Do you run disc brakes?
- Thread starter broloch
- Start date
Zoot Katz
100 kW
I live in a hilly wet city and ride a heavy bike with V-brakes.
Rim wear is the major reason I'd put on disc brakes.
Rim wear is the major reason I'd put on disc brakes.
Reid Welch
1 MW
I am living dangerously...depends!
Coaster brake-only. Front eZee. Singlespeed, 52/16. Grease-able coaster brake.
My weight is nearly all on the rear. I ride at an average of 20mph...not that much faster than the 15mph
that a coaster brake bike is meant to run.
To stop fast I shift back on the seat and backpedal. I don't skid. I stop fast enough.
Disc brakes would be ideal. NO BIKE should have only one brake; what if the brake failed or the chain fell off?
Well, I made my bike my way and take my chances. It's clean, simple, and will last indefinitely.
I even got a spare, complete OEM wheel and brake ass'y for the bike, just in case I need any parts, ever.
The complete wheel and brake, top quality coaster brake, cost just $35. I have tried hard to bend the rear rim by jumps and rough riding: it runs true and does not bend.
The coaster brake has been in production for well over a century.
If cared for, and few are cared for, the coaster brake is reliable and effective.
Remember: no automobiles had front brakes before 1924.
I drive my bike like I drove antique cars: keep a good following distance, looking, imagining ahead for the worst: a cat or a soccer mom.
Eye contact counts for nothing when dealing with vehicles or pedestrians.
I instinctively shift my weight way way backwards if I need to brake fast: it works
by preventing the throw of the weight all forward, as on normal bikes.
I drive aggressively on dry and wet =level= pavement.
This setup would not be suitable for long hills, or hills, period.
My life, my bike.
Fat, soft, 2.5" wide slicks, just 20PSI, grab well because the road patch is large and deforms even flatter upon braking.
PS: there is no "click click click" when coasting, present in ALL other bikes.
The coaster brake is SILENT. I love silence. I have a ding-bell to forewarn pedestrians,
not a freewheel ratchet.
I am one of the VERY FEW who can use a coaster brake safely and effectively,
because of my care of the unit and keeping the chain and cogs in perfect order,
and because we have no hills, which will cook a coaster brake's grease supply in short order.
It is dead silent, smooth, and always works the same, on land and underwater.
Disk brakes are better, though, for life-security.
Coaster brake-only. Front eZee. Singlespeed, 52/16. Grease-able coaster brake.
My weight is nearly all on the rear. I ride at an average of 20mph...not that much faster than the 15mph
that a coaster brake bike is meant to run.
To stop fast I shift back on the seat and backpedal. I don't skid. I stop fast enough.
Disc brakes would be ideal. NO BIKE should have only one brake; what if the brake failed or the chain fell off?
Well, I made my bike my way and take my chances. It's clean, simple, and will last indefinitely.
I even got a spare, complete OEM wheel and brake ass'y for the bike, just in case I need any parts, ever.
The complete wheel and brake, top quality coaster brake, cost just $35. I have tried hard to bend the rear rim by jumps and rough riding: it runs true and does not bend.
The coaster brake has been in production for well over a century.
If cared for, and few are cared for, the coaster brake is reliable and effective.
Remember: no automobiles had front brakes before 1924.
I drive my bike like I drove antique cars: keep a good following distance, looking, imagining ahead for the worst: a cat or a soccer mom.
Eye contact counts for nothing when dealing with vehicles or pedestrians.
I instinctively shift my weight way way backwards if I need to brake fast: it works
by preventing the throw of the weight all forward, as on normal bikes.
I drive aggressively on dry and wet =level= pavement.
This setup would not be suitable for long hills, or hills, period.
My life, my bike.
Fat, soft, 2.5" wide slicks, just 20PSI, grab well because the road patch is large and deforms even flatter upon braking.
PS: there is no "click click click" when coasting, present in ALL other bikes.
