Braking the Bank - Not

Braking the Bank - Not

One would think that having a safe, secure and reliable means to stop moving would be right up there with how to get moving.  The trouble is that bikes, like many other vehicles, were created and developed by men.  Typically, the thrill is in moving, not stopping.  That is, moving fast.  Stopping has just been coincidental with the need to do other things, for example sleeping.  Hands up if you have ever dozed off while driving.  Go on, we know you have.

Lance gives a urine sample...

Cycling is a slightly different matter.  If you doze off, you fall off.  Just about everything else you can think of doing can be done while on the go.  Eating, drinking, texting, taking photos, having a leak (I have trained with one guy who rolls his shorts leg up and lets rip.  It pays to recognise his signal movements, and get clear).  Even taking a dump - there are the pro stories of the lowly domestique holding a Dixie cup under the captain's sweaty butt.  So, how can we stop without busting collar bones, getting gravel rash and the like?

We use brakes.


Take a look at the first two-wheeled vehicle, the velocipede.  No pedals or crank set, too early for that.  You sat on it and walked.  if you wanted to stop you Flintstone'd it, but of course, you would not be going terribly fast, either.

Roll forward to the ordinary cycle, or Penny Farthing to the popular name.  You ride too high to put your feet down, so, with the exception of a few spoon brake ordinaries, you brake the same way you move forward - pedal slowly, and make sure that you dismount a fraction of a second before you do actually stop. It is a long way down.

And so to the modern era.  All a brake is is a means to convert your kinetic energy into heat, and some sound.  And, if the conversion is fast enough, light.  Getting the brake pads visibly glowing is an achievement normally reserved for sports motorbikes and cars, although as soon as they get warm the pads radiate heat as infra-red light. 
Which we cannot see, although many other animals (snakes, bats and butterflies) can.

The first friction brake on a bike was the spoon brake, essentially a flat paddle that was pushed against the tyre surface.  These appeared on a few ordinaries, and still appear as home-made brakes on under-equipped peasant cycles in Asia.


Early in the twentieth century the duck brake arrived, which was the precursor to the modern rim brake.  The duck had a rigid arc with a pair of pads or rubber wheels that, when the arc was raised, were pressed against either the tyre wall or, in its later development as the rod brake, the underside of the rim.  As a simple lift-drop mechanism they were well suited to a handlebar-mounted lever with a pivot rod.  The rod brakes are still found as new issue on the ubiquitous Chinese Flying Pigeon bikes. Brakes were now controlled by hand levers without the danger of moving your hand from the grips.

Coaster brakes were invented in 1898, and are still a common feature on single-speed bikes.  These work by pedaling backwards - perfect for laying rubber on the seal.  But distinctly unsuitable for any bike with gears.

So, we are back to the evolving design of rim brakes, which are essentially advanced forms of the rod brake.  You squeeze the lever, pulling a cable which applies tension to close a pair of sprung calipers, pressing their rubber pads against the wheel rim.  Whether the are side pull, centre pull, Campy deltas, fork-mounted cantilevers or v brakes, they are all variations on the same principle - push rubber against the rim.

An aside here - disc brakes work the same way, but instead of pushing against the wheel rim itself, the pads push against two sides of a steel disc that is bolted to the rim.  These provide more secure braking than rim brakes, but are not used on road bikes owing to the extra weight and aerodynamic disadvantages, which are not typically an issue on mountain bikes that are already encumbered with double suspension and rather weighty wheels.

So, what brakes to fit to the project.  Typically brake sets are interchangeable with the shifter lever units, as they all work the same way - by cable tension.  What is of issue is the pull distance, security of action - does it stutter and grab, or give smooth, controlled modulation of the braking action, and weight.  Plus strength, so over time it is not warped or pulled apart by the repeated stress of trying to stop a rotating wheel.

There are many options, including unfamiliar brands from Asian factories. I considered a pair from a manufacturer calling itself Mr Control, the brake units also appearing under different names through eBay.  Narrowing the range down to a mere eleven models, some targeted research gave the best deals internationally for each.  The choice narrowed down to a realistic price differential between the few lightest units.  Mr Control was the lightest at 235 g, but history and reviews labelled this as an unproven quality. 
Next in line were the SRAM Force and Rival sets, at 280 and 287 grams each (front and back together), with a best price difference of NZ$40 for a saving of only 8 gm.


So, the choice was the (slightly) heavier SRAM Rival brake set, at a total cost (including shipping) of NZ$124.01 from Wiggle, in the UK.  here they are...