I finally figured out how to make my brake work well with my GB4. I used a KH rail adapter on my CF base and cut the brake post a little bit. I then attached a bar end to the brake post going down vertically. I then cut down another bar end to attach to the vertical bar end and placed the handle there. The placement is pretty nice and it works well. (I will try to post pics later)
In an old thread I said:
I have now changed my opinion after messing around with braking yesterday. I saw how Chuck stopped during RTL at the end of the time trials and I sort of copied his technique. I don’t know who all witnessed his braking at the Time Trial finish, but he was able to go from 16/17mph to stopping in hardly any distance/time at all.
I am now able to stop much quicker and easier by using the brake. I lean back pretty far and squeeze kind of hard on the brake lever and I am able to stop in a very short distance. I tried stopping in the same amount of time/distance without using the brake and I UPD’d.
Nightrider rim with braking surface, a stiff frame, and gray magura pads = a great braking system.
I am getting ready for my KH/Schlumpf 36 (which will take a while to get together since my hub is still in Switzerland waiting on upgrades), and a brake will definitely come in handy. I’m glad I worked out the placement of the lever on my GB4. Once again, I am getting the geared 36 after trying out Chuck’s at RTL.
Copying Chuck seems like the hip and smart thing to do nowadays!
I never gave Chuck’s uni a try but I’m wishing I had. I did however try out a 24 and use similar breaking techniques to try and do break assisted coasting and it was a blast. I remember seeing chuck do some awesome coasts on his 36 and I would definitely love to give that a shot.
So yesterday I went for my first long ride on my 36er since RTL on a trail that has some steep hills that are usually quite annoying to control myself down. I didn’t really ride for about 2 months after RTL due to problems with my knee, but I didn’t get any pain after the 25 mile ride I did, so I am starting to have some hope that my knee has healed.
My legs were much less tired than they usually are on that route thanks to the brake. For the most part it wasn’t hard to use the brake on the downhills, but I did UPD twice because of the brake. One UPD was caused from myself using the brake to fast and not turning my hips back. The other UPD was going down a really steep trail. I was controlling myself fine with the brake (I would have never been able to ride down the gradient with 114s and no brake), but then I saw a 90 degree sharp turn at the bottom and I wasn’t too comfortable turning that sharp at 10mph while squeezing the brake so instead i just jumped off the front and ran a bit. I need some more practice with it for sure.
Another thing I noticed was the right pad (which I think is the slave pad or whatever the terminology is) does not return to its original place after I use the brake, it stays quite close to the rim. The master side works fine, but the slave side seems to stop short of where it is supposed to return to after I squeeze the lever. Does anyone know why this is? Maybe dirt, or a fluid problem?
Anyway, I am loving having a brake on my 36er, and I am glad I can get in some practice before my hub comes back from Florian (still anxious to get it back) because it will be vital for a geared 36.
I now have brakes on my N36, KH24 and KH29. It isn’t too important to have them in the somewhat flat Netherlands, but I do get to use them quite a bit, mostly for stopping or when doing some of the steeper downhills I encounter. I noticed the same thing with the master and slave parts of the maguras, so I guess that’s normal and there’s nothing to be done about it really. I too have difficulties when having to turn sharply on the 36er while braking… Maybe that’s just a lack of practice though. On the 24" muni the brakes let me go down very steep hills, which I wouldn’t be able to ride without them.