Dungeon Master Forum

I like back pedal brakes a lot

In 1948 in Illinois we called it "Coaster Brakes".

The only problem with pedal brakes is when your chain breaks or just gets down and you have no front brake (I know it from my own experience, I was going downhill for a few kilometres without brakes, faster and faster, but I was lucky and had no accident, and then it took me several minutes to stop at the bottom of the hill... I must have exceeded the speed limit for cars).

Jan, this should have been a very bad experience.
In my view a front brake (for the front wheel) would not have made a big difference.
Either it blocks your front wheel just like you had put a stick through it, so you make a somersault with your bike or they are useless. Gives a good feeling however to be able to press something in such a situation I guess..
I don´t like front brakes much. Maybe they have improved for mountain bikes in the mean time or I just had incredibly bad ones throughout my entire life or I am simply biased!

You're right, Zoom, that front brakes are very dangerous. On the other hand, I normally use the front brake (except the situations where I have to brake very quickly or suddenly), because it is much more fast and effective (it's from the physics - the mass from behind you increases the effect of the brake - as well as it's more effective to have the engine or anything turning the REAR wheels) - note that e.g. in motorcycle races the drivers normally use the front brake. But it is dangerous, I know. Moreover, you can create a reflex that makes you push the front brake even in the dangerous and sudden situations where your brain would tell you to use the rear brake.

In the case I described, I was a kid (maybe 10 or 12 years old) and I had a bicycle where the front brake was pushing on the tyre from above - not on the rim (erm, maybe a wrong word - I mean the metal circle that holds the tyre) from the sides. These brakes are insane.

Most of your braking (at least with a double brake set up) is done with the front brake - pro road riders may use it 95% of the time. Jan, you are correct, it is the physics that make it more effective as your mass is transferred onto the front wheel, and away from the rear.

Cornering while braking on the front can cause a slide. The key is a well modulated brake and practice. I simply cannot stop fast enough on the rear.

So today I was on the bicycle in the Highland for the first time this year. There's still a lot of snow, so in the forests the temperature was between 0 and 5°C (my fingers were freezing so that I was almost unable to pull the brake), but in the open landscape the sun was shining and it was between 15 and 20°C, so I was sweating like a pig. The snow is melting very fast, so some of the roads were under water a bit (once I had to ride in about ca 20 cms of water). I also put a lot of oil on my bike after the winter, and so together with all the water and dust and sand and mud after the winter, I also looked like a pig.

Yeah, this is a beautiful spring!

It is a nice time of year to ride!

Just put some new lighter wheels and disc rotors on, and new shifters and derailer. Testing tomorrow!

It looks like you will be riding air!

Cool! Well done! Have a nice test tomorrow!

I'll perhaps put a picture of my bike here later, but you have to promise you won't laugh.

PS Just a technical / linguistic question: what's the difference between a shifter and a derailer in English?

The shifter refers to the levers on the bike that operate the derailer (or sometimes called 'rear mech')