# Front disk, rear canti? Stupid Idea?



## paloaltorider (Jan 2, 2010)

So I was thinking of picking up the nashbar carbon cross disc fork and run the road avid bb7 disk rotor up front. My frame is a kona without a disk tab in the rear. I talked to one of my mtb friends and he says that this is a recipe for endos. So is this a stupid idea or not? Thanks


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## wooglin (Feb 22, 2002)

paloaltorider said:


> I talked to one of my mtb friends and he says that this is a recipe for endos.


That's interesting. Can't speak to CX but I know quite a few people who run a disc on the front and caliper brake on the rear for mtb, including myself. The technical term is mullet.


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## TWB8s (Sep 18, 2003)

wooglin said:


> That's interesting. Can't speak to CX but I know quite a few people who run a disc on the front and caliper brake on the rear for mtb, including myself. The technical term is mullet.



Yup, that's a mullet. Business in the front, party in the back. I haven't seen anyone running it on a 'cross bike locally.


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## TomH (Oct 6, 2008)

The rear brake doesnt stop or cause you to endo, you'd either do it or wouldnt regardless of whats stopping the rear.


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*I see no issue with it*

your front brake over powers the rear regardless
it might be an okay combo
and I'm a guy who isn't a cx disc fan

love MULLET


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## Ol' Dirty Biker (Oct 16, 2009)

Levers would be the concern. Canti vs. cable disc use different ratios. V-Brake and cable disc could use the same levers and I'm all for this idea.


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## pretender (Sep 18, 2007)

Ol' Dirty Biker said:


> Levers would be the concern. Canti vs. cable disc use different ratios. V-Brake and cable disc could use the same levers and I'm all for this idea.


The road BB7s are designed for shorter pull levers.
http://www.sram.com/avid/products/bb7-road-mechanical-disc-brake


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## Ol' Dirty Biker (Oct 16, 2009)

pretender said:


> The road BB7s are designed for shorter pull levers.
> http://www.sram.com/avid/products/bb7-road-mechanical-disc-brake


Good to know! I stand corrected.


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## paloaltorider (Jan 2, 2010)

Thanks everyone. I'm going to give it a whirl. BTW nashbar is having the fork on sale right now.


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## crossdude2011 (Feb 4, 2011)

A little off topic but I'm looking for a carbon cross fork with disc tabs. I know Nashbar makes a rather inexpensive one that is on sale for $125 ish now but I have a 2005 Fuji Cross Comp that has rear disc tabs but none on the fork. The 2005 Fuji Cross Pro had a disc tab fork. Any chance anybody out there has an 05 pro or just the fork? If not, any other fork options shy of the Winwood for over $250?


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## c-lo (Sep 30, 2008)

related I've been thinking about doing this on my '93 Litespeed Obed MTB. it's set up for v-brake now, however my front fork will accept a disc brake.


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## paloaltorider (Jan 2, 2010)

crossdude2011 said:


> A little off topic but I'm looking for a carbon cross fork with disc tabs. I know Nashbar makes a rather inexpensive one that is on sale for $125 ish now but I have a 2005 Fuji Cross Comp that has rear disc tabs but none on the fork. The 2005 Fuji Cross Pro had a disc tab fork. Any chance anybody out there has an 05 pro or just the fork? If not, any other fork options shy of the Winwood for over $250?


I had seen in my internet perusing that some people were saying that the winwood and nashbar fork are the same? Is this true?


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## jroden (Jun 15, 2004)

I think that would be a great combo


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## henrymiller1 (Sep 27, 2010)

I did it on a MTB and loved it. I'm not sold on disc brakes for my cross rig. Most of your stopping power is from front brake. It may as well be a disc. It will teach you to move around more on your bike and teach you to keep weight back. Is it muddy there. Last time i rode in the mud w/ disc brakes, i had to replace pads.


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## kdiddy (Feb 15, 2008)

I did it - it works well.


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## bud wiser (Jan 2, 2003)

*I did it too. +1*

I did it also on my cross bike. Using the "road" verson of the Avid BB7's, it works fine with road levers. For my front wheel, I tood it one step farther and built a wheel around the now discontinued Chris King 'disc go tech' hub. This hub has a disc adapter that allows you to fasten the disc to a device that then fastens to the hub. Therefore, it can be either a disc hub, or when removed, something that resembles a road hub. This way, it's easy to convert a front wheel from rim brake use, to disc use. I've stockpiled a second of these hubs I may sell, but you can find them on ebay occassionally. 

And, I ran traditional canti's in the rear, Pauls. Everything was hunky dory. Im not a fan of discs on cross bikes and have never felt the need for them. However, I was using the bike for commuting and thought the front disc might help in wet/inclement weather. Honestly, I didn't seem much difference between the discs and the Paul cantis it replaced. I beleive modulation and feel was better on the cantis, but that's personal preference. But it can be done and if you're going to do it, consider a King discgotech hub so that it can serve dual purpose as a rim braked wheel too, if that's your thing.


