2012 Trek 7.4 requires disc brakes

[SteveRuss]

My girlfriend has ridden this bike to and from work for about four years now. She loves the bike but often complains about the brakes. I didn't realise how bad they were until she described emergency stopping with them. For her safety I thought I would look in to whether it's possible/affordable to upgrade to disc brakes and if so which route to take.

I believe the model that followed after this year's one actually came with disc brakes but there was a suggestion that the carbon forks on the 2012 model may not be able to deal with the additional pressure they would have to deal with. That could be a bummer.

As I am the happy owner of a Magura equipped pedelec, I was wondering if it would be possible and simpler to just fit a front and rear set of those.

All advice is much appreciated!!

2012 Trek 7.4

 

[Deleted member 4366]

The conversion would be pretty straight forward and well worth the effort. Nothing comes close to a hydraulic disc brake in terms of reliability, consistency and durability. You need a set of disc brake 700c forks, a disc brake 700c wheel and the disc brake system itself.

Plenty on Ebay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=700c+forcs+disc&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X700c+forks+disc.TRS0&_nkw=700c+forks+disc&_sacat=0
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Taylor-Wheels-28-29-inch-bike-front-wheel-TAURUS21-disc-black-/231540774949?hash=item35e8e7d825:g:9MIAAOSwpDdVOKfH
Then you need the brake set. You can get used hydraulic ones from about £30, or new ones for a bit more. Don't waste your time with any cable disc brake.

That would take about £100 to £150 for the conversion and make a very happy girlfriend.

 

[SteveRuss]

The conversion would be pretty straight forward and well worth the effort. Nothing comes close to a hydraulic disc brake in terms of reliability, consistency and durability. You need a set of disc brake 700c forks, a disc brake 700c wheel and the disc brake system itself.

Plenty on Ebay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=700c+forcs+disc&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X700c+forks+disc.TRS0&_nkw=700c+forks+disc&_sacat=0
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Taylor-Wheels-28-29-inch-bike-front-wheel-TAURUS21-disc-black-/231540774949?hash=item35e8e7d825:g:9MIAAOSwpDdVOKfH
Then you need the brake set. You can get used hydraulic ones from about £30, or new ones for a bit more. Don't waste your time with any cable disc brake.That would make about £100 to £150 for the conversion.

Great. That's really helpful. Thx!

I suppose the Magura is less of an upheaval and a little cheaper potentially so i'll still keep that option open.

 

[SteveRuss]

The conversion would be pretty straight forward and well worth the effort. Nothing comes close to a hydraulic disc brake in terms of reliability, consistency and durability. You need a set of disc brake 700c forks, a disc brake 700c wheel and the disc brake system itself.

Plenty on Ebay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=700c+forcs+disc&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.X700c+forks+disc.TRS0&_nkw=700c+forks+disc&_sacat=0
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Taylor-Wheels-28-29-inch-bike-front-wheel-TAURUS21-disc-black-/231540774949?hash=item35e8e7d825:g:9MIAAOSwpDdVOKfH
Then you need the brake set. You can get used hydraulic ones from about £30, or new ones for a bit more. Don't waste your time with any cable disc brake.

That would take about £100 to £150 for the conversion and make a very happy girlfriend.

One more thing matey. Could you recommend me a disc kit as I'm not sure I know what I'm looking for.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Any recognised brand is good:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TEKTRO-HD-M290-Mountain-Bike-Front-Rear-Hydraulic-Disc-Brake-160mm-Black-/262623217821?var=&hash=item3d2590489d:m:mfhxiFRDY0pptzjJZQhrBCA

 

[Artstu]

and the brake blocks are how old?

 

[SteveRuss]

and the brake blocks are how old?

Brand new. Just been serviced.

She's done thousands of miles on it and I always make sure she gets a service every thousand miles. It's a pretty up together bike that has crap brakes. Especially in the wet.

 

[Artstu]

I wonder what pads are fitted, V-brakes can be very powerful on normal bikes, I've had very good performance from Kool-stop pads. cleaning and metal polishing the rims helps too.

 

[SteveRuss]

I wonder what pads are fitted, V-brakes can be very powerful on normal bikes, I've had very good performance from Kool-stop pads. cleaning and metal polishing the rims helps too.

I wouldn't say she cleans the bike as much as she should and we've tried different pads along the way.

I have never found V-brakes to be much good in the wet to be honest. Some of the more expensive ones may be.

 

[Artstu]

I know you're also considering Magura rim brakes too. I'll just say that I find them lacking in the wet too, perhaps the combined weight of me and bike at around 110 kg's doesn't help.

 

[SteveRuss]

I know you're also considering Magura rim brakes too. I'll just say that I find them lacking in the wet too, perhaps the combined weight of me and bike at around 110 kg's doesn't help.

As I'm a pathetic fair weather cyclist, I have only got caught out a couple of times in the wet and I confess to having noticed a slight degradation of their stopping power. But only slight. Considering I'm probably 80kgs and the bike is another 24kgs then I'm thinking that they're dealing with over 100kgs of weight so if anything it's pretty damn impressive. I rarely have to pull fully on them anyway so they are very much able to deal with everything I thrown at them.

My GF and bike amount to probably around 72kgs overall so I'm gauging that they will be more than sufficient in the both wet and dry conditions she rides in.

I suppose we could get some softer compound pads to increase that stopping power even more. Discs maybe the right way to go but I'm not convinced in her situation that the extra work and expense is achieving enough.

Still confused about the brake boosters though. I think it's just a metal plate but I can't find much information on that at the moment.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Hydraulic disc brakes are set and forget. I would recommend them as an upgrade for any electric bike. I've had just about every type of brakes on my bikes, except hydraulic rim brakes. Nothing comes close to hydraulic discs. If you have hydraulic rim brakes you can keep them, but I don't see any sense in upgrading to them.

 

[SteveRuss]

Hydraulic disc brakes are set and forget. I would recommend them as an upgrade for any electric bike. I've had just about every type of brakes on my bikes, except hydraulic rim brakes. Nothing comes close to hydraulic discs. If you have hydraulic rim brakes you can keep them, but I don't see any sense in upgrading to them.

I would say that I haven't touched my brakes for a couple of years. My mileage has been low this year but I've done over 1500 miles on the pads so far and never had to touch them.

As her bike is only 12kgs and she probably a nibble under 60kgs, I suspect that the Magura units will be cheaper and easier to fit for me so I am leaning towards them but the disc upgrade is def still on the cards.