Hi everyone, just about to fit a cantilever brake to my coker and just wanted to know a couple of things. It’s a road bike style brake, none of these fancy maguramathingies. I’ll need to drill a hole in the frame.
The main question is where to drill. I have a bit of leeway since the brake blocks can be shifted up or down a bit. I was thinking that putting it fairly low, on the part of the vertical pipe bit that sticks down , below where the main bulk of the forks branch off it so as not to reduce the strength of the joint, but not too low so there is enough metal below the bolt to hold it securely (about 1cm?)
I’l put the brake on the back since the only one like it I’ve seen was that way round and seemed to work. I also have the stock rim which isn’t flat. Should I cut the brake blocks to the angle or let nature take its course?
Does my plan make sense, or will I break things doing it this way?
I added a brake to my Coker much the same way you are describing this link
Yes, you do want to mount the brake on the rear, that way the mounting bolt only holds it on and does not get stressed by the braking action.
With the difference between the amount of braking you get and the amount you need, I’d say just let nature take it’s course, I use one finger very, very lightly and get plenty of braking. Just make sure that the shoe is parallel to the rim in the direction of movement.
One other thing: with a Coker steel rim you will probably find it to be a little disconcerting when the weld comes around, that’s one of the reasons I like my Airfoil rim. I was thinking (depending on what the weld is shaped like) that it might be possible to smooth the weld with an epoxy, it wouldn’t take much and I don’t believe the stress would be that much as the amount of actual braking isn’t as hard as trying to stop a run-away mountain b*ke.
I have a Coker Deluxe from Unicycle.com. The brake is behind the frame, and is attached with no holes. It appears to be just three automotive hose clamps holding it on there, and they have worked fine. No adjustments needed since I got the thing in 2002. This picture doesn’t show much detail, but: http://www.unicycle.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=568