Nexus brake woes

I have a bike with a 7 speed nexus gear hub with the roller brake.
With conventional drop bar aero brake levers, there isn't enough cable
travel to achieve much braking from the roller brake - I can easily
pull the lever to the bar, giving a less than impressive amount of
braking, even when having the brake cable tightened as much as possible
without having the brake drag when not engaged. Short of switching to
a rim brake, does anyone have a good / easy / affordable fix for this
situation? At the moment I am just living with it, as the front brake
is the more important one, but I would prefer to have a decent rear
brake, even if only as a backup.

Later,
Mark

wrote:

I have a bike with a 7 speed nexus gear hub with the roller brake.
With conventional drop bar aero brake levers, there isn't enough cable
travel to achieve much braking from the roller brake - I can easily
pull the lever to the bar, giving a less than impressive amount of
braking, even when having the brake cable tightened as much as possible
without having the brake drag when not engaged. Short of switching to
a rim brake, does anyone have a good / easy / affordable fix for this
situation? At the moment I am just living with it, as the front brake
is the more important one, but I would prefer to have a decent rear
brake, even if only as a backup.

These brakes do have a long travel but they have about the same cable
pull as modern cantilevers. IME they firm up when the bike is moving
and testing them while stationary is misleading.

What is the exact model of brake lever you're using? Something like RSX
should be OK, but I don't know about the race models.

wrote:

I have a bike with a 7 speed nexus gear hub with the roller brake.
With conventional drop bar aero brake levers, there isn't enough cable
travel to achieve much braking from the roller brake - I can easily
pull the lever to the bar, giving a less than impressive amount of
braking, even when having the brake cable tightened as much as possible
without having the brake drag when not engaged.

Right. These things are made for long-travel brake levers. The only
drop bar lever that's truly suitable would be a Dia Compe 287V.

Short of switching to
a rim brake, does anyone have a good / easy / affordable fix for this
situation?

Quality Bicycle Products makes a device called a "Travel Agent" that
would let it work with your current levers by changing the cable pull.

See: http://harriscyclery.net/site/page.c...=49&SKU=BR0330

At the moment I am just living with it, as the front brake
is the more important one, but I would prefer to have a decent rear
brake, even if only as a backup.

I own three Nexus-geared bikes (1 7s-speed, 2 8-speed.) I left the
Rollerbrakes off of them partly because of this, partly because the
Rollerbrakes aren't terribly good brakes, and partly because the
Rollerbrakes weigh a pound and a quarter, WAY more than a decent caliper.

http://sheldonbrown.org/raleigh-competition
http://sheldonbrown.org/iro
http://sheldonbrown.org/raleigh-international

Sheldon "Rarely Uses The Rear Brake Anyway" Brown
+--------------------------------+
| Happy Reynolds Day! (5/31) |
+--------------------------------+
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

Sheldon Brown wrote:

wrote:

I have a bike with a 7 speed nexus gear hub with the roller brake.
With conventional drop bar aero brake levers, there isn't enough cable
travel to achieve much braking from the roller brake - I can easily
pull the lever to the bar, giving a less than impressive amount of
braking, even when having the brake cable tightened as much as possible
without having the brake drag when not engaged.


Right. These things are made for long-travel brake levers. The only
drop bar lever that's truly suitable would be a Dia Compe 287V.

The proper dual-position lever for flat bars is always set in the
position for cantis, not V-brakes, when using the roller brake:

http://cycle.shimano-eu.com/media/cy...9830551923.pdf

Therefore a drop bar lever that works with cantis, like the RSX, is
suitable. Having said that, ISTR that the 287V cable pull is really
somewhere between a canti and a V-brake, so it should also be OK and
will give the firmer feel the OP wants.

I don't like 287Vs personally - they're an ugly hack of a standard 287,
with a lot of friction. They're the only game in town for that
particular application though :-(

Zog The Undeniable wrote:

These brakes do have a long travel but they have about the same cable
pull as modern cantilevers. IME they firm up when the bike is moving
and testing them while stationary is misleading.

What is the exact model of brake lever you're using? Something like RSX
should be OK, but I don't know about the race models.


To be honest, the roller brake didn't work that well with the original
brake lever, which was a generic mountain bike cantilever lever. It
didn't seem to have enough cable travel either, but it was a bit better
than it is now.

I am currently using a pair of new Shimano 300EX (ie Exage) levers.
The front brake is a Tektro Oryx cantilever, which works superbly,
especially with Kool Stop salmon brake pads. My testing has been on
the road, as I ride this bike as a commuter every day.

Later,
Mark

wrote:

The front brake is a Tektro Oryx cantilever, which works superbly,
especially with Kool Stop salmon brake pads. My testing has been on
the road, as I ride this bike as a commuter every day.

I have the same setup on my touring bike, but with RSX levers. I tried
to get V's to work nicely with 287V levers but gave up due to excessive
friction.

wrote:

I have a bike with a 7 speed nexus gear hub with the roller brake.
With conventional drop bar aero brake levers, there isn't enough cable
travel to achieve much braking from the roller brake - I can easily
pull the lever to the bar, giving a less than impressive amount of
braking, even when having the brake cable tightened as much as possible
without having the brake drag when not engaged.