The coaster brake is SILENT. I love silence. I have a ding-bell to forewarn pedestrians,
not a freewheel ratchet.
I am one of the VERY FEW who can use a coaster brake safely and effectively,
because of my care of the unit and keeping the chain and cogs in perfect order,
and because we have no hills, which will cook a coaster brake's grease supply in short order.
It is dead silent, smooth, and always works the same, on land and underwater.
Disk brakes are better, though, for life-security.
Mark_A_W
100 kW
Coaster brake? You have got to be kidding me. One day you will get hit when you can't stop.
203mm front disc. 160mm rear disc. Avid BB7 mechanicals. You must have decent hydraulics or mechanicals (cheap hydros are rubbish). The issue become the tyre sticking to the road....or maybe eyeballs popping out of sockets.
I cruise at 45-50kmh. Don't know what that is in miles per hour...don't care...the world is metric, catch up.
203mm front disc. 160mm rear disc. Avid BB7 mechanicals. You must have decent hydraulics or mechanicals (cheap hydros are rubbish). The issue become the tyre sticking to the road....or maybe eyeballs popping out of sockets.
I cruise at 45-50kmh. Don't know what that is in miles per hour...don't care...the world is metric, catch up.
voicecoils
1 MW
Maybe it's a matter of those riding in traffic vs those cruising on wide open streets or dedicated bike lanes.
My commute has numerous stop lights and sections where there's one lane and no shoulder or two lands + a solid line of parked cars. This all means I need to be able to brake hard and frequently. I'm running a Avid BB7 disc on the rear and a Shimano XT v-brake on the front as my hubmotor is not disk compatible. I'd like to upgrade to Magura hydraulic rim front brake, unless getting a disk on my hubmotor and tabs on my fork are sorted out at some point.
Avid mechanicals are very good and super simple to maintain. They're quite inexpensive and you can use almost any brake leaver with them. It's hard to imagine why you'd not run them for commuting and playing in traffic if your bike is disk compatible.
That said, my road bikes have caliper brakes that perform very well but with 23mm tyres at 120-160 psi, the contact patch is so small that as Mark_A_W mentioned, you can only brake so hard while keeping the tyre stuck to the ground.
Good brakes and tyres make a world of difference in the safety & ride characteristics of bikes, it's worth getting the best stuff IMO
My commute has numerous stop lights and sections where there's one lane and no shoulder or two lands + a solid line of parked cars. This all means I need to be able to brake hard and frequently. I'm running a Avid BB7 disc on the rear and a Shimano XT v-brake on the front as my hubmotor is not disk compatible. I'd like to upgrade to Magura hydraulic rim front brake, unless getting a disk on my hubmotor and tabs on my fork are sorted out at some point.
Avid mechanicals are very good and super simple to maintain. They're quite inexpensive and you can use almost any brake leaver with them. It's hard to imagine why you'd not run them for commuting and playing in traffic if your bike is disk compatible.
That said, my road bikes have caliper brakes that perform very well but with 23mm tyres at 120-160 psi, the contact patch is so small that as Mark_A_W mentioned, you can only brake so hard while keeping the tyre stuck to the ground.
Good brakes and tyres make a world of difference in the safety & ride characteristics of bikes, it's worth getting the best stuff IMO
Just conventional caliper brakes for me.
I did get the best I could find in terms of calipers and brake shoes. They work well even when wet but I'm sure not as good as discs. Unless I'm going down a good hill I never exceed 20-22 mph anyways.
Bill
I did get the best I could find in terms of calipers and brake shoes. They work well even when wet but I'm sure not as good as discs. Unless I'm going down a good hill I never exceed 20-22 mph anyways.
Bill
michaelplogue
10 kW
Yup. Plus, I've just ordered 8" discs and caliper adapters, as well as an Interloc Dual Banger caliper for the front wheel (pistons on both sides of the disc). Got some really steep and long hills here, in addition to heavy, stop-and-go traffic. I need as much braking power as I can get.
