T
Tony Raven
Guest
Colin Blackburn wrote:
>
> [Aside: The stoker got off and took the toddler from the seat. As she
> walked towards me I noticed she had a Che Guevara (sp?) t-shirt on. Right
> next to me was a Skoda with a Che Guevara stencil on the boot lid. She
> noticed the car's stencil and said to the toddler, "Look Che, it's Che!"
> It turned out the toddle was named Che, after Che G.]
>
Boy, that takes me back. I thought he was long gone and forgotten amongst the
young today.
> When I went in for the next round I had a look at the then parked up
> tandem, an Orbit, and noticed it had both disc and V brakes on the rear
> wheel. I know tandems need very efficient brakes but is it normal to have
> two rear brakes in addition to a front brake? Is the second rear brake
> used in conjunction with the first or as an emergency brake? Are the two
> rear levers both on the pilot's bars? (I forgot to look, I had had a few
> pints of Kamikaze by then.)
>
Many tandems have double rear brakes. One is used as the normal brake and one
actuated with a thumbshifter as a drag brake to keep the speed under control
on hills. Unlike a single, the back brake is equally effective as the front
on a tandem. The drag brake stays constantly on during the descent, hence the
use of a thumbshifter to set it, but that means it gets very hot. Usually
disc brakes are not recommended as they are not designed to cope with that
amount of heat. The standard is an Arai drum brake which has a big finned
outer to disippate the heat. So the sequence is to set the thumbshifter to
give background braking to keep your speed under control and then use the
normal rear brake lever if you need to slow more at any point.
Tony
>
> [Aside: The stoker got off and took the toddler from the seat. As she
> walked towards me I noticed she had a Che Guevara (sp?) t-shirt on. Right
> next to me was a Skoda with a Che Guevara stencil on the boot lid. She
> noticed the car's stencil and said to the toddler, "Look Che, it's Che!"
> It turned out the toddle was named Che, after Che G.]
>
Boy, that takes me back. I thought he was long gone and forgotten amongst the
young today.
> When I went in for the next round I had a look at the then parked up
> tandem, an Orbit, and noticed it had both disc and V brakes on the rear
> wheel. I know tandems need very efficient brakes but is it normal to have
> two rear brakes in addition to a front brake? Is the second rear brake
> used in conjunction with the first or as an emergency brake? Are the two
> rear levers both on the pilot's bars? (I forgot to look, I had had a few
> pints of Kamikaze by then.)
>
Many tandems have double rear brakes. One is used as the normal brake and one
actuated with a thumbshifter as a drag brake to keep the speed under control
on hills. Unlike a single, the back brake is equally effective as the front
on a tandem. The drag brake stays constantly on during the descent, hence the
use of a thumbshifter to set it, but that means it gets very hot. Usually
disc brakes are not recommended as they are not designed to cope with that
amount of heat. The standard is an Arai drum brake which has a big finned
outer to disippate the heat. So the sequence is to set the thumbshifter to
give background braking to keep your speed under control and then use the
normal rear brake lever if you need to slow more at any point.
Tony