V-brakes to discs on an old bike

[Lugy]

Hi folks, since pretty much forever I've wanted to upgrade my V brakes to hydraulic discs on my bike. It's a 2005 bike so has the old IS mounts which Google tells me were phased out in the late 00s/early 10s.
Brakes from that era appear quite thin on the ground so it looks like I'd end up with something newer.
I'm trying to get to the bottom of what will fit without a faff, this Clarks set is my current favourite; https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Clarks-M2-MTB-Hydraulic...

The brackets look like they'd be compatible with my bike but the description is saying the front is a post mount. Am I missing something? Or does anyone have any pointers to other brake sets, say up to £125 or so?

I should probably add that my current brakes are perfectly fine (although I hate the rubbing noise after going through mid) and this upgrade is a 'want' rather than 'need' .

Cheers!

[Chicken_Satay]

I presume your frame has the I.S. mount. If your forks are too then the brakes in that link aren't going to be any use are they?

Unless you buy a newer fork that will have the post mount.

[Shinysideup]

Do your current wheels have disc hubs? (6 bolt)

If so, Clarks are okay for budget discs.

Edited by Shinysideup on Thursday 18th March 23:27

[InitialDave]

Those Clarks brakes come with IS mount adaptors, and I've used them, they're remarkably good for the money.

I really can't see you getting anything better for the budget.

Edit: that specific listing says post mount front, whereas the picture shows IS adaptors both ends. They definitely sell them with 2 IS adaptors, so find those.

Edited by InitialDave on Thursday 18th March 23:29

[Lugy]

Cheers folks, yeah the bike is disc ready, the next specification up had them but IIRC that was getting on for £1k.
Ah, maybe it's just the picture that's throwing me. I'll scout out a set that definitely states IS front and rear.

[InitialDave]

You could just buy an IS-PM adaptor for the front, they're very cheap.

If the ones that come with a front IS are 160mm, I'd rather have the 180mm and spend a few pounds more on the adaptor.

Also worth £15 or so for a bleeding kit so you can shorten the hoses for the bike. The Clarks hoses have single-use end fittings you need to replace if redoing the hose, but IIRC they come with a spare each for this purpose.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-HOSE-INSERT-FOR-CLA...

[dontlookdown]

InitialDave said:

You could just buy an IS-PM adaptor for the front, they're very cheap.

This. Get an adapter for .ca 10 quid and voila. I used them to fit post-mount disc brakes to my IS mount equipped bike a few years ago. They haven't fallen off yet;)

[mie1972]

Did exactly the same thing to a Specialized cross trail a few years ago now. Swapped from V brakes to Clark’s M2, cost me 39.99 for the pair of brake levers, 2 rotors, 2 callipers the lot,

Remembe4 you might likely need new wheels, which allow disc rotors to fit.

Transformed the bike, kit came with everything needed.

Edited by mie1972 on Sunday 21st March 13:07

[Lugy]

In case anyone is interested, I ordered a set of the Clarks brakes, turned up today and only took about half an hour to fit them.
They certainly appear to be well made and feel nice to use, I only managed a pedal up and down the drive but they seem to work very well, straight in to stoppies .
The brake lines could do with a small shorten but I don't have anything to bleed them with at the moment so will do that in due course.

[Pablo16v]

Lugy said:

In case anyone is interested, I ordered a set of the Clarks brakes, turned up today and only took about half an hour to fit them.
They certainly appear to be well made and feel nice to use, I only managed a pedal up and down the drive but they seem to work very well, straight in to stoppies .
The brake lines could do with a small shorten but I don't have anything to bleed them with at the moment so will do that in due course.

If you're not aware of them then Epic Bleed Solutions is a great resource for bleed kits.

https://epicbleedsolutions.com/collections/clarks/...

[InitialDave]

Pablo16v said:

If you're not aware of them then Epic Bleed Solutions is a great resource for bleed kits.

https://epicbleedsolutions.com/collections/clarks/...

They can't be that great if they're selling DOT brake fluid kits for brakes that use mineral oil.

[Pablo16v]

InitialDave said:

Pablo16v said:

If you're not aware of them then Epic Bleed Solutions is a great resource for bleed kits.

https://epicbleedsolutions.com/collections/clarks/...

They can't be that great if they're selling DOT brake fluid kits for brakes that use mineral oil.

I didn't read it fully myself but just checked and it looks like their kit is for older Clarks brakes which used DOT fluid.

[Solocle]

My commuter bike, I upgraded from cantilever brakes. Low end 1990 Ridgeback hybrid.

Well, it still has a canti brake on the rear, and I had to change the front fork to get disc mounts. Which was interesting with a threaded headset!

Works a charm

N.b. it was a two phase upgrade, I had a cable disc brake lying around. In time, I went and bought a cheap hydraulic one instead.

[Lugy]

Pablo16v said:

If you're not aware of them then Epic Bleed Solutions is a great resource for bleed kits.

https://epicbleedsolutions.com/collections/clarks/...

Cheers, it says they're going to do a kit for the M2 brakes so I'll keep an eye on it, the lines being a bit longer don't really annoy me, they don't seem as long as they look in the above picture.

Was out this morning, what a difference not having that horrible scraping noise after going through mud, almost worth the upgrade itself!