5500c disc upgrade progress report... :)

[shovelon]

  I must admit I have had some problems with the LX brakes I put on not lining up correctly on the welded adapter and got around it temporarily by adding a washer between the adapter and the disc mounting bracket but it still rubs the rotor a bit.  I need to have a closer look at it as I might be able to adjust the brakes in some way, but to me it looked like the adapter might be off slightly, but this is my first experience with disc brakes so I may be wrong.  The swingarm ProflexGB gave to me had never been used but I know he had no problems with the ones on his OZ's, that is until he moved as I have lost touch with him too

Your right Simon the weld is lovely I will try and take a picture tonight and post it up

From the experience I have had, the adapter needs to be exactly flush and parallel to the inside of the dropout. That makes it very easy to fixture also.

This whole exercise is interesting, as I figured for sure that the bonding would be deteriorated.

Terry

[Simon]

  I must admit I have had some problems with the LX brakes I put on not lining up correctly on the welded adapter and got around it temporarily by adding a washer between the adapter and the disc mounting bracket but it still rubs the rotor a bit.  I need to have a closer look at it as I might be able to adjust the brakes in some way, but to me it looked like the adapter might be off slightly, but this is my first experience with disc brakes so I may be wrong.  The swingarm ProflexGB gave to me had never been used but I know he had no problems with the ones on his OZ's, that is until he moved as I have lost touch with him too

Your right Simon the weld is lovely I will try and take a picture tonight and post it up

From the experience I have had, the adapter needs to be exactly flush and parallel to the inside of the dropout. That makes it very easy to fixture also.

This whole exercise is interesting, as I figured for sure that the bonding would be deteriorated.

Terry

Hope supplied a lining up jig which held the mount not only in the correct position but flush to the dropout.
I wasn't happy with this because it was quite flimsy and could distort with the mounting whilst welding.
So I copied the jig using a thicker material.
Funny when I used the carbon arm I had both the rear dropouts and the front right hand dropout come loose (I never welded my carbon arms)
all had to be rebonded in, infact thats how I found this site all those years ago looking up best way to repair them.
 

[asylum_inc]

Performance update -

Bike is smooth, comfortable, and confidence inspiring.    One bad thing -  I took the bike down some hilly roads near my house to bed in the brakes. At the end of a small downhill I was looking at the rear disk while braking (I know – dangerous) at about 10 mph I could see what I would consider too much flex.  I do not know if it is flexing more because I have a 185mm rotor or not.  I think I will be in the market for an aluminum adapter.     Just when I thought this beast was ready to go...oh well.  I guess it will be that much more fun when it is finally complete 

 

[Hammer]

that deserves a hit of karma mike!....I will prolly never get round to it but did you ever do an x56 adapter??

Hi there...

Yes we made a x56 adapter and it is probably the nicest looking and least sold one we made!

I might have some knocking around...

For those worried about heat transfer and such, don't get too concerned with it...  even with my carbon adapters I never got any brake fade, just noted that the pads wear quicker... but unless you are riding 50 miles a day I doubt it will hurt your savings too badly...

And as was already mentioned.. I would be more concerned about passing too much heat into the dropout and glue that bonds the dropout into the carbon arm.  We have never had any reports or issues of any heat soak problems using the aerospace stainless alloy that we decided to go with in the end.... alluminium whilst a little lighter, required a thicker plate, special QR skewers and so on... plus fatigue is always going to be an issue with alluminium when it starts getting 2-3 years old.... 

For the record... my carbin adapters flexed visibly as you mentioned, but I have never had a failure, just gets through pads quicker.  I think your carbon mount looks fine and will last longer than your knees anyway.. ;-)

I have placing an order for more HammerHeads this week.... so if you want one, drop me a line and we will follow the usual proceedure.

Take it easy Proflex-heads...

Hammer

[deadprez1411]

Hi

Can somebody help me locate where I can get a brake disc adapter for my 5500, really appreciate any help cheers

Paul

[iliv2k2]

Your best bet is to email Mike Billet at mike@racing-green.com. Ask him if he has any hammerheads for a OZ/x500c swingarm. I just bought one from him back in January. Good Luck.

[rapiddescent]

I've completely run out as well and all the places I've touted round to get some made up have quoted really high prices - i.e. the sort of price that makes it not worth it.

[Matno]

Performance update - Bike is smooth, comfortable, and confidence inspiring.    One bad thing -  I took the bike down some hilly roads near my house to bed in the brakes. At the end of a small downhill I was looking at the rear disk while braking (I know – dangerous) at about 10 mph I could see what I would consider too much flex.  I do not know if it is flexing more because I have a 185mm rotor or not.  I think I will be in the market for an aluminum adapter.     Just when I thought this beast was ready to go...oh well.  I guess it will be that much more fun when it is finally complete 

Bummer. 185 is kind of big for a rear disc, but that shouldn't be a problem. Could you feel the flex? What direction was it flexing? Seems to me that most of the force on my disc adapter is in-line with the plate, but I also have spacers between the mount and the brake itself that rest flush on the dropout, which probably eliminates most of the twisting torque. You could try that (i.e. use bigger washers or whatever you used).

