Front Discs, Rear V-Brakes?

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BrumJim

Forum Stalwart (won't take the hint and leave...)
Looking for my N+1, and found a bike that meets my requirements for an all-weather commuting beast, ready to take the rain, snow, ice, rain, sun, and anything else this winter throws at it. It's second-hand, so a good price, and close by.
Only it fails to meet the spec on one important issue - it has V-brakes, and I was dreaming of something that I could rely on regardless of what the clouds are chucking at me.

So, I could replace the front forks and wheel so I could have disc braking on the front (fork isn't drilled for disc brakes). However I guess the back is more problematic. Which I guess isn't a problem as most of your braking effort is through the front wheels, and you don't want too much on the back anyway when it is wet.

Is this a stupid idea, or a sensible one? Will replacement fork and wheels leave me so out of pocket that I should have bought a bike with them as original fit? Will the braking difference cause me problems?

What are your thoughts?
 

I like Skol

A Minging Manc...
Am I missing something? I have never found V-brakes to be short of power in the wet but maybe I have just been lucky with the combinations of rim and pad (Old mavic rims and usually genuine shimano XT pads). The one thing that did let them down for me was the wear rate and the need to adjust as the pads wear. Other than that I wouldn't go to too much trouble to butcher a bike that was never meant to have discs just for the sake of having disc brakes. I did convert my MTB to disc brakes but that was to prevent the rim wear that occurs when off-road in mucky conditions.
 

sreten

Well-Known Member
Location
Brighton, UK
Hi,

Nothing wrong with your logic except hi performance pads on the
front would be a lot cheaper even if they don't last very long.

I rode a friends bike a while back that had ludicrously (compared
to what I'm used to) effective V-brakes, I was popping stoppies
all over the place in the dry, (and locking up the rear wheel),
and TBH if they were worse in the wet that would be no bad thing.

YMMV, ultimately disk brakes have smoother more progressive
braking, but V-brakes can be very good well set up for commuting.

rgds, sreten.
 

srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
Koolstop dual compound brake blocks - work well even in the wet. We have V-brakes (XTRs) front and back on our heavier tandem. Even fully laden in the pouring rain they work perfectly well.
 
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