Which brakes are strongest

Andre Jute wrote:

I'm keen on disc brakes as I now live on a steep hill with a dangerous
y-junction at the bottom. At last I found a place where Shimano's
70/75 series rollerbrakes aren't quite up to it, though it is probably
still a close-run thing. I expect fat tackies and a big disc brake at
the front, say 203mm, to do a small bit better in combination than the
rollerbrakes.

Tom Sherman wrote:
Chalo Colina might disagree about the strongest brakes being discs.

You want to comment, Chalo? And let's have the champions of standard
and hydraulic rim brakes (Magura HS-xx) and the other hub brakes
(coaster, roller, etc) in here too so we can have a comprehensive
overview.

My own view is, for strength, 1 Disc brakes, 2 hydraulic rim brakes.
For convenience, on balance, nothing beats roller brakes, ditto on
operating cost.

Andre Jute
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/B...20CYCLING.html

Andre Jute wrote:

Andre Jute wrote:

I'm keen on disc brakes as I now live on a steep hill with a dangerous
y-junction at the bottom. At last I found a place where Shimano's
70/75 series rollerbrakes aren't quite up to it, though it is probably
still a close-run thing. I expect fat tackies and a big disc brake at
the front, say 203mm, to do a small bit better in combination than the
rollerbrakes.

Tom Sherman wrote:

Chalo Colina might disagree about the strongest brakes being discs.

You want to comment, Chalo? And let's have the champions of standard
and hydraulic rim brakes (Magura HS-xx) and the other hub brakes
(coaster, roller, etc) in here too so we can have a comprehensive
overview.

My own view is, for strength, 1 Disc brakes, 2 hydraulic rim brakes.
For convenience, on balance, nothing beats roller brakes, ditto on
operating cost.

There are at least two relevant measures of brake "strength": braking
force per lever force, and gross braking force available irrespective
of what that takes at the lever.

By the first measure, hydraulic discs are very good, as are hydraulic
rim brakes, dual-pivot short reach calipers, and properly adjusted
linear-pull brakes with adjustable-gain levers. Drums are among the
worst in this regard.

What matters most to me is a brake that will keep delivering more
braking power as I demand more, especially one that will dish it out
at a linear or better-than-linear rate. Most of the above brakes that
have strong lever response give less and less additional braking power
as more lever effort is applied. That's not a big deal if your hand
strength and the amount of braking torque you can actually use are
normal. I can use a lot more braking power than normal, thus total
system stiffness and instantaneous heat capacity come into play. Drum
brakes are some of the best in their ability to keep braking harder as
the lever is pulled harder (until they overheat); their limitation is
related to the travel and MA of the lever and the amount of mush in
the cable.

A linear-pull brake with monolithic arms, stiff pads, and a stiff
booster, applied to a sturdy rim, can deliver as much gross braking
force and power as anything else you or I have named. Magura
hydraulic rim brakes are just as strong _if_ a booster is used, and I
understand that trials bike manufacturers now provide soft pads that
have much better feel and friction coefficient than the rock-hard grey
pads I used way back when. Discs-- even big hydraulic ones-- in my
observation display a falling rate of lever response, coupled with
fade at high sustained loads.

Shimano Rollerbrakes have not worked well for me. They have good
initial bite compared to normal drum brakes, but like discs they have
a falling rate as forces rise. They fade sooner and more dramatically
than any other bicycle brakes I have experienced. They require more
frequent service (greasing) than normal drums, though it's still far
less maintenance than rim or disc brakes. I'll use one as a rear
brake, but not on the front. A respectable front disc brake with
sintered metal pads would be a fine companion for a rear Rollerbrake.
I would use a cable-actuated one like the Avid BB7 so that I could use
matched Speed Dial or similar levers for both front and rear.

Chalo

On Sun, 02 Nov 2008 11:23:40 -0800, Andre Jute wrote:

Andre Jute wrote:

I'm keen on disc brakes as I now live on a steep hill with a
dangerous y-junction at the bottom. At last I found a place where
Shimano's 70/75 series rollerbrakes aren't quite up to it, though it
is probably still a close-run thing. I expect fat tackies and a big
disc brake at the front, say 203mm, to do a small bit better in
combination than the rollerbrakes.

Tom Sherman wrote:
Chalo Colina might disagree about the strongest brakes being discs.

You want to comment, Chalo? And let's have the champions of standard and
hydraulic rim brakes (Magura HS-xx) and the other hub brakes (coaster,
roller, etc) in here too so we can have a comprehensive overview.

My own view is, for strength, 1 Disc brakes, 2 hydraulic rim brakes. For
convenience, on balance, nothing beats roller brakes, ditto on operating
cost.

Andre Jute
http://members.lycos.co.uk/fiultra/B...20CYCLING.html


hydraulic disks offer the best action, reaction, wet performance,
modulation and fade resistance. easy.