Felt Gas Frame Question

[Tommy Griffin]

How much of a difference should i see in changing from a 160mm disk rotor to a 203mm disk rotor . Trying to avoid going to hydraulic . I dont. get more than 40mph but im 300lbs so itz like stopping a train . Also can i drill for a rear horse shoe brake for my fake felt bike ? I wanna drill a hole in the center of the brake bridge but idk if i should or not ...

 

[Frankenstein]

How much of a difference should i see in changing from a 160mm disk rotor to a 203mm disk rotor . Trying to avoid going to hydraulic . I dont. get more than 40mph but im 300lbs so itz like stopping a train . Also can i drill for a rear horse shoe brake for my fake felt bike ? I wanna drill a hole in the center of the brake bridge but idk if i should or not ...

If it doesn't have a hole then it might not be the best thing to drill one, but use your best judgment.

The larger rotor will help, another good way to stop is get better brakes, I don't know what you are using but bb7 by avid are pretty good, large pads, twice the size at least of a bb5 pad.

What is your rear brake currently?

 

[Tommy Griffin]

Dont got rear brake

If it doesn't have a hole then it might not be the best thing to drill one, but use your best judgment.

The larger rotor will help, another good way to stop is get better brakes, I don't know what you are using but bb7 by avid are pretty good, large pads, twice the size at least of a bb5 pad.

What is your rear brake currently?

Dont have none

 

[Tommy Griffin]

This is the brake i run up front , from gasbike

 

[Frankenstein]

This is the brake i run up front , from gasbike

First stop buying gasbike, I know for a fact that used bb7 could be had for that price roughly.

Not to make you feel upset but that yin-ing brand brake caliper and rotor go for just under 8 bucks a piece shipped from the fantastic Chinese crap ordering site, those brake cables and levers are not going to make up the price difference either, no way is the price even close to fair. I know they toss in that adapter for threaded side of the hub but I can't imagine it costing them more than 2 bucks either, and it's not likely you'll ever use it since it makes no f***ing sense how you'll go direct drive AND have a disk brake rotor AND have so much experience putting that together that you still buy from gasbike. If you use the adapter for a disk brake you won't even have a place to put a cassette if you go with a jackshaft. The product is therefore terrible (in my opinion, which I hear is useful at times.)

If you stack the rotor over the sprocket it might work but you'll still need a very special and likely custom made adapter just to get the caliper to align over the rotor. Again stupid not thought out product since that adapter was cleverly forgotten.

That being said I'd return it if you could and actually get a real brake that you can get replacement pads for (conveniently enough they don't sell pads for their generic brakes so good luck getting a matching set.)

Rear brake... Uh yeah probably a good idea to get one, maybe first take it to a local bike shop and ask for their opinion of drilling the spot just in case, the mechanic would probably have a good opinion on what you might do, and may even have a better solution to drilling.

Good luck, wear a damn helmet, have fun.

 

[Tommy Griffin]

First stop buying gasbike, I know for a fact that used bb7 could be had for that price roughly.

Not to make you feel upset but that yin-ing brand brake caliper and rotor go for just under 8 bucks a piece shipped from the fantastic Chinese crap ordering site, those brake cables and levers are not going to make up the price difference either, no way is the price even close to fair. I know they toss in that adapter for threaded side of the hub but I can't imagine it costing them more than 2 bucks either, and it's not likely you'll ever use it since it makes no f***ing sense how you'll go direct drive AND have a disk brake rotor AND have so much experience putting that together that you still buy from gasbike. If you use the adapter for a disk brake you won't even have a place to put a cassette if you go with a jackshaft. The product is therefore terrible (in my opinion, which I hear is useful at times.)

If you stack the rotor over the sprocket it might work but you'll still need a very special and likely custom made adapter just to get the caliper to align over the rotor. Again stupid not thought out product since that adapter was cleverly forgotten.

That being said I'd return it if you could and actually get a real brake that you can get replacement pads for (conveniently enough they don't sell pads for their generic brakes so good luck getting a matching set.)

Rear brake... Uh yeah probably a good idea to get one, maybe first take it to a local bike shop and ask for their opinion of drilling the spot just in case, the mechanic would probably have a good opinion on what you might do, and may even have a better solution to drilling.

Good luck, wear a damn helmet, have fun.

Would you say that the BB7 will provide me with a significant amount of more stopping power than the gasbike brake ? The front disk brake from gasbike is the only brake I run . It stops decent but i say in a life or death situation i cant stop at the drop of a dime ... From 30mph it take my 300 pound ass a half of a block to stop .

 

[FurryOnTheInside]

This is just opinion of someone still building his MB (fairly experienced in bicycles), but..

I would check "fleaBay" for deals on good hydraulic brakes. Idk what it's like where you are but over here it's stuffed full of decent Shimano hydraulic brakes.
A lot of people who use hydraulic brakes compete, and "everyone" who competes in cycling (with disc brakes) uses hydraulic brakes, and they all have upgraditis!
Last brake I bought was Shimano Deore BR M-535 (front with a right hand lever). Perfectly good for anything but competitive downhill mountain bike racing. It was £15.60 including the shipping, and ready to bolt straight on and ride! 
No rotor included, but that's okay because I have plenty already from 160 to 220mm.
Rotor size with a brake that actually works amazingly well already is more about the cooling (and the cool look) because stopping power is limited by the traction of tyre on the road.