Drunkskunk
100 GW
I run them. Avid bb7 and bb5. I prefer them to hydrolic. I also run a coaster brake on my cruiser, and V brakes, rim brakes on my other bikes.
around the neiborhood and in dry conditions on a pedal bike, it doesn't matter much. its not worth the $$$ to convert a bike. But add speed, power and weather, and yeah. i recomend them to anyone.
around the neiborhood and in dry conditions on a pedal bike, it doesn't matter much. its not worth the $$$ to convert a bike. But add speed, power and weather, and yeah. i recomend them to anyone.
EVnewbie
100 W
Disc brakes absolutely!,
My mountain bike runs discs so I don't have the sand in Florida burn down the sidewalls of the rims. The Giant Stiletto chopper I am drawing out has a 178mm disc on the back stock, I will change the front fork out for a suspension version that accepts disc brakes. I'll go for the biggest (203mm) disc and Avid BB7 mechanical calipers to haul the beast down.
My mountain bike runs discs so I don't have the sand in Florida burn down the sidewalls of the rims. The Giant Stiletto chopper I am drawing out has a 178mm disc on the back stock, I will change the front fork out for a suspension version that accepts disc brakes. I'll go for the biggest (203mm) disc and Avid BB7 mechanical calipers to haul the beast down.
Joey
100 W
Disc brake front, and v-brake in back.
Joey
Joey
My ebike has a set of cantis up front, don't see the point in using anything else at this juncture. I mean, I could send myself over the bars at anytime with them so, meh. Tho would be nice to have a second brake on that bike like a backup for if/when shit happens, especially since can't really Ted Shred it cause of rack + fenders.
Reid Welch
1 MW
You come across as a troll. I qualified my bike's specs. You don't know what you are talking about;Mark_A_W said:
you only talk down to me. Go fish someone else? My bike is better than your bike...for here, for MY riding.
It's my bike and I know ebikes too. I'm a Mechanical Engineer like you, ha ha!
What have you invented lately? Be nice. You have to be kidding or skidding.
R.
voicecoils
1 MW
Reid Welch said:
Heh... Reid you stated yourself that you are 'living dangerously' and that 'Disc brakes would be ideal. NO BIKE should have only one brake; what if the brake failed or the chain fell off?'. In that sense, Mark is simply agreeing with your own conclusion.
It's clear that he would not ride his eBike with your braking setup and you've stated that you don't think anyone else should use a brake setup like you run either.
There aren't many of us on this forum with hundreds of posts (indicating the time we've spent learning, sharing our experiences and trying to help others). I think if you look through some of Mark's past posts you'll find his contributions consistently valuable.
Anyways, didn't your eZee come with a disk rotor? With some effort, you could have a bike with a front disk brake (just for emergencies of course!). And hey, it would still work under water :wink:
Link
1 MW
Avid BB7 203mm on the front. Pretty good brakes, considering I could skid the front if I squeezed hard enough and was far back enough to keep from flying over the handlebars.
Re. coaster brakes only:
They were awwright when I was a scrubby little kid who couldn't go faster than 15mph on his cheap Wal-Mart bike, but I'm going nearly double that and carrying around about 4x the weight, meaning I'm now about 16x as difficult to stop. Anything less than a good disc I'd be worried about. Rim brakes are alright if you have good pads and keep your rims perfectly true, but I'm too lazy to deal with such things.
Re. coaster brakes only:
They were awwright when I was a scrubby little kid who couldn't go faster than 15mph on his cheap Wal-Mart bike, but I'm going nearly double that and carrying around about 4x the weight, meaning I'm now about 16x as difficult to stop. Anything less than a good disc I'd be worried about. Rim brakes are alright if you have good pads and keep your rims perfectly true, but I'm too lazy to deal with such things.
docnjoj
1 GW
2 by 160 front discs on the front wheels of the trike. No rear brakes. Stands it on its nose if I want. I dont!
otherDoc
otherDoc
Reid Welch
1 MW
Gee 
I only weight 150lbs (frock metrics; they're French) and am almost ENTIRELY over the rear wheel, especially when I brake hard.
