Winzip Disc - your experience and some questions
 

We've been in the tandem world for one year and 4300 miles after riding single bikes for 30 plus years. We live in the hilly part of Indiana and have been very pleased with the V-brakes front and rear (Avid Single Digit 7). We also like to descend quickly and don't hold back if the hill is familiar and has good visibility. However, we have ridden singles the last two years on the 3 State 3 Mountain Challenge in Chattanooga, TN which includes Suck Creek Mtn, Sandy Mtn, and Lookout Mtn but we are riding it on the tandem this year. The Lookout Mtn descent has more sharp turns and more traffic and much more braking - enough that we decided we wanted a disc or drum for the tandem.

We have a Santana tandem. We decided to install the mechanical Winzip with the 255 mm rotor (10 inch). We have 65 miles with the brake which has included some braking to keep speed down with our generous supply of sand on the hills and roads which has been spread to deal with our snow and ice of the last month. So far so good but it is going to be a while before I get used to all of the lever travel compared to the way the lever felt with the V-Brake with pads close to the rim. I know I will get used to this increased modulation and I enjoy learning about new equipment but it is a very different feeling from what I am used to. I was wondering though, if anyone has ever put on two power brake boosters to pull more cable - what I think I would really like would be a power brake booster that was designed to pull a little more cable than the current one.

Another thing - after fiddling with the little spade washer / shims to get the caliper parallel to the rotor, I thought it would be nice to see if it would be possible to use the convex / concave washers that the Avid disc brake uses to allow what I understand is an easier alignment. I would have to get a thinner hub adaptor for the rotor to allow for the caliper being moved over but I haven't asked about the different thicknesses available.

If anyone reading has any experience to report with the Winzip Disk or my questions, I'd love to hear them.

Bloomington, IN

We have a 2006 Santana Sovereign with a Winzip disc and 10 inch rotor (factory installed) with 1500 miles. We have climbed to the top of Skyline, 1600 vertical feet, and descended via a 5 mile 5 -7% grade using disc brake to control speed maneuvering sharp turns and switchbacks with very hard braking and reacceleration. There was no fade or problems. I have plenty of stopping power with the disc brake and do not see the need for another booster. Do you have the mechanical amplifier in the cable? I have replaced the brake pads and adjust the inboard and outboard pads periodically, but that is it.

Yes, the "power brake booster" is the SideTrac mechanical amplifier. I don't believe the pads are "seated" yet, i.e. they are not perfectly parallel to the rotor yet and I know the braking performance will improve as it wears to perfectly parallel position. Separate from that, it is my understanding that there will always be more level travel to fully apply the disc as compared to the amount of level travel for applying the rim brake. I am just curious what the lever would feel like and if I would have enough hand strength if I connected two power brake boosters in a row. It's probably a silly thought but I may have to try it sometime out of curiosity.

Bloomington, IN

Re the 3 St/3 Mtn, the Suck crk down hill as three hair pins two of
which, IIRC the 1st and 3d are relatively open and forgiving but the
2d is tight and an SOB. Try not to be with a group so you don't have
to worry about what others are doing and don't shoot out into the
opposite lane, someone hit a car head on 3yrs ago with extreme injuries
there. I would be very cautious going down the
first half of the Suck creek hill but the last half you can pretty much
let it run. The long down hill off the second mountain comes after
about 20mi along the top and has a few sort of tight turns but no
real hairpins. My recall is that I didn't feel I could let my bent go
wide open. I bailed on the third hill and turned L on Highway 11
instead of R and rode 11 back into town. The metric century comes
in after 5-7 mi (not really sure) with a rest stop to the L about 500yds.
This gave me about 94 mi, didn't want to tackle the 3d hill on the
recumbent, as I knew what a bear it was from prior yrs.

Yes, when we did the ride for the first time two years ago (on singles) we came along after the terrible accident which left the rider a quadriplegic (by all accounts rider got into oncoming lane and hit car) and last year I believe there was another pretty bad accident but not permanently life changing; not sure but I think in the same spot.

Since my original post, we've put on another 60 miles with the winzip disk. I'm getting used to the lever feel and it is braking better in my opinion - and I was able to bring the pads even closer to the rotor now that they've worn to a more parallel position AND no unpleasant squeaks or groans - I'm very happy about that as well.

Bloomington, IN