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#21
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Orientation of brakes
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#22
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Orientation of brakes
Marten Hoffmann wrote:
The point is that when you need to brake with the front brake only *and* you have a dog leash in your right hand, it's hard to control the bike since your handlebar will turn with braking and you have to counteract this turning with only your left hand. When the rear brake is on the left handle, I can make the bike lose speed at quite a rate (Magura HS- 33 on a hybrid bike) although never as good as with a front brake, of course. Shifting my weight backwards helps. Braking with one hand off the bars always requires some compensation for the forward weight shift applied against one side of the handlebar. However, despite what many people imagine, it makes no difference to this whether it is the front or the rear brake being applied one-handed. The amount of this force is directly proportional to the braking force, whichever brake supplies it. Of course, since the front brake is capable of generating twice as much decelleration as the rear, it is _possible_ to generate twice as much force on the handlebar _if_ you choose to brake that hard. However, if you are merely slowing down with a decelleration that is within the capability of the rear brake, it doesn't matter which of the brakes you use. Sheldon "http://sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html" Brown +--------------------------------------------------+ | I'm crazy about the music of Leos Janacek, | | especially the Msa Glagolskaya and Sinfonietta | | http://sheldonbrown.com/music.html | +--------------------------------------------------+ Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041 http://harriscyclery.com Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com |
#23
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Orientation of brakes
On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 04:02:07 GMT, wrote:
I see no conflict there. I seldom if ever shift while braking anyway. You've never been halfway through a shift when you suddenly need to brake? Shifting takes fractions of a second. I am able to manage my riding to not split mechanical motions into the 1/100 second range. I thought you said you preferred downtube shifters. I may have thought wrong. However, with downtube shifters, it's more than a 1/100 second project to remove hand from shifter and reach immediately for front brake in an emergency. Another, maybe more important reason why left-front-brake is good: With these expensive and fragile brake/shift levers, there is often an inconvenient conflict when you want to brake and shift in rapid succession. Let me clarify: I am commonly annoyed when I go to shift and find that it won't because I was just braking. You make it sound like motor racing. Shifting is not a rapid fire and often performed act in bicycling although with more and more gears, many riders believe they are operating a Ducati of the like as I see then shift their away from a traffic light as it turns green. Well, what about downshifting after braking? Sometimes I forget to downshift, or didn't know I was going to need to slow down, so I must shift after braking; or I might try to interrupt my braking momentarily to downshift before reaching a stop sign. These operations often result in a conflict where it doesn't shift. However, it is better in these operations to have the rear shifter and front brakes in opposite hands; and shifting requires more dexterity than braking, so to have the rear shifter in my right hand and front brake in my left hand works well. People who don't have those situations, I'm sure, don't have those problems. BTW, I still like integrated brake and shift levers, despite that minor issue. As far as rapid fire, sequential shifting: It can be useful at times, especially when a traffic light turns green. In fact, this is probably the only time I do it. I find that I keep up with the automotive traffic if I pour uninterrupted power into the pedals and shift, well, like I was riding a Ducati. I find that I _don't_ keep up if I leave it in one gear the whole time. Maybe if I didn't have a 9-speed, I'd be okay, but it's certainly easier to calmly rapid-fire shift shift shift than it is to use a single gear as long as possible, then shift four gears before being able to add power again. I'd be lying if I said that it wasn't also fun to do that, but I'd do it whether it was fun or not. Regardless of fun, on my other road bike, with a 6 speed wide ratio freewheel and downtube shifters, I have no need to shift like that, and don't. I ride off with the traffic, and shift once or twice, not 5 times like I do on my 9 speed with it's one and two tooth jumps and easy-access quick shifters. Jobst Brandt Palo Alto CA -- Rick Onanian |
#24
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Orientation of brakes
On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 07:14:54 GMT, wrote:
I think this has morphed into how to shift. The claim was that riders shift so often that braking and shifting conflict. This is like the No, that wasn't the claim at all. I claimed not that I shift so often that it will coincedentally conflict with braking, but rather, that I often find myself needing or wanting to shift and brake nearly simultaneously. That is especially common when it's necessary to downshift in order to be prepared to resume moving after braking to a stop sign or red light. If you never need to do this, you have extremely strong legs and knees, and/or are always planning ahead quite perfectly. claim that hand signals interfere with braking. This may be true for speeds above 40mph but hand signals are easily and properly given before braking for a left turn (I assume from the left lane and in front of cars). Left turning is a whole other animal. We could discuss methods for it, but suffice it to say that I've found patterns that work for me. Jobst Brandt Palo Alto CA -- Rick Onanian |
#25
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Orientation of brakes
"Rick Onanian" wrote in message news On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 07:14:54 GMT, wrote: I think this has morphed into how to shift. The claim was that riders shift so often that braking and shifting conflict. This is like the No, that wasn't the claim at all. I claimed not that I shift so often that it will coincedentally conflict with braking, but rather, that I often find myself needing or wanting to shift and brake nearly simultaneously. That is especially common when it's necessary to downshift in order to be prepared to resume moving after braking to a stop sign or red light. If you never need to do this, you have extremely strong legs and knees, and/or are always planning ahead quite perfectly. claim that hand signals interfere with braking. This may be true for speeds above 40mph but hand signals are easily and properly given before braking for a left turn (I assume from the left lane and in front of cars). Left turning is a whole other animal. We could discuss methods for it, but suffice it to say that I've found patterns that work for me. Jobst Brandt Palo Alto CA -- Rick Onanian |
#26
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Orientation of brakes
In article . net,
"bfd" wrote: Yup, and the fact that its a full *145g* lighter than the 2003 version means Trek is going to get the BIG bucks! I bet this new 2004 Trek 5900 Superlight (gotta luv that name) with Shimano Dura Ace 10 is going to retail in the $5000+ range! So, what are you waiting for? Get rid of that old steel bike (you still riding steel?) and get in line NOW! Hey, I am the farthest thing from a weight weenie, but a 145g weight reduction is nearly mythic by weight weenie standards. On a bike that weighs about 6.8 kg, that's over 2% right there. Pulling that sort of weight improvement on a mature design is reasonably impressive. It shouldn't be enough to push OCLV riders to dump last year's model, but at least the engineers should be impressed Personally, I am still more than 145g above my goal weight, so I will work on reducing the weight of and aerodynamic refinements to my belly. -- Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club |
#27
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Orientation of brakes
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