Originally Posted by
Maelochs
Really? I learned bike mechanics myself, from literally the ground up---picking up junk bikes off the roadside. I learned about different brake systems when I first saw the,
Sorry, but it ain't rocket science. A lever pulls a cable which in some way pulls actuator arms---or compressed fluid does it. A "bike mechanic" who can't cope with center-pull, side-pull, dual-pivot, cantis, and Vs is just lame.
As for discs, I had to ... read some instructions. Can i still be a mechanic ... after learning to be a better mechanic? I am nto sure of the Mechanic's Guild rules.
Why? Why is that?
If that were the case, shouldn't most riders be best served by single-speed and coaster brakes?
When it comes to brakes, most riders are best served by brakes which stop the bike with the least demand on the rider. A coaster-brake bike demands a weight shift. A bike with weak brakes demands a lot of pressure. A bike with weak rim brakes in the wet has longer stopping distances, demanding greater rider attentiveness and quicker reaction. Brakes that respond very quickly with not a lot of force are best---regardless of what some other person considers to be "tried and true," which is a vague enough phrase that it could mean anything, including Flintstone stops.
A new rider on a bike for the first time learns immediately how the brakes works. if that rider rides a different bike, s/he learns the particulars of that bike' s brakes and adapts---whether they be the same sort or different.
I have driven all kinds of motor vehicles, with air brakes, vacuum-assisted brakes, drum and disc brakes, and with varying levels brake boost. After the first couple stops i .... just drove.
It never took me even a few overly abrupt stops to learn the different braking characteristics of any bicycle I have ever ridden.
First off I was responding to a poster who said he's not experienced two bikes that more or less stopped the same way. Which is an entirely non-mechanical way of looking at it. There are a lot of people who ride bike who just don't get mechanics.
I've been riding a long time and have seen many riders fly over the handlebars from braking. On these forums you will find endless references to flying over the handlebars. If you are the great mechanic you say you are, you understand that the front exit is entirely about the rider and has very little to do with brakes. Have you ever successfully explained center of gravity to someone who does not have the concept?
It must be nice to be able to figure out any mechanical system by glancing at it once. You should come to Chicago and make a lot of money. We have LBS here where there is not one mechanic who understands discs. I have friends who love their Ultegra discs and friends who have been back to the shop twenty and thirty times trying to get the darn things to work. Also plenty of bikes permanently ensconced as garage ornaments because the discs don't work and no one knows how. Or the parts don't exist. Countless bikes where the discs don't work because the rider is never going to get the pads hot enough to break them in. I've been looking at bicycle disc brakes for 45 years and only in the past five have they been at all realistic. I guess there must be some reason why lots of engineers and lots of parts maker tried for forty years before it worked. And the parts are still a problem.
Coaster brakes are not about weight shift. They are about flatlands and coastal plains. Where most of the population has always lived. They work on bikes where the rider is sitting directly above the rear axle and the coaster arm. If you have to do weight shift you should probably be on some other brake and some other bike.
"Most riders are best served by brakes which stop the bike with the least demand on the rider." Hunh? Riders need to be involved with their bike. When everything works 'perfectly' with no demands placed on the operator watch them get in over their head. Much better if thought process is absolutely required to make it go. Or stop.
"It works for me." Fine. "Therefore it must work for you." Non-sequitur. You can use your insights to enjoy your rides and I hope you do. Do not fix anyone else's bike.