the brakes properly.
Sitiing on the bike but not riding pull the brakes as hard as you can. This is the test.
Does the cable slip or the pads move or does the lever move. Everything goes back to it proper position once you release the lever and you can do it again. Now you know for sure you can achieve maximum power and nothing will go wrong.
I have never seen anyone do this test in all the YouTube videos out there.
Last edited by blamester; 06-14-22 at 04:35 AM.
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06-14-22, 09:50 AM
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Setting up brakes is not actually intuitive.
A close pad distance is not always best.
You can figure out the best distance for you.
Do a little testing at different distances.
In the beginning you don't need to ride the bike to test them.
You will rarely need maximum braking power unless you are very reckless.
But obviously when you need it you must have it.
So that's the first thing to figure out.
The lever can only move as far as the handlebar and that's it. That's the maximum braking that can be achieved with your brake system regardless of anything else. The best cables, pads, levers or calipers can't change that.
If you pull the brake fully and the pads do not engage the rim its to far.
If you pull it and it touches after a 1 mm and you still have 30 mm of lever travel left its too close. Now I just made up these figures as an example and they are not definitive. You have to figure them out.
So the best way is too set the pad distance so the lever moves halfway before it touches.
Now you have to judge is that enough braking for you.
Is it comfortable to pull? Is it easy to pull?
Put the cable adjuster in the middle of it's adjustment and change the distance.
Try it from the hoods and from the drops.
Like I said you don't need to ride the bike yet. All you want is to find the best position for you.
By sitting on the bike and trying the position.
Take your time. Try different distances get a feel for it. Both brake do not have to be the same.
Once you are happy try a slow gentle ride.
Test them out gently. You may decide you need to change them. Like I said take your time and do it right. It's important and a half an hour or an hour is time well spent. Once you are close to that nice spot micro adjust.
Once you have found the best position you can then determine whether these brakes or pads or cables is actually the problem. And what if anything needs changing.
But most important is to test the brakes properly.
Sitiing on the bike but not riding pull the brakes as hard as you can. This is the test.
Does the cable slip or the pads move or does the lever move. Everything goes back to it proper position once you release the lever and you can do it again. Now you know for sure you can achieve maximum power and nothing will go wrong.
I have never seen anyone do this test in all the YouTube videos out there.
A close pad distance is not always best.
You can figure out the best distance for you.
Do a little testing at different distances.
In the beginning you don't need to ride the bike to test them.
You will rarely need maximum braking power unless you are very reckless.
But obviously when you need it you must have it.
So that's the first thing to figure out.
The lever can only move as far as the handlebar and that's it. That's the maximum braking that can be achieved with your brake system regardless of anything else. The best cables, pads, levers or calipers can't change that.
If you pull the brake fully and the pads do not engage the rim its to far.
If you pull it and it touches after a 1 mm and you still have 30 mm of lever travel left its too close. Now I just made up these figures as an example and they are not definitive. You have to figure them out.
So the best way is too set the pad distance so the lever moves halfway before it touches.
Now you have to judge is that enough braking for you.
Is it comfortable to pull? Is it easy to pull?
Put the cable adjuster in the middle of it's adjustment and change the distance.
Try it from the hoods and from the drops.
Like I said you don't need to ride the bike yet. All you want is to find the best position for you.
By sitting on the bike and trying the position.
Take your time. Try different distances get a feel for it. Both brake do not have to be the same.
Once you are happy try a slow gentle ride.
Test them out gently. You may decide you need to change them. Like I said take your time and do it right. It's important and a half an hour or an hour is time well spent. Once you are close to that nice spot micro adjust.
Once you have found the best position you can then determine whether these brakes or pads or cables is actually the problem. And what if anything needs changing.
But most important is to test the brakes properly.
Sitiing on the bike but not riding pull the brakes as hard as you can. This is the test.
Does the cable slip or the pads move or does the lever move. Everything goes back to it proper position once you release the lever and you can do it again. Now you know for sure you can achieve maximum power and nothing will go wrong.
I have never seen anyone do this test in all the YouTube videos out there.
06-17-22, 02:51 AM
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Here's the final outcome: Shimano Ultegra brakes with Kool stop pads. (For the record, I think I can confirm that the previous brakes were tektros)
They're stopping on a dime now. Well, without skidding ofc.
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06-17-22, 02:26 PM
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Update: I've decided I'll just try to get top tier rim brakes instead of disc brakes.
The title says it all, my bike has a vintage steel frame from 1989, I'm wondering if I can install disc brakes?
I'm not super confident in my brake pads' ability to stop me in a pinch, and I'd rather the disc solution as it requires less pressure on the brake levers to affect stoppage, as far as I understand it.. I recently took the regular, how would you call it, horizontal lever brakes off my bike to free up handlebar real estate, so I'm only using the brakes in my gear levers and I'm still getting used to it.
.. my wheels are campagnolo Zonda wheels - would they need specific brakes?
Note: I put this here because I'm not sure it is a road bike specific question? I dunno, hope nobody minds.
The title says it all, my bike has a vintage steel frame from 1989, I'm wondering if I can install disc brakes?
I'm not super confident in my brake pads' ability to stop me in a pinch, and I'd rather the disc solution as it requires less pressure on the brake levers to affect stoppage, as far as I understand it.. I recently took the regular, how would you call it, horizontal lever brakes off my bike to free up handlebar real estate, so I'm only using the brakes in my gear levers and I'm still getting used to it.
.. my wheels are campagnolo Zonda wheels - would they need specific brakes?
Note: I put this here because I'm not sure it is a road bike specific question? I dunno, hope nobody minds.
Just because you can, doesnt mean you should
A framebuilder can braze on a disc mount out back and you could source a new fork with mounts up front --- but there are good brakes out there and --- just noticed this thread is 3 pages long, so you likely have a handful of good alternatives suggested
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