I own a Seven Sola that when built in '99 I foolishly elected to leave off the disc brakes tabs even though I sized the seat stay(s) to accept them, because the rep assured me that when I wanted them I could send in the frame and for ~$300 have it reconditioned and have the tabs welded on. Well... I know it's several years later and inflation may have settled in, but when I called earlier this week they wanted $1700 , and suggested I just buy a new frame! The rep said the price reflects the fact that Seven has a new dropouts design that incorporate the disc brake tabs for a stiffer system, and was unwilling to consider just simply welding on tabs like they've done in the past. Well, as you can guess, I'll be running V's for the foreseeable future unless anybody has any suggestions.
I own a Seven Sola that when built in '99 I foolishly elected to leave off the disc brakes tabs even though I sized the seat stay(s) to accept them, because the rep assured me that when I wanted them I could send in the frame and for ~$300 have it reconditioned and have the tabs welded on. Well... I know it's several years later and inflation may have settled in, but when I called earlier this week they wanted $1700 , and suggested I just buy a new frame! The rep said the price reflects the fact that Seven has a new dropouts design that incorporate the disc brake tabs for a stiffer system, and was unwilling to consider just simply welding on tabs like they've done in the past. Well, as you can guess, I'll be running V's for the foreseeable future unless anybody has any suggestions.
Try a different builder? Maybe see if Moots or IF will do it for you? Is there any rule that says that Seven needs to be the one to do it?
Carl Strong would do it for you. Toyed with the same thing myself and they quoted me between $250 - $350 depending on whether I wanted them to brace the seat/chain-stay junciton. Carl is reknowned for the quality of his work!!
He's done it on my steel frame, and several of my friends, for $175- that includes removing the canti bosses. One friend had him do the same procedure to his Ti Hardtail- I think it was about $300 total and looked top notch. They polished it up for him, it looked brand new.
Call deKerf!
Originally Posted by CrashTheDOG
I own a Seven Sola that when built in '99 I foolishly elected to leave off the disc brakes tabs even though I sized the seat stay(s) to accept them, because the rep assured me that when I wanted them I could send in the frame and for ~$300 have it reconditioned and have the tabs welded on. Well... I know it's several years later and inflation may have settled in, but when I called earlier this week they wanted $1700 , and suggested I just buy a new frame! The rep said the price reflects the fact that Seven has a new dropouts design that incorporate the disc brake tabs for a stiffer system, and was unwilling to consider just simply welding on tabs like they've done in the past. Well, as you can guess, I'll be running V's for the foreseeable future unless anybody has any suggestions.
Just go with front disc and keep the rear V brake. The front is much more important than the rear brake anyway. I ran my bike like that for over a year. Worked fine. It's much cheaper too because you don't need a new rear wheel, just the front.
I own a Seven Sola that when built in '99 I foolishly elected to leave off the disc brakes tabs even though I sized the seat stay(s) to accept them, because the rep assured me that when I wanted them I could send in the frame and for ~$300 have it reconditioned and have the tabs welded on. Well... I know it's several years later and inflation may have settled in, but when I called earlier this week they wanted $1700 , and suggested I just buy a new frame! The rep said the price reflects the fact that Seven has a new dropouts design that incorporate the disc brake tabs for a stiffer system, and was unwilling to consider just simply welding on tabs like they've done in the past. Well, as you can guess, I'll be running V's for the foreseeable future unless anybody has any suggestions.
Don't bother spending $1700 - Very much not worth it. As already suggested the likes of Matt Chester or possibly IF will possibly be able to provide a work around.
Perhaps also check the review sections, in disk brakes for brake adapters - there are some companies offering options for disk mounting.
adding a disc tab won't be cheap, but it will be alot less than a new frame. try dean (talk to john, and none of the other knuckleheads there), moots (it won't be cheap) and carl strong (strongframes.com, he has done a few frames that i have seen on mtbr).
i think strong will be your best bet. ask for something that has a longer spine, it will place the force of braking accross a longer section on the stay. i doubt matt chester will do a disc tab, he hates disc brakes...heck, all his frames are ss or fixed gear only!!!
since you say that you sepc'd you stays for disc brakes, and if you use a tab with a longer spine, i doubt you'd have any problems in the futurue.
cheers and good luck.
Originally Posted by CrashTheDOG
I own a Seven Sola that when built in '99 I foolishly elected to leave off the disc brakes tabs even though I sized the seat stay(s) to accept them, because the rep assured me that when I wanted them I could send in the frame and for ~$300 have it reconditioned and have the tabs welded on. Well... I know it's several years later and inflation may have settled in, but when I called earlier this week they wanted $1700 , and suggested I just buy a new frame! The rep said the price reflects the fact that Seven has a new dropouts design that incorporate the disc brake tabs for a stiffer system, and was unwilling to consider just simply welding on tabs like they've done in the past. Well, as you can guess, I'll be running V's for the foreseeable future unless anybody has any suggestions.
