Hi guys,
Haven't been on the forum for a while, bike needed repairs and got busy with work, glad to be back though.
Anyway, I put a shift kit on my bike with a 7 speed freewheel gearset a while back. Used the wrong width chain and turned my gearset into tubine fins. So, I thought since I was fixing things I might as well upgrade to a disc brake wheelset and add disc brakes while I was at it (since it would take me 1/2 block to stop from full speed with the caliper brakes I had).
I had a 6 speed freewheel laying around and figured I'd use that since I never ever use more than 3 speeds when I'm riding (1st, somewhere between 1st and high, and high gear). I'm getting a wee bit more top speed out of the 6 speed freewheel since high gear has less teeth than the 7 speed.
I found a nice set of used Avid BB5 disc brakes on Craigslist CHEAP! I bought 2 adapters Disc Brake Bracket Billet - Choppers U.S., LLC to mount the brakes. The adapters are made for 180mm rotors so I had to buy 2 of those (God Bless Pricepoint.com) and a 2 new super skinny chains for the 6 speed freewheel (stretch cruiser extra long, took 2 lengths of chain).
Mounting the rear disc brake adapter took a little cutting and grinding on my frame to get it to mount right and since the adapter made it so I had to move my rear wheel back some from it's dead stop I built an adjuster for the gear side of the axel so the rear wheel wouldn't come out of alignment.
What a difference the disc brakes make. Hardly have to pull at all on my dual brake lever and stopping is FAST and easy. The bike HAULS A$$ with the shift kit and am always on the lookout for the po-po. Used to call my bike the "Death Cycle" cause it was so hard to stop, now I just call it my "Red Rider". Here's a few pics of the new set up.
Haven't been on the forum for a while, bike needed repairs and got busy with work, glad to be back though.
Anyway, I put a shift kit on my bike with a 7 speed freewheel gearset a while back. Used the wrong width chain and turned my gearset into tubine fins. So, I thought since I was fixing things I might as well upgrade to a disc brake wheelset and add disc brakes while I was at it (since it would take me 1/2 block to stop from full speed with the caliper brakes I had).
I had a 6 speed freewheel laying around and figured I'd use that since I never ever use more than 3 speeds when I'm riding (1st, somewhere between 1st and high, and high gear). I'm getting a wee bit more top speed out of the 6 speed freewheel since high gear has less teeth than the 7 speed.
I found a nice set of used Avid BB5 disc brakes on Craigslist CHEAP! I bought 2 adapters Disc Brake Bracket Billet - Choppers U.S., LLC to mount the brakes. The adapters are made for 180mm rotors so I had to buy 2 of those (God Bless Pricepoint.com) and a 2 new super skinny chains for the 6 speed freewheel (stretch cruiser extra long, took 2 lengths of chain).
Mounting the rear disc brake adapter took a little cutting and grinding on my frame to get it to mount right and since the adapter made it so I had to move my rear wheel back some from it's dead stop I built an adjuster for the gear side of the axel so the rear wheel wouldn't come out of alignment.
What a difference the disc brakes make. Hardly have to pull at all on my dual brake lever and stopping is FAST and easy. The bike HAULS A$$ with the shift kit and am always on the lookout for the po-po. Used to call my bike the "Death Cycle" cause it was so hard to stop, now I just call it my "Red Rider". Here's a few pics of the new set up.
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