Internally Geared Shimano Hub + Shaft Drive = Carefree Chicago Winter Bike Commute?

Peter Cole wrote:
[...]
If you skid a front tire, you'll go down.

I have skidded both front tires on dry pavement and stayed upright.

With normal (dry road)
traction, you will lift the rear wheel before that happens.[...]

Not with a seat height of less than 30 cm.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

In article
,
Chalo wrote:

Jobst Brandt wrote:

This story about the rear brake holding the bike down has been part of
motorcycling myth and lore for more than 60 years from my experience.
Those who purvey this tale are themselves not riders who brake an M/C
hard enough to raise the rear wheel.

Track racers, who routinely use maximum braking and thus can't use
their rear brakes at all under those conditions, still use the rear
brake to set up the bike for a hard deceleration or a turn. Because
they must be so delicate with it on their high performance, short
wheelbase machines, many racers use rear brakes connected to a thumb
lever rather than a foot pedal as is usual for a street bike.

Chalo

Do you know this to be widespread, Chalo? Mick Doohan famously did so,
but his excuse was a mid-career leg injury that left his brake-side
(pauses to remember from my motorcycling days which side that is...)
(right) ankle was virtually unusable.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

Ryan Cousineau wrote:

Chalo wrote:

Because
they must be so delicate with it on their high performance, short
wheelbase machines, many racers use rear brakes connected to a thumb
lever rather than a foot pedal as is usual for a street bike.

Do you know this to be widespread,Chalo? Mick Doohan famously did so,
but his excuse was a mid-career leg injury that left his brake-side
(pauses to remember from my motorcycling days which side that is...)
(right) ankle was virtually unusable.

You know, I really haven't paid that much attention to M/C racing
since Mr. Doohan's heyday, so maybe the number of bikes so equipped
reflected a fad of folks figuring that what worked for Mick might work
for them too. But I saw more than a few bikes with such a setup, and
I saw such kits for sale.

If it is no longer common practice, I am not terribly surprised.

For what it's worth, I use my rear brake so infrequently that when I
do use it, I sometimes have to poke it a couple of times to pump it
up. (I intentionally leave a little air in the line so when I mash it
in an emergency it won't cause an instantaneous lockup.)

Chalo

Tom Sherman wrote:

Peter Cole wrote:
[...]
If you skid a front tire, you'll go down.

I have skidded both front tires on dry pavement and stayed upright.

On a 'bent, particularly a LWB 'bent, front wheel skidding is a fact
of life because of low front wheel loading. I have ridden choppers
like that, too.

But choppers are cool.

Chalo

Chalo Colina wrote:
Tom Sherman wrote:
Peter Cole wrote:
[...]
If you skid a front tire, you'll go down.
I have skidded both front tires on dry pavement and stayed upright.

On a 'bent, particularly a LWB 'bent, front wheel skidding is a fact
of life because of low front wheel loading. I have ridden choppers
like that, too.

Well, unlike an upright bicycle, the rear brake is quite effective on a
LWB recumbent. Best practice is to use both brakes during hard stops.

Better designed SWB recumbents have 40-45 percent of the weight on the
front wheel, while poorly designed SWB bikes can have 60 percent or more
weight on the front wheel. The latter can send the rider off the bike
from hard braking, just like an upright.

On a grippy surface, one can lift the rear wheel on a tadpole trike, so
all the weight has to be on the front wheels. With strong brakes,
tadpole trikes stop exceptionally well.

But choppers are cool.

Opinion, not fact.

--
Tom Sherman - Holstein-Friesland Bovinia
The weather is here, wish you were beautiful

In article
,
Chalo wrote:

Ryan Cousineau wrote:

Chalo wrote:

Because
they must be so delicate with it on their high performance, short
wheelbase machines, many racers use rear brakes connected to a thumb
lever rather than a foot pedal as is usual for a street bike.

Do you know this to be widespread,Chalo? Mick Doohan famously did so,
but his excuse was a mid-career leg injury that left his brake-side
(pauses to remember from my motorcycling days which side that is...)
(right) ankle was virtually unusable.

You know, I really haven't paid that much attention to M/C racing
since Mr. Doohan's heyday, so maybe the number of bikes so equipped
reflected a fad of folks figuring that what worked for Mick might work
for them too. But I saw more than a few bikes with such a setup, and
I saw such kits for sale.

If it is no longer common practice, I am not terribly surprised.

For what it's worth, I use my rear brake so infrequently that when I
do use it, I sometimes have to poke it a couple of times to pump it
up. (I intentionally leave a little air in the line so when I mash it
in an emergency it won't cause an instantaneous lockup.)

Chalo

I think you need one of those Shimano brake power modulators.

My old Yamaha Vision 550 had a cable-actuated drum rear brake, so I
guess one of those power modulators would have actually done something,

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

In article
,
Chalo wrote:

Ryan Cousineau wrote:

Chalo wrote:

Because
they must be so delicate with it on their high performance, short
wheelbase machines, many racers use rear brakes connected to a thumb
lever rather than a foot pedal as is usual for a street bike.

Do you know this to be widespread,Chalo? Mick Doohan famously did so,
but his excuse was a mid-career leg injury that left his brake-side
(pauses to remember from my motorcycling days which side that is...)
(right) ankle was virtually unusable.

You know, I really haven't paid that much attention to M/C racing
since Mr. Doohan's heyday, so maybe the number of bikes so equipped
reflected a fad of folks figuring that what worked for Mick might work
for them too. But I saw more than a few bikes with such a setup, and
I saw such kits for sale.

If it is no longer common practice, I am not terribly surprised.

Curiously, there appears to be a company that sells conversion kits for
dirt bikes:

http://www.cyclebuy.com/shopping/z-start/rear_brake.htm

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."