I replied:

Right. These things are made for long-travel brake levers. The only
drop bar lever that's truly suitable would be a Dia Compe 287V.

Zog The Undeniable wrote:

The proper dual-position lever for flat bars is always set in the
position for cantis, not V-brakes, when using the roller brake:

http://cycle.shimano-eu.com/media/cy...9830551923.pdf

That is the Official Party Line, but hasn't been my experience nor that
of .

The lever illustrated in that .pdf is not what and
I believe it pulls rather more cable, even in the "C.R." setting than
his drop bar lever.

Therefore a drop bar lever that works with cantis, like the RSX,
is suitable.

All drop bar levers work with cantis, except the 287V.

Having said that, ISTR that the 287V cable pull is really
somewhere between a canti and a V-brake, so it should also be OK and
will give the firmer feel the OP wants.

Right, that's why I recommended it.

I don't like 287Vs personally - they're an ugly hack of a standard 287,
with a lot of friction. They're the only game in town for that
particular application though :-(

I'm in agreement there. I do have 287Vs on one of my bikes, and found
they work a lot better if you _don't_ run the cables under the handlebar
tape. This eliminates the worst bend in their cable run, right where
they exit the internal noodle.

See: http://sheldonbrown.org/thorn/pages/raven01.htm

Sheldon "Don't Believe Everything You Read" Brown
+--------------------------------+
| Happy Reynolds Day! (5/31) |
+--------------------------------+
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

On Tue, 31 May 2005 12:16:10 -0700, wrote:

I have a bike with a 7 speed nexus gear hub with the roller brake.
With conventional drop bar aero brake levers, there isn't enough cable
travel to achieve much braking from the roller brake - I can easily
pull the lever to the bar, giving a less than impressive amount of
braking, even when having the brake cable tightened as much as possible
without having the brake drag when not engaged.

I have the same problem. Like many folks here, I had enough parts in my
basement to build a complete bike, so I decided to do it. I had the
Shimano Nexus-7 that I had taken off of the tandem (not enough gear range,
and difficult shifting in some circumstances), and built up my old Frejus
with it as a rain bike. I thought the roller brake would be good for
this, since it is supposed to not fade in the rain. But so far the
braking from that roller brake is not enough to inspire confidence. I had
the lever all the way to the bar, and was not appreciably slowing down on
a very moderate downhill.

I want to keep the cost down, too. I have a pair of the Dia Compe levers
on the tandem, and I suppose I could use the right one with that, but that
would mean re-taping both bikes.... The tandem's rear brake is a u-brake,
which requires much less pull.

--

David L. Johnson

__o | As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not
_`\(,_ | certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to
(_)/ (_) | reality. -- Albert Einstein

Sheldon Brown wrote:
Zog The Undeniable wrote:

I don't like 287Vs personally - they're an ugly hack of a standard
287, with a lot of friction. They're the only game in town for that
particular application though :-(

I'm in agreement there. I do have 287Vs on one of my bikes, and found
they work a lot better if you _don't_ run the cables under the
handlebar tape. This eliminates the worst bend in their cable run,
right where they exit the internal noodle.

See: http://sheldonbrown.org/thorn/pages/raven01.htm

Gagh! /Now/ he tells me... My Romany has Vs and 287Vs and I was convinced
for a while that I been sold standard 287s, on account of the general
crapness of the brakes. Then I remembered they'd come with noodles with
built-in cable adjusters... I resorted to putting a Travel Agent in as well,
and carefree braking is now possible.

--
Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
The System is well pleased with this Unit's performance, which falls
within expected parameters.

Sheldon Brown wrote:

Right. These things are made for long-travel brake levers. The only
drop bar lever that's truly suitable would be a Dia Compe 287V.


That is what I figured. Thanks for the confirmation.


Quality Bicycle Products makes a device called a "Travel Agent" that
would let it work with your current levers by changing the cable pull.

See: http://harriscyclery.net/site/page.c...9&SKU=3DBR0330

I have used the 90 version of the "Travel Agent" for a linear pull
brake with conventional levers, and wasn't too thilled with it - a bit
draggy, and a pain (for me, at least) to set up.


I own three Nexus-geared bikes (1 7s-speed, 2 8-speed.) I left the
Rollerbrakes off of them partly because of this, partly because the
Rollerbrakes aren't terribly good brakes, and partly because the
Rollerbrakes weigh a pound and a quarter, WAY more than a decent caliper.


If I remove the roller brake, is there some type of gaping hole on the
hub that needs to be covered up?

Any suggestions for a good rim brake with about 70mm of reach? It
seems like the options a

1) BMX sidepull. Some reports in this newsgroup indicate these may be
on the flexiible side. Which of these, if any, are recommended?

2) U-brake "plate" with a U-Brake. The "plate" mounts to the brake
bridge and has posts for mounting a U-Brake. Would this be any better
that the BMX style sidepulls?

3) An old centerpull. I don't want to go here, as routing the cable
is somewhat problematic due to the need for a cable hanger.

Thanks in advance,
Mark Muller