Parking Break - What are your thoughts on this?

On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 15:47:48 -0500, Stan Shankman
wrote:
I took the kickstand off of my bike. I found that I never used it because
always lock my bike to a post or bike-rack anyway. And if I did use it, I
was always at some risk that my bike would get knocked over. I always a
bike looks better without a kickstand anyway. But, when parking, it is

Additionally, I always fear that a kickstand will
come down while riding, or catch on something; so
I have avoided them. I have no need for them. My
mountain bike spends enough time scraping the ground
that I don't mind laying it down; and my road bike
stays still when I lean it against something so
that the saddle is the point of contact, and if on
a hill, the handlebar will stop the bike.

often times a hassle getting a bike situated so it won't flop to one side
the other. Think about it. When was the last time your bike fell over?

Never. I am very careful. If I think it might fall,
I carefully lay it down before it does, and let it
stay like that.

betting that no matter how careful you are, that at one time or another -
Crash! Your bike has hit the ground! (Bummer.) And that ninety-nine out

Nope.

darn hard to make it stable. So wouldn't it make sense to have a parking
break?

grammar nazi Parking _brake_. /grammar nazi

My thought is that the ordinary front and rear calipers (one or the or
both) should be manufactured (or retrofitted) with some kind of lever
that when activated, would squeeze the brake pads against the wheels.

My 105s have a lever to open them just enough to
remove the wheel. I could adjust my brakes with
that lever open, I guess, then close it to lock
them. I may have trouble removing/installing a
wheel whose tire is inflated, though.

same thing could also be accomplished by simply rigging up a normal
handlebar break-lever with some kind of "holder" - but so doing would

An elastic band would work.

keep
the break cable under constant tension. So I like the first idea better.

A proper sized elastic band, I bet, would be just
enough to hold the wheel without stretching the
cable.

How about carrying a shim that you can stick between
the brake pad an the rim? That would work.

Or, you could carry a small spring clamp, and either
clamp the caliper closed, or just clamp it on to the
wheel near the seat stay or chain stay, which would
prevent the wheel from rolling.

Obviously a parking break wouldn't be appropriate for all bikes. But hey,
for your average ride-around-town bike it seems like a good idea to me.

I have never wanted for one, but maybe one of my ideas
will work for you. Different people, different needs.

So, what do you guys think? Good idea, or bad? And if it is a good idea,
why have the manufacturers not already done it?

I can't imagine that there's enough demand. I've
never heard of the idea until now.

- Stan Shankman
--
Rick Onanian

I don't leave my bike outside overnight, so I'm not as worried. But my
wheels are actually pretty valuable, lol. 7-speed cassette, Shimano
old-school hubs, stainless spokes (some of them are bladed), double-wall
rims, Conti tires...

Maybe I'll start locking them up.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training
"Werehatrack" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 17:21:43 GMT, "Phil, Squid-in-Training"
may have said:

Yes... I believe the original poster was referring to a situation in
which
he would lock only the top tube, as I usually do. My bike is junky
enough.

Heh. Yeah, well, if you use skewered wheels, the wheels will still
vanish around here, even if it's a steel Wal-mart-quality wheel with
bent spokes, rusty brake-eaten rims, and a tire that's worn to the
cords. (This happened to a guy here recently; he couldn't believe
that somebody would steal a rim *that* bad.)

I've got a Pacific in the back yard that came to me for free because
its front wheel was stolen...and the prior owner discovered that he
could buy a used bike cheaper than he could buy a replacement wheel.
It looks like a real beater, but that didn't keep the wheel from
getting snagged.


--
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On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 19:12:52 GMT, Werehatrack
wrote:
I've got a Pacific in the back yard that came to me for free because
its front wheel was stolen...and the prior owner discovered that he
could buy a used bike cheaper than he could buy a replacement wheel.

In New England, a Benny's store will likely sell
you a wheel for $15. Benny's is like an old fashioned
hardware store that sells other stuff too, such as
cheap Huffy/Kent bikes.

The wheel you get for $15 is a cheezy Huffy wheel,
for sure, and you need to be sure that you're getting
the proper width and front/rear (the guys there don't
know anything about this stuff), and you'll probably
need to true it.

That all said, it's still a great option for a
beater bike.

http://www.hellobennys.com/
--
Rick Onanian

Been done, many times. Not incorporated into the lever to my knowledge,
but as an after market item that attaches to the housing somehow when
not in use (I made my own once out of a beautiful piece of ebony).

The Idea rarely get's anybody rich though. Most cyclists find they can
do the same thing much cheaper with a small pebble or piece of wood
lying on the ground where they park.

May you have the wind at your back.
And a really low gear for the hills!
Chris

Chris'Z Corner
"The Website for the Common Bicyclist":
http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

Peter wrote:


The Flickstand is a bit different since its main function is to keep
the front wheel straight rather than to prevent the wheel from
turning. Both methods do make it much more secure to lean your bike
up against trees, poles, buildings, etc., but the Flickstand is
limited in the types of bike frames with which it will work and also
won't work with fenders. Since the extra security is especially
important when carrying touring loads, the incompatibility with
fenders is a definite problem.

