Rant about long brake shoes

[Robert Taylor]

I find the currently fashionable long brake shoes (V-brake shoes and many canti shoes) to be a real
pai on two counts:

1. The extra length is almost entirely at the rear of the shoe which isn't a problem at the rear of
the bike but at the front the long shoes extend inside the fork blades. In order to use them on
a bike with a road type fork very thin (and short lived) shoes must be used and even then you
nearly always have to deflate the tire to remove or install the front wheel. Even in the case of
mountain bikes it's often necessary to deflate the front tire unless the thin shoes are used.

2. The extra length of the shoes adds nothing to braking performance so far as I can tell. I can
slide the rear wheel with the rear brake or pick it off the ground with the front one if I
choose so I can't gain any performance with long shoes, only problems.

I made short brake shoes for my canti brakes by installing the smooth post adapters from some old
Aztec brake shoes onto threaded post short brake shoes. (Aztec brake shoes were made in both
threaded and smooth post versions, the only difference being that the smooth post ones were just the
threaded post ones with a sleeve screwed on over the threaded post. This sleeve has an 8mm hex at
the bottom so it can easily be screwed off and reused)

Those thin V-brake shoes remind me of the old lady who swallowed the fly and then swallowed a bird
to catch the fly, then swallowed a cat to. . . well you know.

Bob Taylor

 

[A Muzi]

"Robert Taylor" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I find the currently fashionable long brake shoes (V-brake shoes and many canti shoes) to be a
> real pai on two counts:
>
> 1. The extra length is almost entirely at the rear of the shoe which isn't a problem at the rear
> of the bike but at the front the long shoes extend inside the fork blades. In order to use
> them on a bike with a road type fork very thin (and short lived) shoes must be used and even
> then you nearly always have to deflate the tire to remove or install the front wheel. Even in
> the case of mountain bikes it's often necessary to deflate the front tire unless the thin
> shoes are used.
>
> 2. The extra length of the shoes adds nothing to braking performance so far as I can tell. I can
> slide the rear wheel with the rear brake or pick it off the ground with the front one if I
> choose so I can't gain any performance with long shoes, only problems.
>
> I made short brake shoes for my canti brakes by installing the smooth post adapters from some old
> Aztec brake shoes onto threaded post short brake shoes. (Aztec brake shoes were made in both
> threaded and smooth post versions, the only difference being that the smooth post ones were just
> the threaded post ones with a sleeve screwed on over the threaded post. This sleeve has an 8mm hex
> at the bottom so it can easily be screwed off and reused)
>
> Those thin V-brake shoes remind me of the old lady who swallowed the fly and then swallowed a bird
> to catch the fly, then swallowed a cat to. . . well you know.
>
> Bob Taylor
>

We sometimes just cut off the back end of the shoe. Stops just fine and you can get the wheel out to
put the bike in a car. It's "swept area" not "puck size" in the car world and bicycles seem to
adhere to the same physical rules.

We also sometimes use inexpensive "ten-speed" type traditional brake shoes when working on XMart
bikes with recalcitrant squeaky VBrakes. The shorter shoes seem to vibrate less and still stop
just fine.

You have to hand it to the guy who thought of making a special shoe that's
1/3 the depth and 20% more expensive! Chutzpah.
--
Andrew Muzi http://www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April 1971

 

[David L. Johnso]

On Tue, 21 Jan 2003 20:24:26 -0500, Robert Taylor wrote:

> I find the currently fashionable long brake shoes (V-brake shoes and many canti shoes) to be a
> real pai on two counts:
>
> 1. The extra length is almost entirely at the rear of the shoe which isn't a problem at the rear
> of the bike but at the front the long shoes extend inside the fork blades. In order to use
> them on a bike with a road type fork very thin (and short lived) shoes must be used and even
> then you nearly always have to deflate the tire to remove or install the front wheel. Even in
> the case of mountain bikes it's often necessary to deflate the front tire unless the thin
> shoes are used.
>
> 2. The extra length of the shoes adds nothing to braking performance so far as I can tell.

This is true, and suggests a solution to #1. Tin snips. Cut off the extended end of the shoe. Maybe
bolt cutters would be better.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not _`\(,_ | certain, and as
far as they are certain, they do not refer to (_)/ (_) | reality. -- Albert Einstein