disc brakes

[TravisButlerMotorBike]

Imma start this off by saying im sure plenty will have an opinion about this. Lets remember opinions are like a holes. Everybodys got one. Most all of them stink. But in the Spirit of being idk actually helpful, here was my disc brake solution for the schwindiller. BTW one of the best, toughest, nicest bikes i've ever owned. As you seen for the front they do make an adapter piece for a front disc break. Works absolutely fine. Now if your running the stock spoke tires like i am, the rear tire is gonna be a little tricky. Im going to explain it best i can, and if im feeling frisky later ill add a picture. First i bought a 44 mm 6 hole spacer. The 6 holes were threaded. This upset my drill, so i let him go to town. Next i bought a 36 - 41 tooth sprocket (dealers choice), and a 203 mm rotor. I bolted it together in the order of (from the outside in) rotor, spacer, sprocket. Then i trimmed off the excess bolt material past the nuts. Once everything was flush i took it all back apart. I then took the 9 bolts to bolt the sprocket to the spokes and place them in the 9 holes in the sprocket. After that very carefully re-bolt the rotor back on to the sprocket. Once that whole setup is together you can proceed bolting the whole get up on to your tire. You may have to dremel/sand the inside of the sprocket/spacer/rotor combo to make if fit snugly over the hub. But with a couple of 10mm wrenches and time you will get the whole thing bolted together evenly. And viola, rear disc brake.

Tip Time: Replace all the bolts with high grade whatever. Dont use the stock "butter" bolts. The only bad experience ive had using this setup was the first time i used harbor freight bolts to bolt everything together. Cue a year later, im on my way home from work, in the dark, doing 45, down hill, and my rotor bolts snapped off. It didnt wreck me, but i had no brakes, and it made my chain jump 3 times in 200 yards. I replace the bolts and bam no more problems. Second, if you do this everything must be nice, and super tight, but you also must make sure you dont strip any of the nuts or bolts. They are kinda like domino's. Once one goes its only a matter of time. Third, on the swindler the wheels are 27.5 inches, idk why, its stupid, but they are so you have to use the rubber "pineapple" mounts, but if your doing this on a 26 inch tire i recommend buying the CNC'ed "pineapple" mounts. I did and they worked great. i also filled the gaps where the spokes go with permatex gasket material just to make a little rubber bed for the spokes. Its the little things right?

Bonus Round: To mount the caliper. They make these cheap little adapters to mount the calipers. One end is supposed to go on your rear axle between the axle nut and the dropout. And the other end is supposed to clamp onto the seat stay. Ebay disc brake adapter and youll see what i mean. It'll work that way, but not well. Me personally, I straighten out the weird little bend in it that makes it pop out from the dropouts, so the whole thing is flat. Then the part that gets squished between the axle nut and dropout, i cut that off. Once i line everything up where i want it/ where it fits i drill a hole it the adapter, and the dropout, and just bolt the s**t together, loctite, and trim excess bolt. Next the part that clamps onto the seat stay tends to have some "slideage" after a couple hard brakes (i.e. playing in traffic) So i, where it lines up to clamp on the the seat stay, cut a little slit in said seat stay, get rid of the clampy part, slide the end into the slit, drill a hole through and bolt. Again loctite, and trim.

In conclusion, your gonna have to put your own flair on it, add a couple washer spacers here or there to make everything line up right. But ive used this system on 4 different bikes now, and have had only 1 problem, which i listed about. If you cant afford 120 - 150 for mag/alum wheels this can be achieved for under 50 usually. You may have some rubbage on the bottom of the caliper from the chain, dont hurt nothing, and its a great way to make your bike stop on a dime. I KNOW that plenty of people will want to criticize this w/o even trying it, but dont, please just dont. I never really realized how discouraging some people can be until i read 4 hours worth of comments here. But if your do have some advice or ideas feel free to post, I'm all about making it better. Im sure im not the first one to do this, but I havent seen it recommended anywhere else. Lastly, i know its a lot of reading so if you made it this far thanks!

 

[KCvale]

Disc brakes make a terrible after thought 'bolt on' option to add.

They have to be in precise alignment at all times or you'll wear the dime size disc pads out in short order.

