So ive been thinking of putting a front disc brake on my crosscheck. im trying to do this on a budget. so far i know that ill need a new fork to accomodate this. ive chosen the Salsa La Cruz Cross Fork since it has the same rake as the stock cross check fork. ill also need to steal my monocog's disc-ready front wheel to save buying/building a new one.
what i dont know, however, is what kind of levers to get. all the ones i find online either come with a mtb/cross style lever or none at all. i cant seem to find a drop bar disc-specific lever. does anyone have any suggestions on levers or disc brakes? i was looking at the Avid 2010 BB-7 Road Mechanical Disc Brake. i know there is a difference between hydraulic and mechanical levers. does anyone know if i can use my stock lever with a mechanical disc brake?
The Avid brake is exactly what you want with a road brake lever.
Or, you can get one of the V brake specific levers made by Cane Creek and use it with any mechanical disc brake that is not road specific.
The primary issue there is what sort of shifter you're using.
What Chris said. You want the Avid BB7 road disc brake and it will work with your stock Crosscheck levers.
There is also an Avid BB7 mountain disc brake, and the only difference between them is the cable pull required for the road or mountain version.
Here's a tech piece I wrote on cable pull and mechanical advantage that is applicable to what you are doing: http://www.urbanvelo.org/issue21/p86-87.html
And here's another tech piece I wrote on trail and fork swapping: http://www.urbanvelo.org/issue23/p68-69.html
what chris said. if its got cantis now, get the bb7 road and you'll be fine. the cable pull isn't exact, but its as close as can be. I find that the pull on the brake is much like a regular linear pull. you end up moving the lever a lot to get the poss to move a small amount.
Wow, thanks guys. I was waiting for my comeuppance.
Brad, those UV articles are some of the best things I've seen in print. Sheldon would be proud.
chris, what is the issue with the shifters? i wasnt aware that changing the fork and whatnot would have an effect on the transmission.
also, thanks brad and steve for the info!
another question. would the avid bb7 brake fit on the monocog hub that accepts an avid bb5 brake?
im currently not running discs on the monocog and it would save me a bunch of dollars if i could just swap the wheel.
I think he was talking about brifters. If you use bar end shifters like a proper cross check should, you'll be fine 
Yup. Should have the same 6-bolt disc mounting pattern. Those are pretty damned "standard" these days.
You may find that the rim on the Monocog is wider than you'd like for a cross tire though. If thats the case, you could potentially switch the rim to a skinnier one without having to learn to build wheels or anything by finding a narrow 'cross rim with the same ERD (effective rim diamter, measurement of the diameter of the wheel where the nipples seat) as the one spec'd on your Monocog and switching each spoke over one by one.
If you are using brifters the cheapest option is a road brake specific caliper.
If you are using say down tube shifters or bar ends then you have a couple of options. I just didn't want to make assumptions about what your set up was.
chris, im using the stock bar-end shifters. hopefully that will cause less problems.
brad, ill have to try and get my cross tires on the mono's rims before i begin to invest. i could see this getting very expensive very quickly if some key things dont work out.
Do you have v brakes or cantilevers on there right now?
If you have cantis get the road calipers. If you have v brakes get the mtb calipers.
i have cantis on currently. thanks for your help!
