Psychlo Disc Compatibility

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Psychlo Disc Compatibility

5 posts from 2 voices

Started 5 months ago by hubick
Latest reply from hubick

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hubick
Member

Hi!

I would really like to upgrade my cyclocross rig to something with disc brakes.

And, since I currently have way too many bikes in my little apartment, and mostly just train on my road bike without all that much road racing anymore, I've been contemplating trying to consolidate my road and cross bikes into a single high-end machine. And, now that the road world is apparently also making ruminations about disc brakes, it seems like the time might soon be right for that...

I'm also a Ti convert thanks to my Mukluk, so I've naturally been looking at the Psychlo as a good candidate.

The thing is, like with 26" to 29", I'm learning that once you get a stable of bikes, wheelsets, and parts going over the years, it's *really* a pain to switch, so my main concern with discs is regarding long term compatibility, as if I head down a path, I'd rather start building up a set of equipment I can reuse over time.

Your website says you are adding an "ISO mount" to the Psychlo. My googling for info returned your page as the first hit, lol.

I'm not really up to date with the standards in this space - is this some new CX specific thing, or will these be compatible with any of the road or mountain stuff?

ie, If half the road bikes out there use disc brakes in three years, what are the odds I will be able to buy or use a friends/neutral service wheelset from one of those, and have it work on a Psychlo?

It seems like a lot of CX rigs (Psychlo?) are going 160mm front disc and 140mm rear... but is road mainly doing 140mm front and rear? Does the fork allow for both 140 or 160mm (spacer?)? (ie, I could run 140mm in the summer with road wheels, and then switch up to 160 in the fall for CX?)

Does this bike come with 130mm rear hub road style spacing as standard then? I heard you can customize to 135mm spacing for compatibility with 29" mountain wheelsets? Having the option to run a beefier mountain wheelset for cross use could be cool, but I don't think it would be worth the expense of lost compatibility with other wheelsets for CX and road use - but are the road wheelsets compatible anyway?

Anyhow, Much Thanks for any assistance and advice you might provide in helping me understand this complicated mess! :)

- Chris.

Posted 5 months ago #
JonC
Administrator

Chris,
All very good questions and I hope I can answer.

Disc brakes on cross bike are here to stay. There is always the "in-between" time for component and frame makers to settle out on a norm. At this point things are settling out with these "standards" for disc:

--135mm rear spacing..(many more hub options and gives less dish in the wheel which is stronger)

--ISO mounts have made the trip over from the mountain bike world as a standard, however the newer Post Mount will be taking over from that. (See our Twitter feed for a picture taken just today: http://instagram.com/p/UCFPNquGaN/ Each can run 140 or 160 rotors on some brands. At this point we offer the post mount as an option, ours will be 160mm rotor for now.

--Forks...many nice disc CX forks are on the market...Enve, 3T...great brands, nice riding forks. At the moment they are 160mm rotor only...

--The need for running heavier mountain bike wheels on a cross bike is a bit of overkill in my book...unless you are abnormally hard on wheels. Plenty of light durable options out there.

--As road hydraulic comes to life I believe we will see it settle out at 140mm rotors....with the same 135mm spacing as stated above. The 160's will be over kill on the road with small tires...and to me we'll see the hydro at 140mm on CX bikes in the very near future as well...better modulation and even pad wear.

--The intial switch to disc and "purging" yourself of the older wheel sets you might have can be tough. I am a die hard canti user myself...for me I just don't see the need for discs on a simple, light machine...I race all Fall and Winter long and use my cross bikes as road bikes during the summer and don't really suffer when I ride with the "roadies"....plus I have wheel sets that my wallet could never replace...options of tire choice is key for me.

I hope that helps with your questions.

Let me know if you have more!

Thanks,

Jon@Moots

Posted 5 months ago #
hubick
Member

Jon, thanks very much for the reply!

I didn't realize 135mm rear spacing was being adopted along with discs, even for road, that's cool.

I'm under the impression that a major selling point of post-mount is that it lets you use spacers to work with various rotor sizes, so when you say your post mount "will be 160mm rotor for now", does that mean it *only* works with 160, or just that's what the bike comes with by default if you ask for the disc option, but that it can also accept a 140 with a spacer in the rear? That would suck if it can't accept 140 at all, as you even point out that seems where things are headed (plus I wouldn't really understand what offering post mount instead of ISO offers then?).

Also, I assume we're just talking rear here, and Moots isn't using this chance to announce a complete bike with a post mount disc fork then, and customers are still on their own for the front?

Is there really no cross fork that has post-mount spacers to work with both 140 and 160mm discs? Not even some heavier steel "commuter" fork or something?

I mean, sure, I guess there's nothing stopping one from having the same cross style 160mm disc setup on a front wheel intended for road use. That could make for quick switches during the spring depending on if you're going on a road or CX style ride, and the discs mean you wouldn't have to worry about tire clearance and rim width adjustments. But I think I'd still prefer to have the option to just throw on a spacer for a more svelte 140 and go "road standard", instead of having to swap out forks or something, and to eventually go 140 both front and rear if that's where things go. I'm actually a die hard BB7 fan for MTB, so I'd run those even if there were a good hydro option, but I think 140 should be ok on the road even with mechanicals.

Anyhow, again, thanks so much for helping me make sense of all this! :)

Posted 5 months ago #
JonC
Administrator

Chris,

Sorry I wasn't clear on the Moots Post mount...no at the moment it will not work with 140mm rotors. You have to understand that there is design time on our end to make that happen and the 160mm was the first on the list, with mountain bikes being the first to get this option along with CX in a 160mm rotor.

We will have a 140mm post mount in the near future.

As far as forks go,.... you have to take in development costs there. A single fork model runs 8-12K. We desiged our first version with cantis so it could be used by our exsisting owners out there as well as our current models. For now we have to rely on the other brands (Enve, 3T) to fill the disc fork void we have. There are brands out there ...that come with a fork along with there frame package that will accept a 140mm front and rear rotor....Ridley comes to mind...

Like I said above...it will take a little more time for all of this to really pan out...I'd say over the next 18-24 months and you'll see the standards that we are talking about really take hold industry wide.

Thanks,

Jon@Moots

Posted 5 months ago #
hubick
Member

Yeah, maybe I will try and hold off for a bit and see what options develop. Again, Much Thanks for the clarifications! :)

Posted 5 months ago #

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