 

[gary55]

Imma start this off by saying im sure plenty will have an opinion about this. Lets remember opinions are like a holes. Everybodys got one. Most all of them stink. But in the Spirit of being idk actually helpful, here was my disc brake solution for the schwindiller. BTW one of the best, toughest, nicest bikes i've ever owned. As you seen for the front they do make an adapter piece for a front disc break. Works absolutely fine. Now if your running the stock spoke tires like i am, the rear tire is gonna be a little tricky. Im going to explain it best i can, and if im feeling frisky later ill add a picture. First i bought a 44 mm 6 hole spacer. The 6 holes were threaded. This upset my drill, so i let him go to town. Next i bought a 36 - 41 tooth sprocket (dealers choice), and a 203 mm rotor. I bolted it together in the order of (from the outside in) rotor, spacer, sprocket. Then i trimmed off the excess bolt material past the nuts. Once everything was flush i took it all back apart. I then took the 9 bolts to bolt the sprocket to the spokes and place them in the 9 holes in the sprocket. After that very carefully re-bolt the rotor back on to the sprocket. Once that whole setup is together you can proceed bolting the whole get up on to your tire. You may have to dremel/sand the inside of the sprocket/spacer/rotor combo to make if fit snugly over the hub. But with a couple of 10mm wrenches and time you will get the whole thing bolted together evenly. And viola, rear disc brake.

Tip Time: Replace all the bolts with high grade whatever. Dont use the stock "butter" bolts. The only bad experience ive had using this setup was the first time i used harbor freight bolts to bolt everything together. Cue a year later, im on my way home from work, in the dark, doing 45, down hill, and my rotor bolts snapped off. It didnt wreck me, but i had no brakes, and it made my chain jump 3 times in 200 yards. I replace the bolts and bam no more problems. Second, if you do this everything must be nice, and super tight, but you also must make sure you dont strip any of the nuts or bolts. They are kinda like domino's. Once one goes its only a matter of time. Third, on the swindler the wheels are 27.5 inches, idk why, its stupid, but they are so you have to use the rubber "pineapple" mounts, but if your doing this on a 26 inch tire i recommend buying the CNC'ed "pineapple" mounts. I did and they worked great. i also filled the gaps where the spokes go with permatex gasket material just to make a little rubber bed for the spokes. Its the little things right?

Bonus Round: To mount the caliper. They make these cheap little adapters to mount the calipers. One end is supposed to go on your rear axle between the axle nut and the dropout. And the other end is supposed to clamp onto the seat stay. Ebay disc brake adapter and youll see what i mean. It'll work that way, but not well. Me personally, I straighten out the weird little bend in it that makes it pop out from the dropouts, so the whole thing is flat. Then the part that gets squished between the axle nut and dropout, i cut that off. Once i line everything up where i want it/ where it fits i drill a hole it the adapter, and the dropout, and just bolt the sh*t together, loctite, and trim excess bolt. Next the part that clamps onto the seat stay tends to have some "slideage" after a couple hard brakes (i.e. playing in traffic) So i, where it lines up to clamp on the the seat stay, cut a little slit in said seat stay, get rid of the clampy part, slide the end into the slit, drill a hole through and bolt. Again loctite, and trim.

In conclusion, your gonna have to put your own flair on it, add a couple washer spacers here or there to make everything line up right. But ive used this system on 4 different bikes now, and have had only 1 problem, which i listed about. If you cant afford 120 - 150 for mag/alum wheels this can be achieved for under 50 usually. You may have some rubbage on the bottom of the caliper from the chain, dont hurt nothing, and its a great way to make your bike stop on a dime. I KNOW that plenty of people will want to criticize this w/o even trying it, but dont, please just dont. I never really realized how discouraging some people can be until i read 4 hours worth of comments here. But if your do have some advice or ideas feel free to post, I'm all about making it better. Im sure im not the first one to do this, but I havent seen it recommended anywhere else. Lastly, i know its a lot of reading so if you made it this far thanks!

If what you have fabed works well and lasts without damaging your frame what more could you ask for.
I would copy the mount form a bike that has the mount integrated to the frame making it a bit larger for adjustments, Then attach the cal. to the mount, place it on the rotor and adjust till it was at the proper height and angle, then bungee the brake lever, cover everything to protect from weld spatter, and tack weld the mount to frame. Then take everything apart and finish the weld. Still that's just how this a hole would go about it stink or not.
Then again I haven't done this. Only thought about how I am going to do it on a upcoming build so would like to see some pics. of your approach.

 

[TravisButlerMotorBike]

Yeah welding is definitely a preferable way to go but I didn't have a welder and was pissed off one day when I finally figured all this out, LOL. And yeah, whether or not you have the $250 nice professional mag wheel setup, or the $50 bolt on backyard engineer approach, if your things are out of alignment then you're going to wear out your brake pads. But if you take the time to align right I found a nice pair of sintered all metal pads have no problem lasting all-season. I just woke up, let me get some coffee in me and I'll add some pictures.

