It’s really possible in biking but you have to face difficulties regarding bike wheels due to differences in their shapes. rim and disc brakes would matter a lot on new wheels, these would not fit appropriately with the new wheel and lose traction between the wheel and brakes and they would not respond better. also, the other major issue is that wheels have different outer wall surfaces( angled and curved wheels), these factors would distract the brakes and they will lose their working performance on new brake wheels.
These differences found in wheelsets of bikes would not be able to convert rim brake wheels into disc brake wheels, although there are other large numbers of brands of wheelsets that are compatible with both rim brake wheels and disc wheels, these wheels are easily converted without any issue. non-compatible wheelsets which do not support converting rim brake wheels into disc brakes have many problems, rim brake wheels are weak and cheap and the contact surface of the wheel does not tolerate strong disc brakes on aggressive trails due to the narrower width of the rims, and these types of rims would fail for mountain biking or if the wheels are old and long used, then it is a wrong step to convert rim brake wheels into disc brakes.
Non-compatible wheels are also non-compatible with disc brakes and these brakes would not perform better on mountain and gravel bikes. and if you are thinking that you will make non-compatible disc brakes into compatible rim wheels then these rim brakes would not stand out for a long time on new wheels and if you close them enough near the brake contact surface of the wheel, these will tear apart on the trails when the bike is in high speed.
The Rim brake will slide and skip downward from their gripping track on the wheels and they hit on the spokes of the wheels, it mostly happens when the rims and brakes are not compatible with each other.
Wheels Compatible For Both Rim And Disc Brakes:
There are large categories of wheelsets on which it is hard to recognize whether these are disc brake wheels or rim brake wheels because these are good quality wheelsets and these wheels are compatible with both types of brakes, these wheels are compatible for both front and rear tires and you can use disc brakes on both of them plus you can also use rim brakes on both of them, although the good setup is that you can use disc brakes in the rear wheelset and rim brake in the front.
Disc Brake Wheels:
There are modern expensive branded bike rims that have written on their sidewalls and an indication point about disc brakes, these are specific rims for specific disc brakes and are non-compatible with rim brakes. and the model of the rim is also expressed including the name of the manufacturing company.
Difference OF Brake Calipers:
Rim brakes have shorter or longer calipers of brake and the ratio of brake pull is also different for different types of rim brakes, wheels need their appropriate size calipers of brakes if the reach is shorter and far from the rim, the ratio of braking would be lesser and if the reach is greater and nearer to the wheel, the brake pull ratio would also be greater when you pull the levers of brakes.
Mounting Place Of Brakes On Wheels:
There are compatible rim wheels which have their own place of mounting and brazing of brakes with bike frame and wheels, these are compatible rim wheels, but there are also disc brake wheels which also have p[roepr mounting place of rims brakes, these are the sign and a recognizing place for you to mount your brakes and convert rim brake wheel into disc brakes and vice versa.
Converting Front Rim Brake wheel Into Disc Brakes:
We all know the front wheel is responsible for stopping high speed on aggressive and road trails and rear wheels are used for skidding and slipping purposes, based on these things rim brakes are used for rear wheels to give a touch to these brakes on the trails and disc brakes are used for front wheels, you can also convert front rim brakes into disc brake wheels easily as disc brakes are the recommended brakes for front wheels for mountain and gravel biking.
This converting setup also needs an increasing number of spokes for the front wheels which contains a lower number of spokes, you have to re-dish the front wheel and increase the number of spokes so that two of the spokes would cross each other and look like (X) alphabet.
Including this, you will also need another hub because when the spoke number increases these will require more flanges to mount the lower ends of the spokes within the hub, and flanges are connected with the hub, which means you have to buy another hub for this conversion.
Converting Rim Brake Wheel Into Disc Brake Wheel:
This setup needs to look and attention to many things which include the bike frame, wheel hub, and bike fork on the rim brakes to make a proper place for brazing disc brakes. there are two bolts on the non-drive side of the rear wheel which is reaching towards the hub and flanges of the rear wheel, the distance between these two bolts(which is holding the long tube) to the rear hub, you have to create or manage space for mounting the reachable calipers of brakes but if the rear wheel does not contain those two small-sized bolts then it is not possible to install the disc brakes on the rear wheel. this is the sign on the rear wheels for installing disc brakes.
For the front wheel, inspect the fork, if it contains small two holes where disc brakes are mounted and brazed, then the fork is compatible with the wheelset and you there is a way of installing disc brakes in the front wheels, but if the front fork does not contain space and holes for disc brakes then it is the non-compatible fork for disc brakes and you have to buy another fork which is compatible with the disc brakes.
There is also another important looking thing which needs to be checked for converting rim brake wheelsets into disc brakes, all modern and expensive bikes have a center lock system, in another word 6 bolt system which is attached with the rotor on both front and rear wheels, if your wheels contain the rotor and 6 bolt system then these wheels are recommended for disc brakes but if wheels do not contain these systems then wheels are non-compatible with the disc brake setups. And if you want to convert non-compatible rim wheels into compatible disc wheels then you have to buy these rotors and 6 bolt nuts to make them compatible with your bike.
Do Hubs Matter For Converting Rim Brake Wheels To Disc Brake Wheels?
It is possible to convert rim brake wheels into disc brake wheels but it is impossible to convert non-disc hubs into disc hubs. you have to purchase a new wheel for your bike to make this setup. rim brake hubs, in other words, non-disc hubs do not have a proper place for mounting the center lock and rotor, that’s why rim hub wheels are hard to install disc brakes on them.
Cost For Converting Rim Brake Wheels To Disc Brake Wheels?
It depends on the setup which you are going to make in this conversion, if you are using compatible wheels for disc brakes then it would not cost too much because both front and rear wheels do not require re-dishing and re-lacing, you just have to buy, new brakes with calipers, but if the wheel is non-compatible with the disc brake, then it usually costs more than 8oo$ to 900&, because wheel need new spokes, new hub, and new disc brakes and then re-dishing, all of these things would require a lot of time and your skills, if you are a beginner then you are going to spend higher bucks on the mechanic for this setup, doing this setup is not easy and gameplay, a single small defect or ignoring any part would cause you in trouble and limits wheel rotation and functions on aggressive trails.
you need new spokes and spoke nipples and when you are uninstalling the wheel, you have to remove rim tape which further requires new tape after re-dishing of spokes, all these things of new wheels will cost much more. because this conversion is totally practical work which is called wheel building.
Spokes Difference Of Front And Rear Tires For Converting Rim Brake Wheels Into Disc Brake Wheels?
Usually, on a normal basis, the front tire has less number of spokes than the rear for rim brakes and this setup is for all bike wheels with rim brakes u8t if you are going to install disc brakes in the front wheel, then you have to increase the number of spokes to make the wheel compatible with the disc brakes, for rim brakes number of spokes for the front tire is 20 and for the rear tire is 24 and for disc brakes number of spokes for the front tire is 24 and for a rear tire is 24.