PartyPack

I am quite interested in the all-weather maintenance free idea of Shimano roller brakes, although I suspect their lack of power would make them a liability on the front. Anyhow I was perusing Trek’s Australian website and noticed they have a roller brake only model the Soho 2.0 https://www.trekbikes.com/int/en/bikes/2008/urban/soho/soho20e/ (link to international site) that is absent from their US and Canadian catalogues and websites. We also get the SU 3.0 which is a similar story https://www.trekbikes.com/int/en/bike...t_urban/su30e/.

Are roller brakes not considered legal brakes in the US or does Trek think no one would buy a bike equipped with them? Any thoughts?

andrelam

I looked at various Dutch bike sites and many of the bikes (Gazelle and others) use the roller brakes on their better bikes. I doubt they do a bad job of stopping. My mom had drum brakes on her '68 Raleigh 3 sp and had no problems stopping with a kid (me) on a front handle bar mounted kid seat and an other child (big sister) on the rear kid seat and a bag of groceries on each handle bar. That added at least 100 Lbs to the bike. I all the years we owned the bike, I don't ever recall servicing the brakes other than to adjust them a tiny bit every few years. 12 years of daily use without ever replacing parts is pretty good in my book. I'd be very interested in the sealed brakes that are offered today.

My guess is that the American bike buying public is only just getting used to disk brakes. The roller brakes seem kind of old fashioned even through they are very pratical. The cost for these are bound to be much higher than standard v-brakes. Since most people don't even realize how much nicer a bike with fenders is to won, it is hard to explain why you may want water proof brakes. Here bikes are still seen primarily as toys... that will definitely take some time to reverse.

I also noticed today that SRAM now offers a 9 speed rear hub that can be setup for disk brakes or sealed brakes as well (don't know if they are considered roller brakes). Gear range is 340% vs. about 300% for the Shimano 8 speed unit. They also now have a front Generator hub that can support disk brakes or the sealed brakes. That would make for one seriously weather proof setup. It is cool to see that generator hub are becoming more popular, and there is some competition going on the make multi speed rear hubs better and better. Sure the Roloff is cool with 14 speeds and 500% range, but at over $1200 who can afford it.

Happy riding,
André

dynaryder

My old Milano and current 1x1 had/have rear rollers. Rollers/drums are fine for the rear,but I'd never use one for the front. They're not very powerful. Roller brakes are also heavy.

If you live somewhere flat,and don't go very fast,then rollers/drums are fine. There's absolutely no way I'd trust my life to one of these on the front while bombing a hill in traffic here in DC.

JeffS

My wife has a Scott "city bike" with rollers front and rear. For the speeds she travels, they're perfectly fine.

Would I put them on bike bike and ride my typical commute in heavy traffic at 20+mph? Absolutely not.

gnome

I've put a Sturmey-Archer XFDD Drum Brake and Dynohub in the front wheel of my RANS Rocket. I was a bit nervous the first time I went down hill with it but now I'm fine. I recently completed a 900km touring holiday on the bike, including bombing down some big hills and the brakes were fine.

I like the fact I have reasonable front brakes in any weather.

BTW I think that proper drum brakes are quite good but the roller brakes aren't as good.