G'day Jean-Marc
From Thorn's latest brochure:
An ideal compromise is to have a front V brake and a rear cable-operated disc brake.
This covers off the problem you identified of wearing out a Rohloff rim miles from anywhere. My 2015 Thorn Mercury has this brake configuration.
And now for something completely different:
This bloke lost his life because he failed to have his brakes maintained.
https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/pe ... es-3061450
Mike
Hi Scott,
Yup, still alive and kicking. I haven’t done much in the way of cycling, so I haven’t been posting. Lock down, weather, a fun time with gouty feet, and home projects have kept me off my bike, but we’re OK and waiting for better times.
Stay safe.
Cheers
Keith
Gouty feet? How French! I’m so sorry. great to hear you’re alive, but maybe ease up on the kicking?
Mike, you're just trying to scare me into buying a new bicycle!
Nonetheless, quite a horrific story.
Last year the missus has bad fall when her brakes were so useless as to have suffered an almost complete failure. It was about twenty five kilometers outside of Taunton (Somerset, UK) in bucketing rain with worn brake shoes covered in slimy mud. End result was a broken twist-shifter clamp which meant she had to dismount to change gears with an 8mm spanner for the rest of the way and stick to the chosen gear for as long as possible. My journal for the day reminds me that Leigh ended up "cutting her leg (not too badly this time) and grazing her hands a bit (no gloves!)". Since then I have been far more diligent in checking the condition of the brakes.
Jean-Marc,
The conditions you describe are why disc brakes for bikes were developed.
Back on rim brakes I found on line a series of touring articles written in the early 1970's in the days of steel rims and low tech brake pads and the writer said that the difference in braking distance between wet and dry was one revolution of the wheels after which presumably the rims were dry and braking was back to normal.
Back to your first comment, everyone looks forward to a new bike occasionally!
Mike
When I bought my Co-Motion touring bike in 2014, disc brakes was second on my list of absolutely required features after "actually fits me". I live in the Vancouver BC area where it rains a lot, and I've experienced the braking delay of wet rims more than once (and that grinding noise when said rims are dirty, which they always seem to be when it's wet out). The only issues with the TRP Spyre cable-actuated disc brakes were caused by damage in transit due to the bike being somewhat squashed into its SKS case.
My latest bike has hydraulic disc brakes and I love them. My grip strength isn't great and unlikely to improve and hydraulic brakes are much easier to use. Hydraulic disc brakes have been around for a very long time on mountain bikes and they perform very well.
That said, the article is a strong reminder of the value of maintenance. Every part of a bike needs regular inspection and repairs should be done as soon as their needs are noticed.
Hi Jacquie
You wrote that your grip strength isn't great.
My Surly LHT came with cantilever brakes and I developed forearms like Popeye stopping that bike. I eventually converted it to V brakes which required far less pressure on the levers.
Anyway as you wrote riders should be able to recognise any drop in braking performance and fix it or get it fixed asap.
Mike
Just read that terrible story in the Yorkshire Post, Mike. Over the years I've spent on two wheels, motorized and pedal-powered, I've been especially cautious about brakes and braking. On your on my bikes, I've gone down some serious gradients, 17% and occasionally more -- though on one 24% in the Gaspé, on the coastal highway going west into Percé village, I bailed out and with my buddy Jim took the truck route which bypassed the picturesque descent. On long and/or steep descents, especially on a loaded bike, I'll happily keep the speeds down by stopping at overlooks to admire the view.
I rode motorcycles for fifty-plus years, never hit anything or came off, except for one slow-speed mishap on a gravel road. But, I always rode within my limits and those of the bike. In the last 10-12 years I did some extended tours in North America on a mid-80s BMW airhead twin, which had big twin hydraulic discs at the front. On that, I learned that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link: I kept getting spongy brakes as air seeped into the system. I eventually traced the problem to wear in the hard rubber/plastic cap on the brake fluid reservoir. This was on the handlebar near the front brake lever, exposed to wind, rain, and (especially) UV rays. The bike was 20 years old when I bought it, and the damage was almost imperceptible. I replaced it with an original manufacturer's part--BMW makes new parts for bikes up to thirty years old--and that solved the problem. But I was still ultra-careful on steep downgrades in the mountains, esp on the twisty bits.
Hi Mike
Thanks for the interesting article, though I must admit that a lot of it stretched beyond my limited knowledge of the mechanics of cycling. With regards to hydraulics vs cable, we witnessed hydraulic V-brake failure on two Dutch bikes while in Patagonia earlier this year - an irreparable failure that ended two folks tours. I hanker for disks again mostly because I worry about rim wear. A rear rim failure on a Rohloff bike in some isolated region is sure to be a bit more than a nuisance. And let's not get into the subject of courier fees in these COVID times should a failure like that actually happen.
Regards
Jean-Marc
(I think I should keep quiet now because I think I'm drifting off topic)
3 years ago