Dutch bikes and hub brakes

[dja25]

Hi.

I am relatively new to cycling. My bicycle, with which I am generally very happy, is a
traditional Dutch roadster. It has lots of "low maintenance" bits and pieces, including front and
rear hub brakes.

Every so often, I sense a very small "clicking" through the handlebars. This doesn't seem to be a
response to turning them - they are fine when I do this. It seems to be most likely to happen when I
start pedalling or otherwise put weight on the front of the bike.

My front hub brake has some kind of mechanism in it that gives a sense of movement in the headset
when activated. (I don't think the movement actually takes place in the headset, but it is
discernable when I rock the bike backwards and forwards in the same way that headset movement would
be.) I gather that the purpose of this mechanism is to prevent the brake from building up excessive
tension in the spokes, etc. during operation.

I am wondering whether this mechanism is in some way responsible for the clicking: if so, there is
probably nothing for me to worry about.

I guess that an alternative (and more worrying) cause would be a small vertical movement in the
headset under pressure. Is this a likely fault?

Does any one else have experience of something similar? If so, what was the cause?

Thanks in advance for your help.

--
Daniel Auger - mailto:[email protected]

 

[David Nutter]

<[email protected]> <[email protected]> said:

> I guess that an alternative (and more worrying) cause would be a small vertical movement in the
> headset under pressure. Is this a likely fault?
>
> Does any one else have experience of something similar? If so, what was the cause?

I found an unusual fault on my ancient road bike when servicing the headset last month. Basically,
the wedge that held the quill stem inside the fork steerer tube had cracked and there was a very
small amount of play in the long stem bolt. I don't think this movement could be easily
distinguished from play in the brake calipers when pressing the front brake and rocking the front of
the bike backwards and forwards, but it's concievable that only years of accumulated gunk were
holding the stem in the steerer tube!

Regards,

-david

--
David Nutter <[email protected]> Research Assistant Rm E326, Department Of Computer Science,
University Of Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE Tel: +44(0)191 3747075

 

[Howard]

Hi there!

Well done on your decision to buy a truly practical utility bike rather than some pseudo mountain
bike! (I recently got a Giant Suxes to supplement my racing, mountain and training bikes!).

I would guess that your bike has the Shimano Nexus roller brake fitted. Perhaps surprisingly this
needs grease injecting into it now and again. If this has not been done for a while it could explain
why the brake is clicking. (Do not inject grease into Sturmey Archer or SRAM type traditional hub
brakes!!!).

There should be no looseness in the headset and if there is this may well cause a clicking noise as
well. Try to show your bike to a mechanic or the shop where you got it as having a loose headset
obvioulsy has safety implications.

Regards

Howard

www.thebikezone.org.uk

 

[Ian Smith]

On Thu, 16 Jan 2003, <[email protected]> <[email protected]> wrote:

> My front hub brake has some kind of mechanism in it that gives a sense of movement in the headset
> when activated. (I don't think the movement actually takes place in the headset, but it is
> discernable when I rock the bike backwards and forwards in the same way that headset movement
> would be.)

On my bike with a SA hub, if you put the brake on and rock back-and-forwards it feels _exactly_ like
play in teh headset. It's actually a small amount of play between the reaction arm and the bracket
clamped to teh fork which it slots into. Having located the source of the sensation, I now ignore it
and don't worry.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

 

[Pete Biggs]

Howard wrote:
> I would guess that your bike has the Shimano Nexus roller brake fitted. Perhaps surprisingly this
> needs grease injecting into it now and again. If this has not been done for a while it could
> explain why the brake is clicking.

I've noticed that a brand new bike with a (rear) Nexus roller brake had a lot of play when the
stationary bike was rocked back and forth with the brake on. Is this not normal?

~PB

 

[M-Gineering Imp]

Howard wrote:
>
> Hi there!
>
> Well done on your decision to buy a truly practical utility bike rather than some pseudo mountain
> bike! (I recently got a Giant Suxes to supplement my racing, mountain and training bikes!).
>
> I would guess that your bike has the Shimano Nexus roller brake fitted. Perhaps surprisingly this
> needs grease injecting into it now and again. If this has not been done for a while it could
> explain why the brake is clicking. (Do not inject grease into Sturmey Archer or SRAM type
> traditional hub brakes!!!).

Rollerbrakes fit to the hub with a spline, not a pressfit. some play could exist. Check that the
reactionarm is properly connected to the frame.
--
Marten

 

[Pete Biggs]

Pete Biggs wrote:
> I've noticed that a brand new bike with a (rear) Nexus roller brake had a lot of play when the
> stationary bike was rocked back and forth with the brake on. Is this not normal?

Just to clarify: I mean the play was in the brake. As this was a rear, the headset is irrelevant of
course, but I could imagine play like this from a front brake feeling similar to headset play
(although the brake I'm refering to had far more play than could be got from a headset).

~PB

 

[Marten Hoffmann]

pLime{remove_fruit}@biggs.tc schreef ...
> Howard wrote:
> > I would guess that your bike has the Shimano Nexus roller brake fitted. Perhaps surprisingly
> > this needs grease injecting into it now and again. If this has not been done for a while it
> > could explain why the brake is clicking.
>
> I've noticed that a brand new bike with a (rear) Nexus roller brake had a lot of play when the
> stationary bike was rocked back and forth with the brake on. Is this not normal?

Unfortunately, it is.

--
Regards, Marten

 

[Pattledom]

[email protected] wrote:
> Hi.
>
> I am relatively new to cycling. My bicycle, with which I am generally very happy, is a
> traditional Dutch roadster. It has lots of "low maintenance" bits and pieces, including front and
> rear hub brakes.
>
> Every so often, I sense a very small "clicking" through the handlebars. This doesn't seem to be a
> response to turning them - they are fine when I do this. It seems to be most likely to happen when
> I start pedalling or otherwise put weight on the front of the bike.

It's worth checking that the handlebar stem is clamping the bars tightly. I once had a bike where
this would slowly work itself loose. A few clicks and creaks were the first sign that this was
happening. Ignore them, and I'd suddenly find the bars were rotating freely in the stem!

>
> My front hub brake has some kind of mechanism in it that gives a sense of movement in the headset
> when activated. (I don't think the movement actually takes place in the headset, but it is
> discernable when I rock the bike backwards and forwards in the same way that headset movement
> would be.) I gather that the purpose of this mechanism is to prevent the brake from building up
> excessive tension in the spokes, etc. during operation.

Is this a Shimano Nexus? The brake mechanism fits onto a spline on the hub and there is a little bit
of backlash in the fitting of the splines. This is where that little bit of movement can occur and
is quite normal. When you rock the bike with the brake on, it feels just like a loose headset and
can be a bit disconcerting when you first notice it.

--
Andrew Pattle