Author Topic: Finished 17" front wheel, now have brake mounting issues (pictures included) (Read 6223 times)

drdreas · « **on:** May 03, 2009, 11:25:57 AM »

I've spent the last few weeks converting my front and rear wheels to 17" rims. I laced a 4.5 x 17 harley rim to my stock rear hub, and laced my stock 2.5 x 17 rear rim to the stock front hub. Trued the wheels myself, had 150/70-17 roadriders mounted to the rear and 120/80-17 mounted to the front.

Today I went to mount the wheels, started with the front, and found that I may have brake caliper fitment issues that I did not anticipate. Here is the bike with the new wheel mounted, and the brake caliper removed.

It seems the rim is now right at the same level as the caliper mounting bracket, with only a small gap between caliper and rim.

Also, now the spokes seem to be very close to the disc, to the point that I don't think the caliper will fit down over the disc without interfering with the spokes.

I'm thinking about installing a spacer between the wheel and the disc to push it away from the spokes, It seems like I could shift the disc about 1/8" without hitting the fork

Any recommendations? I'm a bit desperate because I don't have a garage to work on the bike in, and its parked in a lot on blocks where it shouldnt be. I know folks have done 17" front wheel conversions, what did they do with the caliper mounting?

Thanks for the help

kghost · « **Reply #1 on:** May 03, 2009, 11:31:25 AM »

Looks to me like you have your disc on backwards

kghost · « **Reply #2 on:** May 03, 2009, 11:33:10 AM »

In fact it is backwards.......Flip it...

Industrial Cafe · « **Reply #3 on:** May 03, 2009, 11:36:28 AM »

yeah rotor is on backwards

drdreas · « **Reply #4 on:** May 03, 2009, 11:49:58 AM »

THANKS So much! I've been freaking out for the past hour wondering how the hell the caliper could possibly fit. I'll flip the disc and see if it fits better.

Thanks again!

Scrubs · « **Reply #5 on:** May 03, 2009, 11:50:17 AM »

I bet that feels good to hear that - mass relief

drdreas · « **Reply #6 on:** May 03, 2009, 11:51:27 AM »

Hell yes. I'm gonna go crack a beer

754 · « **Reply #7 on:** May 03, 2009, 11:54:58 AM »

Man that rim is close to the mount, you could take a little off it but not much.

Brake is reversed in pics.

An option that is not cheap or the easiest, but might llok better...
swap fork legs to 500/550... they caliper is same. but fork leg length .. is shorter as is disc diameter to match.. it may look better.

TheHun · « **Reply #8 on:** May 03, 2009, 01:38:47 PM »

Delete the front brake..haha joking.

looking good...id like to see a full shot once your finished

Alan F. · « **Reply #9 on:** May 03, 2009, 03:49:16 PM »

Quote from: TheHun on May 03, 2009, 01:38:47 PM

Delete the front brake..haha joking.

looking good...id like to see a full shot once your finished

Unfortunately here in Massachusetts they want you to run a front brake.

Industrial Cafe · « **Reply #10 on:** May 03, 2009, 04:04:31 PM »

cyclex has a mini drum setup

drdreas · « **Reply #11 on:** May 03, 2009, 04:12:28 PM »

Once I flip the disc I think that the caliper will fit, but I am concerned about how close the caliper arm is to the rim. It just happens that with a 17" rim it lines up perfectly with the caliper arm. I guess I could grind it down a little bit?

Alan F. · « **Reply #12 on:** May 03, 2009, 04:28:46 PM »

as 754 said,"Man that rim is close to the mount, you could take a little off it but not much."

You could grind, I recommend a file. But you'd substantially reduce the strength of the mount by removing material. There is always the possibility that you could fabricate the caliper arm mount from steel, that would give similar strength from a smaller part...food for thought.

MCRider · « **Reply #13 on:** May 03, 2009, 05:04:53 PM »

Quote from: drdreas on May 03, 2009, 04:12:28 PM

Once I flip the disc I think that the caliper will fit, but I am concerned about how close the caliper arm is to the rim. It just happens that with a 17" rim it lines up perfectly with the caliper arm. I guess I could grind it down a little bit?

As they say, an inch is a good as a mile. Meaning if you have any clearance at all you're OK. The caliper doesn't know or care how close it is. You may not be comfortable with that.

I'm concerned with this though as I have a 17" laced ready to go on a CB750K2 front end. Concerned about caliper clearance.

I'm not too proud to switch to an 18" if necessary. But that's extra $$.

Good luck.

Industrial Cafe · « **Reply #14 on:** May 03, 2009, 05:14:34 PM »

well.... did you fix it yet?

drdreas · « **Reply #15 on:** May 03, 2009, 07:55:29 PM »

Yea, I was thinking that same, even if there is only 1/8" between caliper and rim, it should be enough. I don't envision the rim deflecting laterally enough to close that gap.

I haven't flipped the rotor yet, I didnt have time, but I will tomorrow and I'll post pics when I do

drdreas · « **Reply #16 on:** May 16, 2009, 05:33:07 AM »

I flipped the disc and the caliper fits just fine now. The clearance from caliper arm to rim is still very tight (less than 1/8"), but it doesnt touch. It just happens that the lip of a 17" rim is at exactly the same height as the caliper arm, so the clearance is very tight. If I had gone any wider than a 2.5" rim I'd been screwed!

I'm not sure how people go wider on the front or run a 16" front wheel with the stock brake set up.

I'll post pics on monday.

MCRider · « **Reply #17 on:** May 16, 2009, 06:44:41 AM »

Quote from: drdreas on May 16, 2009, 05:33:07 AM

I flipped the disc and the caliper fits just fine now. The clearance from caliper arm to rim is still very tight (less than 1/8"), but it doesnt touch. It just happens that the lip of a 17" rim is at exactly the same height as the caliper arm, so the clearance is very tight. If I had gone any wider than a 2.5" rim I'd been screwed!

I'm not sure how people go wider on the front or run a 16" front wheel with the stock brake set up.

I'll post pics on monday.

Good news, hope mine is the same.

Alan F. · « **Reply #18 on:** May 16, 2009, 07:23:09 AM »

That's good news Drdreas, Will you be able to ride it today? It's gonna be about 65 degrees, partly cloudy, and only about 10 mph winds... I'm gonna go look for more threads on your build, looks good.
Best of luck.

Industrial Cafe · « **Reply #19 on:** December 10, 2009, 08:30:04 PM »

well?

Alan F. · « **Reply #20 on:** December 11, 2009, 05:17:04 AM »

I know, right? This guy's in the same city and nobody's ever seen or spoken with him. His last active date here was back in september too......
-Alan

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Author Topic: Finished 17" front wheel, now have brake mounting issues (pictures included) (Read 6223 times)