Originally Posted by
chucky
I've had this on my mind for a while:
Since a small wheel curves downward from the fork crown more sharply than a large wheel it seems to me that the brake pads are not only getting pulled horizontally, but also down. So I'm wondering if brakes for small wheels would be better mounted at a downward angle in order to align the brake bolt with the tangent of the smaller wheel?
Of course this assumes that having the brake forces aligned with the brake bolt like on a larger wheel is a good thing, but perhaps forces perpendicular to the brake bolt (and parallel to the brake arms) actually enhance brake operation? After all I would think there is more flexure in the brake arms than the brake bolt, but the generally poor performance of rim brakes on small wheels makes me skeptical.
What do you guys think?
Interesting observation. I have not seen this nor seen a discussion on it ... ever. If you don't mind, what bike is this? What brakes did you use?
Do you think that your use of the bike is rougher than the typical user?
While I am no engineer or physicist, my experience with Brompton-like folders (a Brompton and a Merc) is that these bolts do not bend like that under normal use. Even if you were heavy and doing "stop-ees" all of the time I would not expect the bolt to bend in that manner. Perhaps the top of the brake hit something while it was being stowed or something fell on top of it.