If all else fails, try this


Sheldon Brown's Frankenbike

In the States, a billion = 1,000,000,000

In England, a billion = 1,000,000,000,000

I always thought this odd and must be confusing for those who work in both countries (like bankers, engineers, scientists, traders, statisticians, journalists...). You can really get screwed up if you don't know which billion.

ou forgot the parachute in case you miss that last turn.

just get a drag chute for such occasions. cheap to make and no lone will know.

One of the things that I like most about this bulletin board is the off-the-wall ideas that people ask about. The last one was from a guy who wanted to put a 60 tooth chainring on his bike so that he could go a gazillion miles per hour. I guess that this question is the polar opposite because you want to be sure that you can slow down.

I've never tried either one so I think that you both should give it a try and then report how it worked back to the rest of us. Even if it doesn't work, you'll definitely learn a lot of detail stuff about bikes and about bike mechanics in the process. Just do it!

Hey, Sheldon Brown's bike wasn't that weird... :)

I used the term "fenders" because English is not my native language, so I have no inherent preference. Also, why not use the word most people here seem to use...?

I'll research the cost and think about it over the winter months.
If it doesn't end up costing me a fortune, I'll probably add the disc brake in April/May or so...

Ok, excluding the cost of rebuilding the wheel (which I've no idea what it would cost) around the new hub, the minimum cost seems to be around US$160.

Here's some more creative ideas, some of which I read on Sheldon Brown's website

Three chainrings in front (56x39x27?), 9 speed cassette (10x39?) in the back mounted on a 3 speed internally-geared hub. This would give a total of (81) 3x9x3 gears. Disc brakes front and rear. Cantilever brakes front and rear AND caliper brakes also mounted front and rear. The canti's could be mounted on the front of the fork and back of the seatstays with the caliper brakes mounted on the back of the front fork and underneath the seatstays or chainstays. The front fork would have to have enough rake to be sure the front caliper brakes don't hit the underside of the down-tube when turning. I propose having only five brake levers. One lever each for front and rear discs only. One lever operates the combo of canti/caliper/discs for front and one similar for the rear. Last you'd have a big lever (or maybe a big pull-handle?) that operates all six brakes at once for the those really close calls.

but if the one cable breaks it all falls apart. that was his worry remember? he could change the cable every ride just to make sure. I sitll think a drag chute is the best failsafe device.

What's wrong with you people?

I asked a simple technical question. I never asked to be ridiculed in this way.
If you have a problem with people who take safety seriously, that's YOUR problem.
Leave me out of it.

we are not ridiculing you. we are jsut having fun with the idea. laugh along or feel attacted it's your choice.

Mudpie, an English billion is definitely 1,000,000,000. You may be right though, it may have been 1,000,000,000,000 sometime in the past :).

A. After seeing the Frankenbike I want to get Sheldon Brown's face tattoed on my chest.
B. Have any downhill racers started running dual discs up front like a lot of motorcycles use? (I haven't researched this at all and will probably answer the question on google in about 5 mins.)

but seriously, there was an article on running both brakes on a SS from one lever using parts of a gyro cable-so if you had a mech disc and cantis you could adjust them from one lever, i think....

Well, my point was to have full redundancy for the front brake, so I'll definitely use two levers.

What might be really cool is if you rigged up a brake cable splitter (like the kind on a BMX bike) so that one lever could actually activate both your rim brakes, and then have your other lever be for the disc brake.

Actually, this would be really annoying, but it would be neat to try, and then you wouldn't have three levers.

Another cool thing would be to have the disc brake activated by some sort of emergency lever located elsewhere on the frame - like a parking brake in a car.

Except I would hate to have to take one hand off the bars -- to pull an emergency brake lever.... rolling many,many times comes to mind...

Assuming you're using mechanical disc brakes, have you thought of simply using two brake cables? Probably can't fit another one in the brake lever clamp but you could possibly clamp the second cable along the first at both ends and that'll provide some redundancy without the extra weight or the odd stares (unless it's really noticeable).

Jay

I seriously doubt a second brake lever would get me many stares.
Where I ride, I rarely meet any other cyclists, and the ones I meet are too busy keeping their eyes on the road and traffic to notice anything out of the ordinary...

And I've plenty of space to fit a second brake lever on my handlebar.

I've decided to go for a mechanical one made by Avid. Should cost me $110 or so.
Pretty good reviews, as far as I can tell.

run an odyssey moudulever. it pulls two cables with a single lever. that will actuate both front brakes at same time. they'll be stressed less and last longer. no cable snap. there's different cable pull needed for certain cable discs(avid road) so the rim brake would hit first in that instance. but you can do it! i've personally set up bikes that pull front and back at same time with that setup(for handicap people). use a primo pervert and you can turn a one cable lever into a dual pull but may feel like garbage depending on brake setup. have you ever tried that jam thing with the cat? i'm wondering how this works! hehehe!

I was with you until the moment you equated using two brakes up front to wearing a helmet. :rolleyes:

I don't want two cables from one lever. Modulating the brakes would be almost impossible. The whole issue is redundancy. If one brake fails or becomes unusable, for whatever reason (overheating, water, mud, snapped cable), I want a second one, instantly available.

And Impreza, that comment illustrated that one can't really argue that "I've never had an accident, so I don't need a helmet"...
WHEN the accident happens, you can't make that choice. You have to make your mind up before it has happened.

If a cable snapping was a main concern to those in the bike building industry, I doubt we'd have bikes to ride with in the first place. Think of it... If a rider's front cable were to snap, then he'd most likely have his rear brake to effectively slow him down. But wait, it doesn't really do that as it just causes the rider to lock up his rear wheel? That's not good for the environment let alone the rider. Lawyers would force the invention of a safety or back up brake just in case the front brake cable breaks. But what about the rear cable? Geez, if that breaks too, then we'd have some lawsuits on our hands. Might as well make a back up brake for the rear as well. Heck, throw on a coaster brake some drum brakes AND canti brakes AND caliper brakes as well. Better safe than sorry right? And you know what? This bike will be a back to your roots kinda bike so we'll make it a singlespeed cuz we all know simplicity is what we're all after right?

I commend you for thinking about your safety should your front brake cable break, but as some have posted, I think it is a bit overkill. But, hey, it's your bike and you can do what the hell you want with it right? No harm, no foul.

I don't mean two brake cables both in tension. if you simply clamp one cable parallel to the other, there would not be enough cable stretch for it to be a factor unless the primary cable breaks.



Jay