What do the growing number of fixie users do? What did they do in 1900? 15 to 20 mph is a fine, sane, safe speed for level ground.
I know what I am doing. The Critic is a troll; has proven so in the gear thread, to which he shut the eff up when I straightened him out.
Mechanical Engineer, my ass. BTW, I invented and used my own hemorroid ligation tool successfully, rather than visit a $$$$ MD. Disgusting but true. Ten years of suffering, fixed, just like that.
And my grandfather invented the window air conditioner.
And I was the best, most competent concert piano technician on the East Coast: 12,000 parts to keep in order to please the most fussy, neurotic, performance artists in the world.
I know my chops. A coaster brake works for ME just grand. I just won't recommend it for a lard bucket living in the hills of Virginia, sitting half over the front wheel.
Stop faster in the rain than any of you blokes. And the coaster brake? It's an internal drum fully a quarter inch thick of hardened steel with hard steel brake shoes. It can skid a tire if you are a kiddie, riding ass-forward.
And I drove a Model T (check out its brakes) at speeds over 55 mph for 25 thousand miles.
I used my pea brain and never rear ended anyone, and never flew over more than the coo koo's nests.
Anyway, Mark was rude "Are you kidding me??"
NO Don't get me riled. I punch cops.
I only weight 150lbs (frock metrics; they're French) and am almost ENTIRELY over the rear wheel, especially when I brake hard.What do the growing number of fixie users do? What did they do in 1900? 15 to 20 mph is a fine, sane, safe speed for level ground.
I know what I am doing. The Critic is a troll; has proven so in the gear thread, to which he shut the eff up when I straightened him out.
Mechanical Engineer, my ass. BTW, I invented and used my own hemorroid ligation tool successfully, rather than visit a $$$$ MD. Disgusting but true. Ten years of suffering, fixed, just like that.
And my grandfather invented the window air conditioner.
And I was the best, most competent concert piano technician on the East Coast: 12,000 parts to keep in order to please the most fussy, neurotic, performance artists in the world.
I know my chops. A coaster brake works for ME just grand. I just won't recommend it for a lard bucket living in the hills of Virginia, sitting half over the front wheel.
Stop faster in the rain than any of you blokes. And the coaster brake? It's an internal drum fully a quarter inch thick of hardened steel with hard steel brake shoes. It can skid a tire if you are a kiddie, riding ass-forward.
And I drove a Model T (check out its brakes) at speeds over 55 mph for 25 thousand miles.
I used my pea brain and never rear ended anyone, and never flew over more than the coo koo's nests.
Anyway, Mark was rude "Are you kidding me??"
NO Don't get me riled. I punch cops.
Reid Welch
1 MW
link to his pro qualifications:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4892&p=156398&hilit=mechanical+engineer#p156398
and I too am qualified. I shovel horse manure onto a pushcart for a sideline. It's a living. :
________________________
EDIT I have a real doctor on the phone. :wink: Let me quote:
"Reid, you really should not have ligated your external hemorroid (sp). It was a foolish act ten years ago.
BTW: how did you do it?"
ans: exactly the same way you'd do it, but with two dollars of telescoping brass tubing, a small rubber band, and three feet of suction tubing, a mirror, and suction and a slide-off of the rubber band plus KY jelly. DISGUSTING.
But I did not die, get infection, or go to a quack for horsefeathers.
EDIT ADDENDUM: as nobody has dared respond yet (great, that),
I will add that Mark was not only rude, but also condescending.
Nothing lights my short fuse faster than a blowhanz.
I used to think: Australia, land of the greatest people on Earth.
Now I know there are rare exceptions.
