Retro-fitting caliper forks with v-brake mounts

[Mars]

Ahah, I love Google. Seems that the Trailblade forks are made from 31.8mm tubing.

[dr_gn]

Mars said:

itsnotarace said:

It is unlikely the Pace V brake kit is the correct width for the fork legs on BMX

The only details I could find is that the Pace ones are 34mm. There's no such info on the DMR ones

They are for trailblade 2 forks, so must presumably be 31.8mm diameter:

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?Par...

Jury rigging v-brake lugs onto forks seems like an expensive and potentially dangerous route you're going down when new forks with lugs appear to be only £10, but it's up to you.

[Mars]

dr_gn said:

Jury rigging v-brake lugs onto forks seems like an expensive and potentially dangerous route you're going down when new forks with lugs appear to be only £10, but it's up to you.

I would dispute "jury rigging" as the implication is a poor quality solution will result. I'd also dispute "dangerous" as little/no stress analysis is ever done on the materials/design, particularly as the design of Landing Gear was done before computers were readily available. They're massively over-engineered. Guys do endo-hops on them (when the front brake works).

Expensive - yes. Agreed. And for my own "nearly historically accurate" bike I'll be sticking with calipers, however my brother's new Ripper frame comes with V-brakes on the back and a caliper on the front. The difference in efficiency makes the front brake largely unusable. Rather than experiment with a variety of different calipers, it makes a lot more sense to implement the same solution found on the back.

[itsnotarace]

If you can get vbrake bosses on there maybe consider a Magura HS33 hydraulic brake, that would be awesome

[dr_gn]

Mars said:

dr_gn said:

Jury rigging v-brake lugs onto forks seems like an expensive and potentially dangerous route you're going down when new forks with lugs appear to be only £10, but it's up to you.

I would dispute "jury rigging" as the implication is a poor quality solution will result. I'd also dispute "dangerous" as little/no stress analysis is ever done on the materials/design, particularly as the design of Landing Gear was done before computers were readily available.

Well, if this is how you intend to fit V-brakes :

Mars said:

Just needs a centrally drilled hole in the braket through which you'd bolt the bracket to the fork, then you should be good to install v-brakes.

Apologies if I misunderstood your method there, but I would guess that the first time you apply the brakes, the horseshoe mount will simply spring away from the forks and the front of the pads will probably lock into the tyre. Dont forget that single pivot caliper brakes have a much longer bearing area along the pivot point (probably 15mm - 20mm instead of about 5mm for a horseshoe brace), plus they are not as efficient as v-brakes in terms of leverage.

If the DMR brackets fit, then fine, or if you have lugs brazed on, fine, but anything else seems a bit of an experiment on a safety critical part of a bike.

[Mars]

dr_gn said:

If the DMR brackets fit, then fine, or if you have lugs brazed on, fine, but anything else seems a bit of an experiment on a safety critical part of a bike.

Crikey, you hardly test it at high speed though do you?