New disc time so I’m wondering if its worth upgrading from 160 mm to 185 mm on the front as the rear will only take the 160.

Avid Elixir 3 running a Rock Shox Tora which can take upto 185mm.

It’s £4 more for the 185mm than the 160mm and a adaptors is about £6 so I think I will do it but will there be any significant difference in stopping power ?

Also, is it a post mount adaptor I will need to bolt the calliper straight to the front fork ?

Cheers

Prob a post mount, post mount is two little stubs on the fork that the bolts go into, is mounts are two holes!

Why no more than 160 on rear?

160 Xc, 180 free ride stuff, 203 DH generally speaking

Yeah it’s post mount then.

Frame wont take more than 160 mm on rear. It’s an Orange G3 and, according to the website, that’s the max on the rear.

No more than 160 on rear because you don’t need it…. Worthwhile going to 180 on front though, IMO of course

Well worth it on the front. No real downside.

80% of brake power on the front brake?

if you study the effect that braking has on your bike, hard braking rotates the bicycle against the front wheel axle, lifting the rear wheel off the ground, making the rear brake less effective

you can counter this by leaning right back when making a really hard stop, to try and pin the rear wheel to the ground, but it will always slide when locked up hard

so rear brake is used in combination with front for hard stops, or more commonly rear brake used for adjustment of bike position going into corners

very common to use larger rotor on front, and small rotor on rear

many pro DH racers use 160mm rotor on rear for this reasons (these guys also don’t plan to do much braking on the rear during their run)

so rear brake is used in combination with front for hard stops, or more commonly rear brake used for adjustment of bike position going into corners skids

FTFY
(sorry, couldn’t resist it)

@eulach

good work fella!

I would say from experience running a smaller rear rotor will lead to better modulation (allowing adjustment of bike position going into corner) and less brutual skids (locking up brake..)

but of course this depends on skill of rider than just rotor sizing?? and you will always need a little sliding (skidding) to position the rear using the rear brake