I think I will tour NZ instead. They are gentle with sheep.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4892&p=156398&hilit=mechanical+engineer#p156398
and I too am qualified. I shovel horse manure onto a pushcart for a sideline. It's a living. :
________________________
EDIT
I have a real doctor on the phone. :wink: Let me quote:"Reid, you really should not have ligated your external hemorroid (sp). It was a foolish act ten years ago.
BTW: how did you do it?"
ans: exactly the same way you'd do it, but with two dollars of telescoping brass tubing, a small rubber band, and three feet of suction tubing, a mirror, and suction and a slide-off of the rubber band plus KY jelly. DISGUSTING.
But I did not die, get infection, or go to a quack for horsefeathers.
EDIT ADDENDUM: as nobody has dared respond yet (great, that),
I will add that Mark was not only rude, but also condescending.
Nothing lights my short fuse faster than a blowhanz.
I used to think: Australia, land of the greatest people on Earth.
Now I know there are rare exceptions.
I think I will tour NZ instead. They are gentle with sheep.
Link
1 MW
Reid Welch said:
My thought-processes are about as abstract as it gets and I still can't figure out how this is supposed to woroh god STOP STOP STOP
Reid Welch said:
I'd dispute this if it rained around here and I actually knew how well my brakes work when wet...
Reid Welch said:
I rode fixies without brakes when I was younger. Built up thick quads and developed a very fast cadence. Yeah, braking on a fixie is an art and when young, my knees could take it...and my fixie weighed 18 lbs; my e-bike now approaches almost 50 lbs--some e-bikes here are approaching 100 lbs with big motors and batteries and they go a lot faster and carry lot more momentum. With that, I prefer disk brakes on my e-bike.
Lcyclist.
Reid Welch
1 MW
Disc brakes are superior and almost a necessity for ebikes. No disagreement.
I do not care to be a hemorrohoid (sp). I'll coast through life, but not red lights.
:wink:
Cheers to all. Let's talk now about the agony of piles....of broken bikes
______________________________
edit added on to:
He haff forget to tank you all aboff for your kind helps. Reid is a schwine!
In proxy, for his social standing benefits,
H. A.
I do not care to be a hemorrohoid (sp). I'll coast through life, but not red lights.
:wink:
Cheers to all. Let's talk now about the agony of piles....of broken bikes
______________________________
edit added on to:He haff forget to tank you all aboff for your kind helps. Reid is a schwine!
In proxy, for his social standing benefits,
H. A.
docnjoj
1 GW
Hey Reid! Its a time honored tradition to use rubber bands on hemorrhoids for long distance truckers who get 'em a lot!
Sorry!
otherDoc
Sorry!
otherDoc
Almasi
100 W
Disc brake is a MUST on Ebike going more than 40KM/H
I have Avid Juicy 7 hydraulic 2 pistons Front with 8'' rotor and Hayes Sole hydraulic 1 pistons with 6'' rotor in the back of my Specialized hardtail with X406
I have Shimano XT 4 pistons 8'' hydraulic front and rear on my Giant Team DH with X504
I have full confidence with these setup when it's time to brake at 80KM/H without any fade!!!
Robin
I have Avid Juicy 7 hydraulic 2 pistons Front with 8'' rotor and Hayes Sole hydraulic 1 pistons with 6'' rotor in the back of my Specialized hardtail with X406
I have Shimano XT 4 pistons 8'' hydraulic front and rear on my Giant Team DH with X504
I have full confidence with these setup when it's time to brake at 80KM/H without any fade!!!
Robin
icecube57
10 MW
I just bought a Mongoose "Snare" that im switching to. $229 at Wally World It had front and rear disk. I switch to linear pull on front and kept the disc on the rear. Stops like a champ. Tire screeching stops... bitchin!
snowranger
10 kW
How long does it take to wear down a rim with v-brakes any way? I find v-brakes versatile because a lot of motor hubs out there still don't have the proper mounts. I even took the 203 mm BB7 off the back and replaced with V-brakes because I had to use my regular non-disc brake hub for a while while repairing the BMC motor.
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