Fierce brake on bike

[DerbyBoy]

Grandson's bike has a rather fierce front brake which tends to throw him over the handlebars when he uses it. How can I tame it?

Regards

John

[Clive George]

Best is to teach him how to control the brake, and body positioning to stop him going over. Eg don't just heave on the lever, do brace against the handlebars, push bodyweight back.

That way if it comes to a problem he'll be able to stop harder than with a weak front brake.

Shimano do some devices for their drum brakes which essentially puts a spring in the system to limit the force the rider can exert. Bad idea.

If he's just starting out, you could slacken the brake off, but then in the wet it won't work at all.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Vaseline?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

What type of brake?

[Frank Erskine]

Abouit 25% effort on the front; 75% on the rear is motorbike practice. Obviously things might vary a bit for a non-motor cycle.

Get him to try and find an off-road place where he can legally play about with using speed/braking/tipping-over-the-handlebars.

[Clive George]

If you want to stop a normal bike (non-motor) in a hurry, the back brake does nothing if you're doing it right. Unless you're really good in which case you can use it to tell you when the bike is at tipping point.

Tandem is different - just haul on both brakes as hard as you can if it's dry.

I agree with this. Actually, if it was here I'd get him to try it on the road outside - grass is softer to fall on, but no grip this time of year.

[David WE Roberts]

Possibly uk.rec.cycling.moderated might be a better place for this question?

Firstly, have you checked that the brake is set up properly? If there is too much for and aft movement on a front brake then as it flexes it can put the brake on harder. Also, check that the brake pads aren't toed in too much as I think that can have a similar effect.

is a good place to look for information.

[DerbyBoy]

Cheap cable operated rim callipers. It is fierce - it seems to be all or nothing!

[Ghostrecon]

is the calliper assembly a bit loose? if so braking often makes the front of the blocks pinch in to the rim as the brake is applied giving an all or nothing effect

[Roger Mills]

Teach him to apply the rear brake *first* - and then *gently* pull on the front brake for additional retardation, if required.

When I were a lad, I hardly ever used the front brake - for this very reason.

[Gazz]

You sure that's not the other way round?? when i took my test (03) it was the same as it's always been, you use the front brake the most as the weight transfer from slowing makes the front wheel grip the most, the rear wheel will loose grip very easily if you apply too much rear brake... unless your not using the front one, in that case you'll be embedded in the back of the truck that's just stopped fast to avoid squishing the kitty,

quite a lot of bikers hardly ever touch the rear brake, and during my training for the test i was told that when doing the emergancy stop, to just make it look like my foot was operating the rear brake but not actually push the lever down, otherwise i'd lock the rear and fail,

Of course, if you grab the front brake handle hard you'll perform a stoppie, but you then have to learn how much to release the brake to keep the back end up in the air whilst not going over the bars.

on a push bike without suspension, then yes the rear brake is used more, and you usually push your self back into the seat when slowing down so keep the weight on the back wheel, in holland it's common to have only a back pedal brake on a simple bike, that makes you put more weight on the rear wheel,

[Frank Erskine]

You're right. Sorry.

Blame the vodka :-)

[Jules Richardson]

Yes, me too, and old habits die hard - which isn't good when you hop on a cycle in the US for the first time in years and quickly learn that they swap over the brake levers on the handlebars as compared to the UK. I probably flew about 20 feet. :-)

cheers

Jules

[ss]

As per motorcycle, front brake for slowing down and then transfer to back for last few mph for stopping, google motorcycle braking techniques. Progressive braking.

Excessive use of the back brake will cause skidding.

[robgraham]

Yes, absolutely - if the front of the pad is toed in then the forces will pull the pad onto the rim causing excessive braking force particularly if the toe in is significant.

As a grandfather you are of the generation who maintained their own bikes and should know all this ! No young or middle aged person knows these sort of things now and relies on the bike shop to do it for them. Rob

[Andy Champ]

My experience is that braking is almost all front brake, except in a corner where I'll use a little more rear because I'd rather handle a rear wheel skid than a front wheel one, and because there's less weight transfer.

My motorbike had the brake light wired to the pedal, and that was its main use.

Andy

[Roger Chapman]

When I was a lad about the only road safety information around was a poster exhorting motorcyclists to 'brake on the straight'. Most of my contemporaries (we only had bicycles), myself included, tended to use the back brake only as use of the front brake on less than ideal surfaces provoked a front wheel skid. Those of us who switched to a fixed wheel over winter had to learn to use a front brake with discretion if we wanted to survive.

[grimly4]

If it's a cheapy V-brake on a bike-shaped-object it probably doesn't have great design. Either he gets used to it, or fit a suitable lever with less leverage, or fit a modulator from wiggle

[thirty-six]

Servo action. Could be due to slack pivot mountings. The mounting pivot(s) should provide adjustment to account for manufacturing tolerances and wear. Careful attention to brack block alignment also helps. The blocks should strike the middle of the brake track and stay completely on them as pressure is increased and the wheel is still rotating.

[Ian Jackson]

In message , DerbyBoy writes

Somewhere at the back of my mind, I seem to recall that you used to be able to get brake blocks in different hardnesses of rubber. [So far, no one has mentioned this, so I could be imagining things.] However, if I'm right, the harder rubber will give less effective (softer) braking, and vice versa.