I would be interested in the garrantee issue from Seven, when some one else would professionally weld up a disc tab... I can very well imagine those 7 dudes will do difficult if there should be any trouble (related to the disc tab or not) with your frame....
I know Seven's are cool, very fine made (sometimes a bit of discusionpoint, ok) and so on.. but Ive heared more of these 'unpleasant' surprises that the Seven company has been putting at their clients. Im not stating that Seven cant make some profit in works like these, adding a tab or so, but 1700 bucks?! Come on man.. that's plain insane and I will declare everyone that is willing to pay that amount a complete insane person.... This has nothing to do with customerservice.. not even in a tiny respect...
No, I am not retro.... I am way ahead of my time...
"...though a lot of marijuana was smoked in the early days of mountain bike development, not all of the riders were potsmoking hippies... " Frank J. Berto
Don't bother spending $1700 - Very much not worth it. As already suggested the likes of Matt Chester or possibly IF will possibly be able to provide a work around.
Perhaps also check the review sections, in disk brakes for brake adapters - there are some companies offering options for disk mounting.
Last I checked Matt Chester wasn't even offering disk tabs on his own frames.
I know you have an über cool Seven sitting there (yes, I'm jealous), but have you looked at www.discbrakeadapters.com? It bolts on. I ordered one this morning for my Infusion frame (anyone else remember those?). I'll give you a report in a few days once it gets here.
Well, as you can guess, I'll be running V's for the foreseeable future unless anybody has any suggestions.
Just run disk front only. I do, and it works just fine. All you want in a disk, you want in the front anyway. Set yourself with some Martha SL's in the front wheel and ignore stupid questions.
I have a relevant story to tell. Titus was able and willing to add disk brake mounts to my 1998 custom Litespeed. I had the same run-a-round with Litespeed, but they only quoted me $800 dollars. Litespeed also wanted to replace the entire dropout with their current integrated design because they said the my seat-stay tubing was not of appropriate thickness to handle the stresses associated with disc brake mounts. I said fine we can surely engineer a proper, less wasteful solution. So, I proposed a different solution of my own design which included a gusset to strenthen the seat-stay but, they didn't budge. I thought this was just rubbish and found them to be very, very non-creative so started calling around and talking to some other custom Ti builders.
I landed on Titus because I discovered they have a history of doing this type of retrofitting to non-Titus frames. I explained my problem and faxed them my design for a new rear brake mount. They tweaked it some (to get the IS dimensions correct) and they generally agreed the design was just fine and should solve any structural weakness concerning the seat-stays.
I've been riding with this brake mount now for two years and I've had no problems (take a look at the picture below). This retrofit only cost me a scant $200 (not including shipping) and it took about 3 weeks!! The mount was perfectly aligned... I didn't need to face the mount at all.... all I can say is perfect. My next bike will certainly be a custom Titus.
Give Titus a call and go disk!!
Hope this helps.
EndUser
My advice and $3 will buy you nothing more than a tunafish sandwich
sorry matt...that was an extremely poor choice of words. i know you're an exprienced rider and builder. and, that you like to build frames a certain way, but that does not mean you hate anything.
my apologies.
Originally Posted by flexiflyer
I do not "hate" anything. The fact that someone doesn't offer something isn't indicative of hatred. All bikes are cool.
I got my adapter from www.discbrakeadapters.com today and it works great. I am taking my first serious ride later today (just got back from a neighborhood ride). I had to shim my caliper over with a couple washers, but other than that it fits like a glove. The only other problem I have is that the bosses on my bike are for cable brakes, and I have no way to mount the hydraulic cables to the frame. I'm using the ultra-ghetto zip tie method for now, but I'm checking into having a friend weld (or braze or whatever it is) some hydraulic cable bosses on the frame.
I got my adapter from www.discbrakeadapters.com today and it works great. I am taking my first serious ride later today (just got back from a neighborhood ride). I had to shim my caliper over with a couple washers, but other than that it fits like a glove. The only other problem I have is that the bosses on my bike are for cable brakes, and I have no way to mount the hydraulic cables to the frame. I'm using the ultra-ghetto zip tie method for now, but I'm checking into having a friend weld (or braze or whatever it is) some hydraulic cable bosses on the frame.
Wow! Thanks for the numerous and solid suggestions fellas'. Definately enough to come up with a suitable solution. Now to I've a few phone calls and a decision to make. I'll hop back on and let you know what I end up with.
Hey! that's actually *my* frame that Gene at spicer cycles welded those tabs onto. It was a 97 or 98 Habanero Ti. Really thick dropouts so we didn't bother with any support struts/braces. It's been working flawlessly for about a year now. All for $150. No complaints and Gene at Spicercycles is a great guy to work with.
