Recently had my bike stolen, and having little money I’ve bought a used one as a replacement. It’s fine enough, but needs a little fine tuning. The main issue is that the hand-brake at the front wheel is a rim brake.
Is there a way to install a disc brake on the front wheel instead, or would I have to change the entire frame?
Also I’ve only ever done basic maintenance, but now I need to do a bit more (install a new set of gears). Does anybody have a recommendation for a good manual?

  • Egon [they/them]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
    2·
    1 year ago

    Thank you! Do you have any online resources you would recommend for learning more? For example how to evaluate the chain - I’ve just bought this bike used, so I don’t know it’s mileage really

    • 7bicycles [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      Bit late to the party so I don’t have much to offer that hasn’t been said already, except: if you don’t want to buy a specialty tool like a chainwhip you can jury rig it with an old chain and a pipe wrench or similar to clamp them together - just gotta stop the gears from turning

      Just be reaaaaaaaaal careful and think about how you’re applying force and which way your hand goes if you slip, I’ve got a scar from slicing my hand open on the sprockets lol

      Depending on your location if you want better front brake than normal V-Brake or maybe Cantis, Magura makes hydraulic rim brakes and they just slot on the existing infrastructure. I can find them here for about 20€ / brake on the craigslist equivalent, but then this is germany where they hail from. Also depending on location maybe there’s something like a self help repair workshop or a bike kitchen near you that could help you out.

      One last tip that helped me greatly in all things bike maintenance is to spend a bit of time understanding how it works. Sure you can follow a set of directions, but especially for say, rear derailleur adjustment it’s a much easier time if you actually understand what the fuck the H and L screws do and why to troubleshoot any mistakes. Most guides presuppose you’re wrenching on showroom floor type bikes, hardly the case in the real world.