brake levers, road bike, flat bar

[Joseph S.]

I have put together a flat bar road bike with grip shifters and mountain type brake levers. this
setup is for my wife and she really likes the design mainly because she has mastered the grip shift
on the mountain bike and doesn't have to go through a new learning process which can be tough on
both of us. One problem is that I don't feel the rear brake has enough power for a safe emergency
stop. I assume this is due to the type levers I am using.The bike has standard type road bike
brakes. Anyone have any suggestions for this type setup the would give me more braking power. I
will at some time in the future transfer all these new parts to new frame with big wheels, v-brakes
and a flat bar but right now the this frame fits her really well and I'd like to make this work for
a year or two.

Thank you. Joseph S.

 

[Paul Kopit]

On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 19:28:20 GMT, "Joseph S." <[email protected]> wrote:

>The bike has standard type road bike brakes. Anyone have any suggestions for this type setup the
>would give me more braking power.

If the bicycle currently has dual pivot brakes that are properly setup, you will not beat the
braking with direct pull brakes, cantilevers, or other types. You might look at installing Kool Stop
salmon pads.

 

[Sheldon Brown]

Joseph S. wrote:
> I have put together a flat bar road bike with grip shifters and mountai=
n
> type brake levers. this setup is for my wife and she really likes the d=
esign
> mainly because she has mastered the grip shift on the mountain bike and=

> doesn't have to go through a new learning process which can be tough on=
both
> of us. One problem is that I don't feel the rear brake has enough power=
for
> a safe emergency stop. I assume this is due to the type levers I am using.The bike has standard
> type road bike brakes. Anyone have any suggestions for this type setup the would give me more
> braking power.

You haven't made it clear which kind of brake levers you've got.=20 "Mountain bike" brake levers
fall into two broad categories:

=95Older levers intended for center-pull cantilevers.

=95Newer levers made for direct-pull cantis, such as V-Brakes.

The older style levers will work just dandy with road calipers. If you=20 need a pair, we've got
some really, really nice Ritchey units on=20 special, see:
http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/brakes.html#leversup

New-style "direct pull" levers have the cable attachment twice as far=20 from the lever pivot, so
they only pull half as hard on the cable as the =

older type. If you have used this type of lever, I wouldn't be=20 surprised if there's not much
braking power..it takes a gorilla grip to=20 overcome the mismatch in cable travel.

Sheldon "Not A Gorilla" Brown +--------------------------------------------------------+
| Happy Moon Landing Day to all! None of us should | be working today--we should all be
| celebrating the | most important event of the last millennium! |
+--------------------------------------------------------+ Harris Cyclery, West Newton,
Massachusetts Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041 http://harriscyclery.com Hard-to-find parts
shipped Worldwide http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

 

[Chris Zacho "Th]

I don't care how high priced or high end it is. The rear brake NEVER has enough for an emergency
stop (unless you're rolling backwards). This is because, as you stop, your weight shifts forwards,
onto the front wheel.

If you have to stop fast, shift your weight back and grip the front brake. The rear brake is pretty
much useless except for situations where you don't want to take the chance of the front wheel
sliding. Such as when traction is questionable.

May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills! Chris

Chris'Z Corner "The Website for the Common Bicyclist": http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

 

[Ed J .]

On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 , Sheldon Brown <[email protected]> wrote:

>need a pair, we've got some really, really nice Ritchey units on special, see:
>http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/brakes.html#leversup

Wow - they still make those? I had a pair of those as OE on my '92 Cannondale (with XT
thumbshifters). They look exactly the same.

 

[Sheldon Brown]

Ed J. wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 , Sheldon Brown <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>need a pair, we've got some really, really nice Ritchey units on special, see:
>>http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/brakes.html#leversup
>
> Wow - they still make those? I had a pair of those as OE on my '92 Cannondale (with XT
> thumbshifters). They look exactly the same.

No, they don't still make them, but we bought a bunch of 'em on close out. They were actually made
for Ritchey by DiaCompe in Japan.

Sheldon "Cold Forged" Brown +--------------------------------------------------------+
| Happy Moon Landing Day to all! None of us should | be working today--we should all be
| celebrating the | most important event of the last millennium! |
+--------------------------------------------------------+ Harris Cyclery, West Newton,
Massachusetts Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041 http://harriscyclery.com Hard-to-find parts
shipped Worldwide http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

 

[Matt Temple]

In article <[email protected]>, Paul Kopit <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 19:28:20 GMT, "Joseph S." <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> >The bike has standard type road bike brakes. Anyone have any suggestions for this type setup the
> >would give me more braking power.
>
> If the bicycle currently has dual pivot brakes that are properly setup, you will not beat the
> braking with direct pull brakes, cantilevers, or other types. You might look at installing Kool
> Stop salmon pads.

If you jam on your front brake and can throw yourself over the bar, you have all the stopping power
you need. And it doesn't matter if you have dual-pivots or cantis. What you can't do with current
dual-pivot road brakes is get them around a 700x35 tire. (Not counting long-reach, etc. here.)

Matt