[iliv2k2]

This is as good a place to ask as any rather than starting a new post. Does anyone have a recommendation on where I can get a longer rear skewer? I can't use the springs with the hammerhead, and it make's life difficult. I've looked online and haven't found anything. Or perhaps a small spacer might work to backup the spring. Hmmmmm, I didn't think of that before.

[shovelon]

Try a 145 quick release for tandem bikes. REI carries Bob's brand.

http://www.rei.com/product/716799?preferredSku=7167990014&cm_mmc=cse_froogle-_-datafeed-_-product-_-7167990014&mr:trackingCode=2BA6DB8E-0419-DE11-B4E3-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA

Terry

[asylum_inc]

Performance update - Bike is smooth, comfortable, and confidence inspiring.    One bad thing -  I took the bike down some hilly roads near my house to bed in the brakes. At the end of a small downhill I was looking at the rear disk while braking (I know – dangerous) at about 10 mph I could see what I would consider too much flex.  I do not know if it is flexing more because I have a 185mm rotor or not.  I think I will be in the market for an aluminum adapter.     Just when I thought this beast was ready to go...oh well.  I guess it will be that much more fun when it is finally complete 

Bummer. 185 is kind of big for a rear disc, but that shouldn't be a problem. Could you feel the flex? What direction was it flexing? Seems to me that most of the force on my disc adapter is in-line with the plate, but I also have spacers between the mount and the brake itself that rest flush on the dropout, which probably eliminates most of the twisting torque. You could try that (i.e. use bigger washers or whatever you used).

Matno -  When I finally got the bike out on the trail I had to fiddle with the avid speed dial adjustments to get rid of the no modulation feeling.  After that on a long downhill (the reason for 185's F&R) I heard something - like a stick stuck in the spokes. It turns out the water/ mud from the ride got into the carbon adapter (it was two pieces bonded together) started to de-laminate and my caliper flexed far enough to get pulled into the disc.  It was pulled into the 'spokes' that connect the brake track to where it mounts to the hub.  Rotor was too far out of round to fix (it was a used gen 1 rotor anyway).  I made an adapter out of aluminum and got some stainless spacers instead of the washer technique and all is well now. I also switched over to EBC gold pads - what a difference!  I didn't think a pad change would make such a difference.

[asylum_inc]

Here are new photos of the aluminum adapter - it has been on for two seasons now and trouble free.  I may take it off this winter and cosmetically modify it a bit









Dull and boring but it works!

[iliv2k2]

Try a 145 quick release for tandem bikes. REI carries Bob's brand.

http://www.rei.com/product/716799?preferredSku=7167990014&cm_mmc=cse_froogle-_-datafeed-_-product-_-7167990014&mr:trackingCode=2BA6DB8E-0419-DE11-B4E3-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA

Terry

That's one ugly skewer. I decided to file down the Hammerhead to match the dropout. Took forever by hand, but now the spring will fit in there and it works great.

[IMO]

I fitted a  3mm ally plate inside the drop out. It required the caliper adapter to be thinned everso slightly where the  bolts mounted through it. I drilled 4 3mm holes in the 'eye' and used 12 x M3 allen headed bolts to mount it, plus  obviuosly the QR.
The whole thing was slimmer and neater than yours ( Juicy 5's 160mm) , however It also suffered a degree of flex, with almost exactly the same issue that you had. The trailing edge of the caliper mount was pulled in to the spoke / machined area of the disk.
I was able to mount the leading edge of the caliper adapter inside the eye of the dropout, and when tested it seemd OK, with, as you say, the rotational forces all inline.
I had to bin the allu plate and  went with steel, again in 3mm. Its mounted almost identically, but everso slightly lower to avoid the lipping and increase the contact area by a few %.
It obviously was harder to fabricate, but using an angle grinder clamped to my workbench , and holding the steel in molegrips i was able to shape it easilly.

The steel plate has done maybe 300 miles and has shown no flex whatsover . I sprayed it with a rattle can of black enamel spray like hammerite and so far its held up . If doing another I would fit slightly longer than M3 x 12 , maybe get 20 and cut them to  suit. Also as I drilled then tapped in from the flat side the tapping was slighlty arkward as the opposing dropout got in the way abit and made keeping it all square difficult. Acces to a large post drill would have been even better as drilling through the radius of the eye is tricky with a hand drill, even starting woth a center punch and using a 2mm drill bit in my fingers it always wanted to walk off in one direction or another.

Rob