Offbeat drum (roller?) brake question

Hi All,

I have an offbeat drum (roller?) brake question.

My wife and I are due to have our second child next month. This means going from a "single" jogging
stroller to a double. This combined with the fact that my daughter does not seem to be getting any
lighter and we just moved to an area with lots of hills presents a problem running downhill. Going
uphill is just more work. No problem, I can even walk if my heart rate shoots up too much, but
downhill is problematic. Keeping balance while pulling back on the stroller is a back killer.

Even jogging strollers equipped with hand brakes tend to have those hand brakes attached to (low
quality) brakes on the front wheel. When going down a steep hill, my natural tendency is to pull
back on the handlebar. This is not a solution. Ideally, I would brake at the back wheels and use
decent quality brakes.

I have mulled over a couple of options for braking at the back wheel:

1) Braze on bosses for cantilever (or V) brakes at the rear wheel. I would treat this as a frame
with lots of clearance and use a single brake lever for each wheel. I see the advantage of being
able to use the hubs that come with the stroller. No wheel rebuilds. I see a disadvantage in that
the rim is being pressed outward at a single point, pushing the rim and cup out of the same plane
as the cone. This sounds like asking for trouble.

2) Rebuild the wheelset using a hub with a drum brake. The "bracing bracket" (?) that is normally
attached to the chainstay can be given an offset attachment to the frame body and should work
fine. I think this is the preferred option.

3) Ditto with discs. Too expensive even using Avid mechs, but a jogger with Gustavs would look just
too cool...

The big issue I see is the mounting of the hub. Tricycle jogging strollers present some of the same
challenges as recumbent trikes. Namely the fact there is a single load bearing point (for lack of a
better term) on each of the back wheels. The stroller I have now has a proprietary hub where the
cone is itself bolted to the stroller frame. The attachment bolt is just a bit bigger than a QR
skewer. What I could do is drill out the hub to the size of the attachment bolt from the between the
standard hub and frame. Then use a longer version of the same bolt and run it through like a QR
skewer. A three year old, baby and stroller make for a 60lb package, which is not that heavy.

I would like comments on this approach. I would also like pointers to inexpensive front drum brake
hubs as seen on cheap city bikes. I am not building a bent or tandem and $100 bucks a wheel for
Arais seems a bit excessive for a stroller.

If anyone has a Baby Jogger and can comment on the hub and frame mount that they use, that would
also be appreciated. They seem to have decent quality overall and I would like to to to 20"ers.

Thanks, Dave

 

won't help much, but cool:

http://www.pinkbike.com/story.php3?id=1278

Jon Bond

Dave Stocker wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> I have an offbeat drum (roller?) brake question.
>
> My wife and I are due to have our second child next month. This means going from a "single"
> jogging stroller to a double. This combined with the fact that my daughter does not seem to be
> getting any lighter and we just moved to an area with lots of hills presents a problem running
> downhill. Going uphill is just more work. No problem, I can even walk if my heart rate shoots up
> too much, but downhill is problematic. Keeping balance while pulling back on the stroller is a
> back killer. snip<
>
> Thanks, Dave

 

>downhill is problematic. Keeping balance while pulling back on the stroller is a back killer.

How about a parachute?

I guess you'd have to stow it at the bottom of every hill. It does have the advantage of a fixed top
speed on a given slope, and it'll never squeak or overheat.

>Even jogging strollers equipped with hand brakes tend to have those hand brakes attached to (low
>quality) brakes on the front wheel.

Can these be upgraded, or can an adapter be made to fit a higher quality brake? I note that for
downhills, a heavy tandem will have a drum operated by a lever that stays where you set it, not by a
safety brake lever that releases when you move your hand.

Front wheel braking, if properly controlled, is most effective, but rear braking is easier to get
set to a given level.

> Tricycle jogging strollers present some of the same challenges as recumbent trikes.

Yes, interrogation of tandem and recumbent specialists in my area has delivered many solutions to my
unusual electric bicycle prototype problems. Talk it around the odd ball shops...

>Namely the fact there is a single load bearing point (for lack of a better term) on each of the
>back wheels.

You mean they are on a common axle, braced inboard, and secured outboard with like a press on nut,
but not vertically braced on the outboard ends of the axle?

>What I could do is drill out the hub to the size of the attachment bolt from the between the
>standard hub and frame. Then use a longer version of the same bolt and run it through like a
>QR skewer.

Would this weaken the hub?

Yours,

Doug Goncz, Replikon Research, Seven Corners, VA http://users.aol.com/DGoncz If a computer won't do
what needs to be done, lie to it. Don't try this trick on people.