Crash, I was in the market for a snowbike for Alaska in '95 that needed to meet these criteria: be either Ti or Al for corrosion resistance, have lots of stay clearance for SnoCat rims with large tires mounted, and not cost a mint. I found just what I needed here in Anchorage in a Litespeed Hiwassee (the straight gauge cheaper cousin to the Obed back then).
It's served me well for many winter snow miles, but one drawback did surface. We have some world class riding right next to town in the Chugach Mountains, which means climbing rewarded by fun downhilling. However, snow pinched between rim and brakes at speed turns to water from the heat of friction, then turns to a glaze of ice, which means -- loss of brakes. Sometimes completely! You get the picture....
Then disc brakes became our saviour, with the braking surface now at hub level and mostly above snow. But did that mean we had to purchase new frames with disc mounts for the rear? Some research led us to Titus since they do some custom Ti work.
Alan at Titus used to live in Alaska, and a call to him was all it took. He agreed that he could modify my Litespeed, and quoted me a reasonable $175 for the mount and two line guides if I paid shipping. I said "Deal" and the rest has been snow-biking bliss. I mentioned this to Kyle (EndUser - also an Anchorage snow biker) two winters ago, who took it one step further with an improvement that incorporated an extra reinforcing gusset (see his post above). Even so, my first version mod has been holding up perfectly, it's aligned, it's solid, and it's turned into one of those "working so well you forget about it" additions that lets you just enjoy riding. I have to give two thumbs up to Titus, and would vouch for their fabrication quality any day.
Based on the shots posted above I'd be much more inclined to go with the more recent Titus job instead of the Spicer. I've got my eye on a ´98 Merlin that may just need one.
I would be interested in the garrantee issue from Seven, when some one else would professionally weld up a disc tab... I can very well imagine those 7 dudes will do difficult if there should be any trouble (related to the disc tab or not) with your frame....
I know Seven's are cool, very fine made (sometimes a bit of discusionpoint, ok) and so on.. but Ive heared more of these 'unpleasant' surprises that the Seven company has been putting at their clients. Im not stating that Seven cant make some profit in works like these, adding a tab or so, but 1700 bucks?! Come on man.. that's plain insane and I will declare everyone that is willing to pay that amount a complete insane person.... This has nothing to do with customerservice.. not even in a tiny respect...
I also had a '98 Ti Sola that I made with only v-brake bosses...no disc tabs, duh?. Back then, discs weren't very common and I never thought I'd go discs.
Well, fast forward a couple of years to 2000 and now I really want discs. I emailed Seven and got a quote for them to install an IS disc tab, which required slightly bending/crimping the seat- and chain-stay to provide sufficient rotor clearance. They also stripped the frame and re-furbished it, which included new stickers, etc. The grand total was under $250US.
I don't know where that $1700 amount came from, but I'd suggest you call them back and confirm that price...that's ridiculous, even for Seven.
Last edited by 1speed_Mike; 11-25-2004 at 08:38 AM.
I don't know where that $1700 amount came from, but I'd suggest you call them back and confirm that price...that's ridiculous, even for Seven.
I have had a similar quote - my sola had triple butted stays and seven said they had to be replaced to run disks and quoted me same $1700. I ended up selling it and getting a moots.
I have had a similar quote - my sola had triple butted stays and seven said they had to be replaced to run disks and quoted me same $1700. I ended up selling it and getting a moots.
Well, I'm not going to comment any further on that price. But, if I was quoted that for my Sola, I'd go Moots, too!
The welds on that Spicer job look...well somewhat less appealing than everything else pictured in this thread.The disc mount looks kinda rough as well.Sometimes you get what you pay for. However those guys at Seven have been inhaling Argon fumes too long with their price quote.Titus sounds like the best bet.The welds look very uniform and neat and their disc tab has some originality to it.
Just go with front disc and keep the rear V brake. The front is much more important than the rear brake anyway. I ran my bike like that for over a year. Worked fine. It's much cheaper too because you don't need a new rear wheel, just the front.
That kinda stings! No frame (hardtail) is worth more than $90? How do you figure? The steel, if it is name brand, butted, will cost a good bit more than that, are you suggesting that no-one should make a dime for many hours of careful mitering, fitting and welding/brazing? Or possibly that all things should be done with the lowest common denominator builder (China, Vietnam, Sri Lanka)? Try to empathize here, if you are that grouchy about price, take up shuffle board, or pick up a deck of cards, they're about $1.99 last time I looked, but I bet you could save 5 cents if you looked at Wal-Mart.On The positive side, I do gree with your disc front only idea, I have one of those, and it works just fine! Ride a bike.
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, and suggested I just buy a new frame! The rep said the price reflects the fact that Seven has a new dropouts design that incorporate the disc brake tabs for a stiffer system, and was unwilling to consider just simply welding on tabs like they've done in the past. Well, as you can guess, I'll be running V's for the foreseeable future unless anybody has any suggestions.
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Originally Posted by CrashTheDOG
Give Titus a try.... they helped me
