New article about drum brakes — how they work, their advantages and disadvantages, installation, maintenance, safety considerations.
Drum brakes
Tag: brake
Tandem Updates
Pages about tandems and tandeming Sheldon Brown and family on home-built tandems[/caption] have been updated. We have more about disc brakes, brake levers, Gates synchronizing belts, and details about upgrading a cheap beach-resort tandem to ride with a child.
Band brakes
A band brake, common in Japan and occasionally seen in the USA, is an inside-out drum brake. Instead of brake shoes which press outward against the inside of a brake drum, a band brake has a flexible band which wraps around the outside of the drum. A band brake is easy to install and adjust, and we show how. While a band brake can be very effective for flatland cycling, it is not good for downhills and should never be used on a front wheel. Read why in our new article.
Update on direct-pull brakes (“V brakes”)
Sheldonbrown.com makes a point of providing information which is hard to find elsewhere and which will help keep older bicycles working like new — or better. Shimano Parallel-Push V-brakes have a very nice feature in that the brake shoes approach the rim squarely rather than rotating, with the risk of damaging the tire or diving under the rim. Reader Paul Rintoule has kindly sent in information on how to refurbish Shimano parallel-push direct-pull brakes to stop them from squealing, even though Shimano parts kits are getting very hard to find. This information has now been added to our page about direct-pull brakes.
How bicycle spokes transmit torque between hub and rim
We have a new article which describes how the spokes transmit pedaling and braking torque between the hub and rim. The spokes do it by changes in tension — but how much does the tension change? The article explains the drawing below.
New video about brake quick releases
A brake quick release lets you remove and replace a wheel without deflating the tire. Our new video shows how a brake quick release works. The video appears in our article about flat tires, and the glossary.
Shimano Rollerbrake page updated
Revisions to the Shimano Rollerbrake page: links to Shimano’s (finally) well-organized compilation of Rollerbrake documentation; information on installing front Rollerbrakes.
Stopping and restarting
Much-expanded page on stopping and restarting, with 7 (count ’em) embedded videos showing good and bad techniques: http://sheldonbrown.com/
Raleigh Twenty page additions
Additions to the page on Raleigh Twenty bicycles — more detail on bottom-bracket replacements, headsets, brakes, handlebars. This page gives specific ideas about customizing the Twenty, and highlights Sheldon’s do-it-yourself approach in general, taking advantage of the strong points (in this case, the frame) of a run-of-the mill bicycle to upgrade it into a one that performs, and looks great too.
Skid patch counts
Correction to formula and additional info including a calculation spreadsheet for the number of skid patches on the rear tire from skip-stop braking on a fixed-gear bicycle.
