Hello,

I am thinking about converting my road bike into a straight bar, single brake (possibly single gear) commuter but I have a question about the brake setup. I want to use only one brake because I live in an area with a lot of potholes so my rear rim tend to warp slightly (I can avoid them withthe front wheel). Since brakes tend to sit so closely to the rim....the rear brakes eventually rub and slow me down. It happens quite a lot and it drives me absolutely nuts. That said...should I keep the brake on the front wheel or on the rear wheel? I understand the risk with putting it on the front wheel but I'm willing to take that chance if it means not having to deal with the brakes rubbing all the time. My other question is...is there is a way to adjust the rear wheel brake in such a way so that it doesn't sit so closely to the rim but still allows me the stopping power I need? I am not great at adjusting the brakes (I should really take a class to learn how) so is there something I can tell my mechanic to get the point across? I don't want to spend money on a disc brake setup.

SS

DON'T even consider only one brake on a non-fixed gear bike.

Leave the rear pads a bit further from the rim. Not so far that the lever bottoms on the handlebar but enough to give more rim clearance. That kind of pad clearance adjustment is easy to do by adding a little cable slack at the pinch bolt. See any bike shop if you don't know how to do it yourself.

Also, I expect the spoke tension on your wheels is inadequate. Properly built and tensioned wheels with an adequate spoke count (32 or more) should take a huge amount of pounding without always going out of true. I also ride in an area with plenty of potholes and broken pavement and my wheels almost never need any attention. Again see a bike shop with a good wheel builder to get this problem corrected at its source.

What risk? How is this different from all other bikes?

my guess is the risk he flips over the handlebar

i weigh about two hundred sixty pounds
and i ride with skinny tires on very very bad roads
not all paved
and my rims stay pretty true for years at a time

all this is to say
i agree with fb that there is likely something wrong with your wheel
that allows it to go out of tru so often

also
if i only were to have one brake on a bike
it would definitely be on the front

i often ride with my dog
and hold his leash in my right hand
so sometimes only have access to the left brake lever
and except around turns on loose surfaces
it never bothers me

exactly

it was FWIW, common on many old tandems to have 2 rim brakes operated in combination with one lever .

and the drag brake to slow the team and bike down on descents with a drag brake, typically a drum on the rear hub, with the other .

As was already stated, don't ride with one brake unless it's a fixed gear bike. Fixed gear you can do most of your speed control/stopping with your legs and have front brake for back up. The idea that using front brake will send you over the bars is just wrong. The front brake should be the majority of your stopping power for various reasons. Sheldon can explain much better than I can:

Braking and Turning Your Bicycle


If you are still considering riding a free wheel bike with only one brake, then I am guessing you have never had a brake fail or brake cable fail? What happens when you are going down a steep hill in traffic and your 1 brake fails? Think about it.

Maybe invest in a spoke wrench and truing stand and learn to true your own wheels. Problem solved. And properly inflated tires will probably help too

Really? I've always seen tandems with the standard two handlebar mounted front and rear caliper or canti brake levers and the drag (rear drum) brake operated by either a bar end or downtube shift lever.

you saw what you saw .. I'm talking 50's & 60's era so perhaps before you got out of Nappies ..


Tandem setups definitely have varied more than single bikes do .

Excuse me, I'm 71 years old and I was probably in school when you were born.

if only using one brake and have an option, i suggest the front brake.

with 20 years of riding about 5000 miles a year on a single brake bike (front), i've never had a problem.

i use old single pivot calipers on front with inexpensive, like 2 dollars a pair, brake pads, and descend the Tour of california's queen stage mountain on a regular basis. there is absolutely no chance of flipping over the bars on less than a 10 percent grade, IME. i weight 150lbs.

people, IME, will become accustomed to the braking characteristics of the brakes they use and will ride appropriately.

.. only a 4 year lead time .. you start school at 4?

I feel like a baby here, I'm only 57.

I just refitted an 80's Santana that had both rim brakes running off the right lever and the drag brake operated with the left... now the brakes are run independently with a separate stem mounted lever which operates the drag brake which is a better set up.

On the topic of freewheel equipped bikes, you need to run two brakes as you have to be able to modulate the speed of the rear wheel.

Try descending when it is wet, icy, or on loose surfaces with a single front brake and you will understand.

In most cases, a front brake should be doing all the heavy lifting but there are conditions where a rear brake will make a huge difference... a fixed gear bicycle does allow the rider to modulate the speed of the rear wheel and even skid it and then a front brake is a good idea to maximize stopping power.

fietsbob, QED. Actually, I started kindergarten at 5 so close enough.

I skipped kindergarten and will be 49 in October.

Hmmm, I assumed the "Sixty Fiver" meant age. I guess it means birth year. I suppose I should rename my self "Forty Twoer". Too bad about your being refused admission to kindergarten.

I was advanced for my age and started grade one when I was 5.