A little background. I live in a hilly area so i prefer some gears. So i took my Schwinn Swindler rear wheel, removed the rear coaster brake hub, added a 7 speed hub picked up at the local bicycle junk yard, and relaced it. Noteable: When relaced, i moved the rim to the middle as best i could, to give each side as much room as possible.

Freewheel side view of my 27.5 Swindler wheel.

20170405_133922[1]

• TravisButlerMotorBike
• Apr 5, 2017

Top view, showing the rotor, the spacer, the sprocket, the "pineapple" clamp.

20170405_133935[1]

• TravisButlerMotorBike
• Apr 5, 2017

Rotor side, looking from the outside looking in.

20170405_133954[1]

• TravisButlerMotorBike
• Apr 5, 2017

Disc brake adapter set up, This was an earlier model, before i decided it was better to mount the top clampy internally. Cut the slit, sharpened the adapter to a point, then clamped. The point goes into the slit when braking to avoid slippage. Ive done 40-50 to 0 skidding plenty of times, works fine.

20170405_134425[1]

• TravisButlerMotorBike
• Apr 5, 2017

Birds eye of the point and slip, although you cant really see it.

20170405_134436[1]

• TravisButlerMotorBike
• Apr 5, 2017

Finally my poor schwindiller, missing the motor. in the middle of a rebuild.

20170405_134457[1]

• TravisButlerMotorBike
• Apr 5, 2017

 

[TravisButlerMotorBike]

If what you have fabed works well and lasts without damaging your frame what more could you ask for.
I would copy the mount form a bike that has the mount integrated to the frame making it a bit larger for adjustments, Then attach the cal. to the mount, place it on the rotor and adjust till it was at the proper height and angle, then bungee the brake lever, cover everything to protect from weld spatter, and tack weld the mount to frame. Then take everything apart and finish the weld. Still that's just how this a hole would go about it stink or not.
Then again I haven't done this. Only thought about how I am going to do it on a upcoming build so would like to see some pics. of your approach.

Thank you gary. This is what im talking about. This was nice, polite, helpful advice. Not "well i wouldnt do it this way, or i didnt think of this so it must be dumb" commenting. This is what this forum needs. Hell its what the world needs. Thanks again gary!

 

[gary55]

There's tons of that on here. Some genuinely trying to be helpful. Some just douche bags trying to show how smart they aren't while promoting their horse in the race, and half the time they don't even know what they are talking about. I often have to check my posts to to make sure I fall in the desired category because just when I think I have it figured out something pops up, and it's back to school. Happy wrenching.

 

[Street Ryderz]

If what you have fabed works well and lasts without damaging your frame what more could you ask for.
I would copy the mount form a bike that has the mount integrated to the frame making it a bit larger for adjustments, Then attach the cal. to the mount, place it on the rotor and adjust till it was at the proper height and angle, then bungee the brake lever, cover everything to protect from weld spatter, and tack weld the mount to frame. Then take everything apart and finish the weld. Still that's just how this a hole would go about it stink or not.
Then again I haven't done this. Only thought about how I am going to do it on a upcoming build so would like to see some pics. of your approach.

That's very good advice! and exactly how I have done it many times and works well! I now have a template for the mounting bracket and use 1/4" steel flat stock to trace the template on and cut out,also when tacking it on I put the heat to the bracket(mount) first so as not to over heat and blow thru the fork or frame working the puddle from bracket to the frame also lets me see the heat penatrate and know that it's solid.

 

[KCvale]

I can't weld for crap, I had a nice Arc welder with Argon gas and a spiffy new 'auto dimming' helmet here for awhile and still couldn't lay down a reliable bead, not one I'd rely on anyway.

I don't lace my own wheels either but that is more about my time and patience...
I can Lace a wheel, I just don't care to take the time, I'd rather spend that 1/2 hour eating lunch watching a re-run of Cagney & LACEy hehehe...
I know, lame humor ;-}

I just happen to have a full service iconic bicycle shop with an equally iconic welding shop right across the street from it 1/8th mile away and exactly why I live here.

Not many people have the chance to move to a neighborhood that has everything you need for a new business to succeed like I did, if you can find some to do the 'I don't want to do it', jobs cool for you!
I do, and my neighborhood businesses sure do and they treat me well ;-}

 

[2 stroke ray]

My Schwinndler project is on hold. Got everything for the disc brake on the springer front end. Was making the gas tank until I fell off my deck and broke my hip. Had to get a total hip replacement. So now I'm limited to what I can do. So I wait.

 

[Street Ryderz]

That sucks!best of luck to you.