My old Flickstand did both. It kept the fork from turning. And in
order to engage it the front wheel had to "catch" and push into the
gizmo. Not a "parking brake" but enough to keep the bike from rolling
in many situations. It worked amazingly well. Alas by the time I got
my current bike the flickstand was history. Victim of changing frame
designs.

Eventually my ride developed a substitute. A heavily indexed headset
will give the bike surprising stability when leaned against a pole, etc.
While waiting for a shuttle I could lean the seat against a pole, hang
my backpack and helmet from the brake hood, throw my gloves into the
helmet and the front wheel stayed dead centered and the bike steady.
Today I replaced my headset. Maybe not such a good idea :-D Well, at
least I now have lots of other tricks to try on Monday.



A bike parking brake is trivially easy to implement yourself. I have
used two styles: 1) a rubberband that I keep wrapped around the
handlebar and that is pulled around the brake lever when parked; and
2) a little piece of wood on a string tied to the brake-lever mount
and inserted at the top of the lever to keep the lever from releasing
the brake. A friend uses a third method - a velcro strap he keeps
around his seatpost and wraps around the brake lever & handlebar when
stopped; works the same as my rubberband but is more durable.

In article ,
Rick Onanian wrote:

On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 15:47:48 -0500, Stan Shankman
wrote:

darn hard to make it stable. So wouldn't it make sense to have a parking
break?

grammar nazi Parking _brake_. /grammar nazi

usage nazi That was a spelling error, not a grammar error /usage nazi


--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine
President, Fabrizio Mazzoleni Fan Club

Stan Shankman wrote:

: I took the kickstand off of my bike. I found that I never used it because I
: always lock my bike to a post or bike-rack anyway. And if I did use it, I
: was always at some risk that my bike would get knocked over. I always think
: a bike looks better without a kickstand anyway. But, when parking, it is
: often times a hassle getting a bike situated so it won't flop to one side or
: the other. Think about it. When was the last time your bike fell over? I'm
: betting that no matter how careful you are, that at one time or another -
: Crash! Your bike has hit the ground! (Bummer.) And that ninety-nine out of a
: hundred times, it has done so because both wheels are free and it's just
: darn hard to make it stable. So wouldn't it make sense to have a parking
: break?

Parking brakes are common on recumbent trikes. A trike won't fall
over without human effort, but it can roll ahead or backwards.
Could be a sad occurence on a slope but also can be annoying when
you sit into the trike. Therefore many people just put an elastic
band around the brake lever. Some models have a dedicated parking
brake (eg. a rim brake that is operated by a friction shifter
lever) while some trikers think they need no parking brake at all.

For an upright bike, I can see a parking brake could be convenient
for stabilizing the bike. When I lean my bike against trees etc
for locking, sometimes the front wheel turns and the bike starts
to roll, etc. But the brake should be quite a bit less of an
inconvenience than the original problem - you need to engage the
parking brake most of the times but the bike moving without the
brake usually isn't that big a problem, as you can probably catch
it before it goes anywhere... Also upright bikes won't roll too
far on their own :-)

--
Risto Varanka | http://www.helsinki.fi/~rvaranka/hpv/hpv.html
varis at no spam please iki fi

On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 22:27:36 -0700, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
grammar nazi Parking _brake_. /grammar nazi

usage nazi That was a spelling error, not a grammar error /usage nazi

No, he spelled break right; he used the wrong word.

Not really grammar, but definately not spelling.

--
Rick Onanian

wrote:

Parking brakes are common on recumbent trikes. A trike won't fall
over without human effort, but it can roll ahead or backwards.

I was waiting to meet a riding buddy the other morning, just off a six
lane road in Tempe, Arizona. I was looping casually around a parking
lot just watching the town wake up (we ride VERY early in the morning
to avoid the heat here).

Suddenly I notice a red pickup truck parked at a 45 degree angle,
facing the wrong way across the two right lanes going the other way.
No one anywhere near it.

Hmmmmm.

I notice that it's lined up with the gas pumps in the gas station
directly behind it. Heh. I wait for the inevitable as cars dodge
around it (luckily it was now daylight and traffic was still light).

A young guy walks out of the convenience store portion of the gas
station with his morning coffee - looks right, left, right, left, then
WAY left and sees his truck sitting in the middle of the road. He
sprints over to it and backs back into the gas station and turns
around and leaves the other way.

Bet he never gets gas without setting the parking brake again...

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $695 ti frame

Rick Onanian wrote:

On Sun, 17 Aug 2003 22:27:36 -0700, Ryan Cousineau
wrote:
grammar nazi Parking _brake_. /grammar nazi

usage nazi That was a spelling error, not a grammar error /usage
nazi

No, he spelled break right; he used the wrong word.

Not really grammar, but definately not spelling.

Diction.

--
Benjamin Lewis

Amoebit:
Amoeba/rabbit cross; it can multiply and divide at the same time.