are disc brakes worth it ?

[Reid Welch]

By Cracky, rear wheel brakes is FINE, so long as you KWYADAWYADI* and don't follow the ass-ends of them newfangled
post 1924 autymobiles.

I drove a Model T Ford. I really did, full-time. Rear wheel brakes only!
Not a damn thing wrong with it for 25 thousand miles (if the pavement were dry) until one day I got cut off.
Four wheel brakes would not have saved me.

DOWNHILL conditions and sustained braking call for front wheel brakes; I'll allow for that,
and all bikes =should= have front brakes, mine excepted.

So, for weight transfer, braking power, I sit my ass a=waay back over the rear tire, and yell "Whoa, Nellie" and I stop nearly on a dime; or a quarter, anyway.

My coaster brake works as good as it did in 1911 for BIKE speeds. Not for ten mile downhills.
http://tinyurl.com/d2lfum
You boys is just a bunch 'a wussies, imo! :wink: LOOK STOP LISTEN for the cars;
anticipate kids, and run down dogs. My brake never squeals nor wears; I got a grease fittin' on the durned thing,
and cup and cone bearins'. An' the parts cost all of 50 cents to replace if ever they need replacing, which they don't.

So there.

Geezer Reid

*I did not coin the acronym. I only put it to the online dictionary.
Pronounce it: KWY-Ya-Da-Wy-A-Di (easy)
know what you are doing and why you are doing it

 

[Vim]

Another rear disc brake adapter is the one by Brake Therapy -
http://www.therapycomponents.com/conversion.htm

I don't really understand how it attaches to the hub?/axle?/dropout? but they say you order to the specific standard bike hub you have and it comes with the proper adapter. So if you could get it to work with a hub motor you'd probably have to do some modifications. The company has a highly rated customer service, so you could probably call them to see if installation with a hub motor is possible.

Here's a guy showing installation of the hub adapter on his blog with good photos of the parts -
http://killerv800.blogspot.com/2008/08/ ... raphy.html

 

[MitchJi]

Hi,

Yes and no. My design philosophy is to get the right size and type brake first, then fine tune it for the best performance. If the right sized disk works well with the standard pads, it will work even better with a more appropriate type pad. but the reverse isn't always true. The other problem is many of those sintered pads tear up the disc, and wear out faster.

My thinking was the opposite. Wouldn't larger discs (stop better at higher speeds) with non-sintered pads (a pad type formulated not to require high heat) be good for high speed due to the large disc size and work well at low speeds? On Matt's recumbent build when he switched to 8" discs he stated high speed stopping was much better but he didn't mention a problem with low speed use.

I would only consider sintered pads for downhill or other very hard usage.

 

[Reid Welch]

regarding the above: remember, folks, that disk brakes, against rim brakes, can offer only limited torque; sort of like a coaster brake offers less brake power for a given force input, than vee brakes. It's the TORQUE, or mechanical advantage: a vee brake has tremendous mechanical advantage over, say, a disk brake; its why mechanical cable pulls work so well there.


Disk brakes are the bees knees for the fronts. SO WHAT if they won't last so long in bike use as in auto they are thin disks of steel or alloy, not thick rotors of cast iron (an ideal braking material for heavy cars).
So, pads and discs will wear. Aggressive pads will wear the replaceable disks faster, but work so much better if hydraulic or well-sized than vee brakes;
unless wet or oily.

Bike brakes: nothing new under the sun for a century. Bigger brakes give more brake power for less brake effort, other things being equal.
Your results must vary tremendously.

I'll stick with my coaster brake for life; which by the looks of it, will not last long: my life, not the brake.

Front brakes rock and roll. Only fools like me can grow flowers from six feet under by back-pedaling. "Look Ma!" No head!"

 

[Drunkskunk]

Hi,


Wouldn't larger discs (stop better at higher speeds) with non-sintered pads (a pad type formulated not to require high heat) be good for high speed due to the large disc size and work well at low speeds?

Yes.
But at slower speeds, the smaller disk would work better.
All disk pads need some amount of heat to be most effective. bigger brakes just don't need as much pressure to stop slow, so they don't get the heat as fast or as hot.
Really any size will work, its just that there is an optimum size for the best effect at a given speed and weight.

As for Matt not noticing a diffrence when riding slow.. I didn't think he ever rode slow