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## wooglin (Feb 22, 2002)

bud wiser said:


> consider a King discgotech hub so that it can serve dual purpose as a rim braked wheel too, if that's your thing.


Any disc hub can do that. Just take off the disc.


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## bud wiser (Jan 2, 2003)

wooglin said:


> Any disc hub can do that. Just take off the disc.


Yes, but no. It's true you can remove your disc and run rim brakes (provided you have the right rim). But this hub without the adapter, doesn't look like a disc hub without the disc. It looks more similar to a road hub than a disc hub without the disc. Said differently, it looks much more clean that a disc hub w/o the disc.


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## Tight Nipples (Feb 18, 2011)

I did that with my trusty old Zaskar mountain bike and was very happy. It should work well on a 'crosser too IMHO.


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## wooglin (Feb 22, 2002)

bud wiser said:


> Yes, but no. It's true you can remove your disc and run rim brakes (provided you have the right rim). But this hub without the adapter, doesn't look like a disc hub without the disc. It looks more similar to a road hub than a disc hub without the disc. Said differently, it looks much more clean that a disc hub w/o the disc.


I'll take that as a yes.


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## kdiddy (Feb 15, 2008)

The nice thing about running a disc up front is the better braking and the availability of good tubeless ready rims. I'm running a Bontrager race TLR 29er wheel in the front and it sets up tubeless great with a Michelin Mud2 tire. The rim is a little wider than a standard road rim, so the tire doesn't squirm at low pressure like it would with a skinny rim. On the rear I'm using a Stans Alpha road rim tubeless with a Mud2. The BB7 disc are sensitive to how straight you run the cable to them. If you can make the housing bend radii as large as possible, they work well with good modulation, if there is a lot of cable drag, they feel very stiff and weak.


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## bud wiser (Jan 2, 2003)

Yes, kdiddy is exactly right. When I first set up my BB7s I had a tight bend in the cable and didn't like the discs. After working on the cable as he suggests, the modulation got better. However, I never was able to get it better than good ol cantis. I've never tried tubeless.


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## DtEW (Mar 3, 2011)

Sorry to resuscitate an old-ish thread, but:

OP's friend doesn't know what he's talking about, as the replies have already established.

Mullet works great, personal experience confirms... but I would not build another mullet again for one simple reason: when you decide to sell/re-shuffle parts, a mullet setup is a huge pain in the neck. You end up with no matched sets of anything.

I recently had to chase down an Avid Arch Rival linear-pull brake to match the single I had. Fortunately, I was successful. I still have a single XTR V-brake that needs a mate.

I can no longer find a mate to a 1st-gen Hayes disk brake. Only managed to find a caliper.

I have an Chris King classic hub laced at a Mavic 517 Ceramic rim. And a Hayes/Hugi disk hub laced to a Mavic 317 disc rim, both handbuilt, Spline Drive nipples. DT Alpine III/Revolution. As you might see, a pretty custom setup that ended up being too optimized to be re-employed in any other later role.

If I were to try to sell these as separates, I would get less than I would otherwise as a matched pair.


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## bud wiser (Jan 2, 2003)

DtEW said:


> Sorry to resuscitate an old-ish thread, but:
> 
> OP's friend doesn't know what he's talking about, as the replies have already established.
> 
> Mullet works great, personal experience confirms... but I would not build another mullet again for one simple reason: when you decide to sell/re-shuffle parts, a mullet setup is a huge pain in the neck. You end up with no matched sets of anything.


Yes, canti's work great, are lighter and won't have the problem you mention. As a former mulleteer, I don't think it's worth it either. Until a hydraulic disk system emerges for road levers, I'll opt to stay with canti's. Even after a hydraulic disk system emerges, I'll still likely stay with canti's. Disk's for road bikes are a solution for a problem that doesn't exist. My .02 opinion.


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## trumpetbiker (Oct 9, 2013)

so, almost 6 yrs later, we now have road bike disc and hydraulic calipers and/or levers/brifters.

the Mullet concept on an existing canti frame w/tabbed fork does work, and the reason is multifaceted. 

one, the disc brake is powerful in wet, the canti not -------------- the front taking the brunt of the braking, the rear is still canti and works well enough.

two, the rim braking surface in wet and dirty wears fast, necessitates a new rim and rebuilt or new wheel in a couple of seasons, a new rotor is cheap in comparison.

three, on the mullet if you like your existing setup but don't want to put out for a new frame, the fork and wheel setup allows for retrofit and it works exceptionally well.

I currently am setting up project 2 with an '06 lemond orange poprad with a lightly used Whiskey disc fork and existing stans' alpha 400 wheel that matches an alpha 400 non disc wheel from the same bike. great ride.

the first was a titanium lemond victorie with the same fork which worked well but as a road bike the cross fork changed the geometry of the ride too much, but the brake was very effective for the wet compared to the 6700 sidepull in wet.

in 2017 the move to disc for road and the evolution of the cx with disc has taken off, interesting to see the old posts here that think canti's work as well as disc, however.


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