Trailer brakes

Now the kids are getting bigger and heavier, I've had a few problems
with braking the trailer on descents, especially on wet and greasy
roads (the bike has Magura HS-33s, which are generally very good).

So looking in my bits bin, I've a couple of BMX caliper brakes that I
could easily fit to the trailer wheels, but the problem is figuring out
how to operate them from the bike.

A third brake lever should be easy enough to operate, with or without
the bikes own rear brake, so what I need to figure out is a QR
connection mounted on the drawbar, so I can hook the brake cable to it
easily, and that also splits into two for the two calipers, which
should be balanceable, to prevent 'tank steering syndrome'.

Does anyone know of anything that might do the job, or is it a case of
getting ally stock, hacksaw and files out? One idea I had is to use
three brake levels assys. mounted on the drawbar, one connected to the
cable from the handlebar brake lever, and the other two, in a staggered
V, to the two brakes, and connect the sawn-off stubs of the levers
together with an aileron-type torque rod.

Any ideas, folks?

wrote : (clip) Any ideas, folks?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
How about using hydraulic disk brakes? That will automatically equalize the
two sides. Then, I suggest using the forward stopping force in the trailer
tongue to compress the master cylinder--then you have no extra connection to
the bike, and you ride and stop in the normal way. I've never heard of this
on a bike trailer, but it works on automotive trailers quite well. A friend
of mine was able to pull a boat and a camping trailer behind his car and
come to an orderly stop.

wrote:
Now the kids are getting bigger and heavier, I've had a few problems
with braking the trailer on descents, especially on wet and greasy
roads (the bike has Magura HS-33s, which are generally very good).

So looking in my bits bin, I've a couple of BMX caliper brakes that I
could easily fit to the trailer wheels, but the problem is figuring out
how to operate them from the bike.


These guys sell trailers with surge brakes:
http://www.cdnbvr.com/bicycle.htm
http://www.cycletote.com/options.html

If you're still wanting a hand-operated trailer brake, you could
probably use a cable splitter (used on travel bikes:
http://www.sandsmachine.com/ac_cable.htm ) to allow you to unhitch the
trailer.

Jeff

On 24 Oct 2005 07:32:05 -0700, wrote:

Any ideas, folks?

Do it like a giant canti system, with a central point where a
crossover cable is pulled by the lever cable; if you want greater
assurance of balance, use a pulley instead of a simple yoke.
--
Typoes are a feature, not a bug.
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