SLX, XT and XTR are all the same system, which is above the Deore, but very little difference between those three (and no difference in performance). A pair of nearly new looking SLX recently sold for less than £60 which was really annoying because I paid £100 for brand new XTs in the January sales and haven't used them yet.


A cheap single pivot brake is about the worst rim brake you can get.

The member HappyCheapskate posted this photo of his V brake plate. It was made for BMX racing and came from a BMX shop. If you cant find one of those, you might make something very similar for the rear of your bike by cutting up an old/crap NRS (not-really-suspension) fork like a Zoom or whatever. I have seen those go for £8 inc shipping on fleaBay too.
As you have no hole for a single pivot brake (actually most are really only for fenders) I would use a P clip to secure it at the top rather than drilling the frame.

 

[Frankenstein]

One of the biggest reasons professional bike riders use Hydraulic because of the "responsiveness" and the ability to modulate the braking unlike the feel of a cable brake. Yes you can put more pressure on the pads with a pull because of the nature of hydraulics but when you are racing a mountain bike down an actual trail you want to have enough strength dedicated to keeping the bars where you want them and being able to apply lots of brake with little effort is important in that sort of situation.

Also focusing on the race and having a tight grip on the bars avoiding accidents and keeping your hands locked down while putting little effort or thought into braking (responsiveness and modulation is better for muscle memory, unlike somewhat slacky cable set ups.)

For the "general purpose" great stopping power, and bang for the buck, disk brakes the cable actuated brake is going to be suitable for all motorized bike riders. Unless your dumping money into a racebike and taking it on actual tracks there's no real point in the world of hydraulics on a bike. A 200+ rotor is a great idea because of your size, that alone is going to add more leverage on your brakes stopping power.

If you go with a bb7 you will find that the brakes will be the last of your worries. Im using the little brother bb5, 180 front and 160 rear, the pads are about the size of a penny and since I've installed them long ago I had zero brake problems, the cable actuated bb5 stops this 220lb guy and a bike that has go to have me at a total of at least 300lbs without any problems all the time in all weather.

I only change the pads when they get low, and adjust them as the pad wears, otherwise I don't touch them or have problems or even seriously thought about needing an upgrade. If I were you I'd just go right to the bb7, my friend used it on his geared bike, and the stopping power is incredible compared to mine when adjusted right, get a larger front rotor, and install rear brakes one way or another. For the time being the large rotor will do alone but it's not an intelligent move to carry on without a proper rear brake.

Since you don't seem to plan on using a rear disk brake there's a good chance you only have to buy a single caliper and a single rotor, as compared to the gasbike set up which supplies one too many of everything. Oh yeah another wonderful idea, 2 levers in the gasbike kit, why do that to a customer who's going to probably have a clutch lever on the bike already, good job gasbike at trying to kill customers by suggesting they juggle 3 levers with 2 hands...

Anyway that's my take on that. Unless your racing (not the best idea on roads where you'll probably be riding along other vehicles) you shouldn't need the stopping ability of a hydraulic brake, nor should you have to deal with the headaches they give you as well compared to simple, easy to fix, and replace cables.

 

[FurryOnTheInside]

Yeah but
Hydraulic disc brakes are less expensive than the cable disc brakes.
Because people who buy cable brakes hang on to them for years and years until they have to change them, so there are few/no good condition used ones for sale, so you have to buy new.
I guess I write too long posts and the main message gets lost.
Why pay £50 for a brand new BB7 that's not as good as a £15 used Deore M-535 ?

 

[Frankenstein]

Yeah but
Hydraulic disc brakes are less expensive than the cable disc brakes.
Because people who buy cable brakes hang on to them for years and years until they have to change them, so there are few/no good condition used ones for sale, so you have to buy new.
I guess I write too long posts and the main message gets lost.
Why pay £50 for a brand new BB7 that's not as good as a £15 used Deore M-535 ?

Really? Wow hadn't known, perhaps I should have looked at prices again instead of relying on ancient inquires of the past. Seemed like not long ago they were outrageously priced.

Anyway, used bb7 brakes, eBay, $35usd free shipping
http://www.ebay.com/itm/152501946183

Used bb7 brakes, 35 USA dollars and 10 more dollars shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/302275443550

A single used bb7, $20 and $8 shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/302275514256

One set of technically used but essentially new brake pads, from a sales floor bike $9.99 free shipping.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/252688780326

I guess since hydraulics are so cheap everyone decided to stop hanging onto them.

Edit: Aaaand he doesn't have to relearn how to adjust and set up his brakes.

Since I thought of it, my friend is actually using these hydraulic disk brakes, however the catch is the hydraulic part is solely in the caliper, and it has an arm actuated by a standard brake cable and lever. Can't remember what they are called, so I'll have to get a raincheck, but they are definitely strong and have large bb7 sized pads, and the adjustment is just a small Allen head screw that adjusts both pads at the same time. Pretty nifty way to incorporate that strength to a standard brake pretty easily, and basically none of the headaches you get with hydros..

The cost of hydraulics might be going down but I'm pretty sure the cost of excedrin is going up, I cant afford the headaches...