Stop!

[OzzyU812]

I don't know quite where to start. I'm in the middle of my DAX 80 (70) build. I don't like front brakes. I wanted to run dual rears as I have been. I had a cantilever, stock and added a caliper near it, left lever for one and right for the other. I also didn't want to have a brake & clutch lever on the left. But I haven't ordered a Dual Pull Brake Lever yet. I did see a pic a while back where Ghost had converted a single pull into a dual pull. But I didn't have the materials to do it. Someone had left and old caliper brake on the bike rack right above my tire. Like they was saying, here ya go, you need a front brake. As a kid I had put the brake caliper where the kickstand goes. I saw the frayed wire form my existing caliper, I had just finished a pre-install of the Large Filipino clutch pull mod.(for more info search "Clutch cable better mounting yea!" at place that shall not be named) Then the AH-HA moment! But are the cables that long? I had a new set of Wally World cables checked for length and unbelievably they're long enough! So robbed some nuts and bolts I have got for the kit and mounted the pulley and gifted caliper, ran the long new wire though exiting cable though brake #1 round the pulley to brake #2. Looked at it said that ain't right. OH, it needs a cable jacket and "L" bracket. Cable I got,but I didn't have a "L" bracket. I have a strap with holes in it that was going to from the top of the chain tensioner to the frame for added security. I worked it back and forth at the 3rd hole til it broke and bent it between 1st & 2nd. There was my "L" bracket! Which I will replace when I go to the hardware store to get all the stuff I stole from the kit. It seems to work really good! Feels like there is only one brake! Having the pulley adds leverage. There is a bit of a friction point right at the "L" bracket. Which could break the cable in time. I'll either get a larger pulley or move the "L" bracket to the bolt just below the pulley. There is a little tweeking to do on it, but, I couldn't wait to get some pics and post this.

Now, in a way I'm back where I started. Because I still have 2 break levers. I'll most likely just put the one for the cantilever in some odd spot on the bars to avoid taking it apart and losing parts. Until I get a dual pull break lever. Then it will have 3 breaks on one brake lever! I do realize that this adds no additional tire to road breaking surface, and there is most likely a point where break pad to rims surface does no further good. Since I'm not an engineer, I have no way to figure that out. I'll just go way beyond that point! Besides it looks so cool!

 

[NunyaBidness]

The majority of your stopping power comes from a front brake. I can see the "law of diminishing returns" coming into effect with your current braking system.
I would never want to be without front brakes myself but over the years I have learned how to use them to their full potential without going over the front bars and they have saved me many times.

 

[OzzyU812]

I have been using the front brake on my E-Zip. It has a suspension fork which is more forgiving. This one does not have a suspension fork yet. I not worried by any means of the over the bars flip. I don't think that would even be possible without conscience effort to do so. But I have had the front rim lock up before the rear and caused some squirrely sliding on a several non-motorized bike without suspension fork at 10 - 15 mph. On a MB going 20 - 30 mph, I want some degree on control and predictability. When I get a suspension fork on there then I'll put a front brake on there.

 

[Dan]

Very cool Ozzy.

 

[NunyaBidness]

...But I have had the front rim lock up before the rear and caused some squirrely sliding on a several non-motorized bike without suspension fork at 10 - 15 mph. On a MB going 20 - 30 mph, I want some degree on control and predictability. When I get a suspension fork on there then I'll put a front brake on there.

That is part of what I was referring to when I said I had learned how to use them properly and to their full potential.

 

[huckersteve]

Yaeah, what he said- You gotta learn to be friends with your front brakes. There's no substitute for it and it kills me how often I hear folks complaining about squirrely front brakes on their bikes on the MB forums. There's no reason on Earth not to run/use front brakes to their full potential. I too have incurred front wheel skidding with excessive braking but indeed the brake input by me WAS excessive the very few times this has ever happened.

Look as long as you want, outside of patently unsafe Chopper motorcycle builds (which sometimes eschew front brakes for the sake of aesthetics), you won't fine one single example of an automobile or motorcycle that doesn't run front brakes. Maybe there's a reason for that..

Nevertheless, now that I've bashed you- I do think you're an ingenious mechanic. Now use all those brains to hook up a sweet front brake. BTW- you'll never have a lockup issue with a front drum brake.

 

[Dan]

Howdy Ozz-mon. eDJ came up with a really funky FB idea. It is a rear wheel coaster brake on the front wheel. Running in to some hick-ups and challenges but really like his concept.
http://motorbicycling.com/f3/sram-front-drum-brake-hub-6996-3.html

You really do some great stuff with impressive imagination. Thanks for sharing your concepts.

 

[eDJ]

Ozzie, I was just looking at your photos and tend to agree that a front brake would
work best with a dampened front suspension. I was wondering if the dual brakes on your
rear wheel cause the valve stem to lean over time ? (usually where the tire and innertube
slide on the rim under braking conditions) I know on the rear rims of my big bikes in the past
there were wheel to tire locks used to help keep the tire from sliding due to braking.


The coaster FB I'm studying now would
be used with one not only for braking but on my intended vintage build it would
also render some eye-intrigue to it. (a gimick perhaps, but I'm trying to incorporate some
mechanical movements into the design that will predate what most people today have
ever seen) There is a movement afoot now called "steam punk" and I'm considering
touching on some of that in my build if I can.

Steampunk definition: a genre of science fiction set in Victorian times when steam was the main source of machine power.

Here's an example that falls between Vintage and Flash Gordon's time. I can just see the cat
in the hat riding it.

You may have seen something like this in "Old Comic Books" of the 20's-30's Art Deco

It can lend itself to Trikes too:

In the most extreme there is something like Jesse James would build:

But for my build I'm going to stay more with old mechanical movements & systems.

 

[OzzyU812]

The bike is incomplete, its a work in progress, OK. It will have front brakes AFTER i get suspension forks. In all likely hood a pair of them, just to see i if can do it, for no other reason.

Thanks for the compliments! It just came to me and was a spur of the moment thing.

Done "final" tweeks. Got to see if the tensoiner interferes. I've only rode it about 3 miles. They seem to work very well. Almost too well. pull a little to hard and it locks up. Not surprising!