Is there a lower cost brake option than the Maguras? I know they are terrific, hydraulic, and expensive. But…I just need something to add some control in descents to prevent gaining too much speed…doesn’t need to be trials quality or be capable of holding with great precision, just a bit of friction when needed when going downhill.
Is there a cable-based (versus hydraulic) brake system that will mount on Magura compatible mounts on a KH series unicycle? Thanks.
Carey
Can you weld?
If you can you can try and rig up a bracket or something from a old bike.
If you can’t try and find someone who can weld and ask them nicely and bribe them with beer, food, porn, money…
At a unicycle event I went to in Germany, there was a couple of guys who had 24" uni’s with V-brakes on them.
I couldn’t and didn’t speak to them, but watching them mount, they locked up the wheel and stood on the back pedal to swing over the seat. Strange.
I’m sure you can get clamp-on V-brake bosses, or even weld some on.
I’ve also heard of folk putting a coaster brake on a coker, making it from an old caliper brake and an old non-indexed gear lever. Depends on what uni you want it for, the caliper might not fit over a big tyre.
Either could work.
T.
Didn’t edit in time.
You can keep checking goodwill for a bike that has a disk brake and work something out, garage sales are nice also.
V-Brake Adaptors
I posted a thread about half a year ago about maguras being to expensive.
Regular bicycle V-brakes work great. I used Mission 4bolt adaptors to do the work. They give me more than enough breaking power.
http://www.bikedock.com/posit/shop/search.php
I forgot to mention.
I forgot to mention that Woodman also had a Magura to V-brake adaptor but it is nicer but much more expensive. The Mission adaptors cost about 7 British Pounds per pair. I actually took the brake off of my Onza 24 and KH24. i just don’t use breaks on technical trails. I have keapt the break on my KH29 and it is great for keeping control down big hills.
Unicorn
Yes you can get adaptor blocks to mount V-brakes on magura mounts. However, I strongly suggest you check ebay for maguras, there are usually several sets going cheap at any one time. My two pairs cost £14.50 and £10.50 each, this is probably cheaper than getting a set of v-brake adaptors and buying a v-brake. There are also issues with hitting your knees on the protruding v-brake arms, causing the brakes to come on unexpectedly, which is no fun.
Brakes
Dave brings up a great point about getting used Maguras on Ebay. If you can get them frot he prices he did then go for the Magura. I have never hit my V-brakes with my knees. They have performed wells and don’t potrude more that the Unicycle frame.
I will try to take a few pictures and post them tomorrow.
Unicorn
I seem to remember unicorn and I getting in to this debate before. I rode a v-brake coker in the unicon marathon with no probs re: knee knocking, it’s just something i’ve heard people mention, probably not a major worry.
Inexpensive brake
Unicorn,
I will look forward to your picture post. It would be useful to see how you mounted them from a couple of angles. I want the brake for just what you use it for–to decelerate my 29 on slight inclines to offload my legs.
Also, my son is a mountain bike nut so I am sure he’d have some v-brake spare parts lying around…and I only need one 
The ebay answer of magura brakes seems like a good one too. I’ll keep an eye out there to see what goes by for a while.
Anybody else done this?
Carey
The knee knocking thing - I’ve never heard anyone who has actually ridden with v-brakes who has experienced it turning the brakes on. You need quite a bit of force to brake, I’d be surprised if you could do it just with your knees.
Some people however, either because of the shape of their legs, or the positioning of their brake mounts, can’t use v-brakes on their uni, because they rub on their knees or knee pads. I know John H tried v-brakes, but they rubbed on his legs too much, he has some custom welded mounts, which work okay for maguras, but aren’t in the right place for v-brakes compared to his legs. On my Schlumpf, where I’ve got them, I never hit them, and I know a few people who have them on their munis with no problems.
V-brakes have some big advantages, particularly that the cables are nice and durable, and don’t get pulled out at the ends when you crash, and you don’t have to worry about them when you dismantle the unicycle for travel. You can also mend them while on trips without having to find somewhere with magura stuff, every bike shop has a brake cable to sell you.
But pricewise there’s not masses of advantages. If you add £7 to the price of a v-brake lever + a v-brake, you’re close to the cost of buying a Magura HS11 from http://www.chainreactioncycles.com (who ship internationally), or an HS33 off ebay. Do HS11s work on unicycles? Although v-brakes are often available for cheap or free if you know someone who has upgraded their bike to discs.
Joe
the prob with a V-brake for muni, is cross-cable clearance over the tyre…any tire over 2.6 will tag it.
im running a 2.6 with v-brake right now. it works great but the clearance is small. im looking for a brake with longer arms, or rigging the cross cable to arc some how.
Thanks for the info Joe, as far as I can see they should do, but bearing in mind last weekend I saw a HS33 magura handle ripped clean apart in a unicycle crash maybe downgrading to plastic parts would be a bad idea. I guess for a road 29er this is uhc less of an issue. However this is all speculation rather than fact, i’ve never seen anyone using them.
Harper can help you with that. 100,000 volts or so should get it to arc.
Is partly about where your mounts are fitted too. I know Joe McLean runs v-brakes on a 24x3. I might be wrong but I think he has a deore v-brake. On the Schlumpf I had to move the mounts up slightly in order for it to work on the Big Apple.
Also, for some of the shimano brakes I think that there are two different lengths, one designed to clear mudgards on touring bikes, which should clear any old tyre. Tektro definately make a long armed brake, that goes over a full mudguard setup, but I’ve never seen one for sale, just on cheap city bikes.
Joe
I’m just curious but have you tried HUFFY Mountain bikes brakes?? 
. One of my friends unicycle brakes are taken from those. 
Yes. A friend has HS11s on his muni.
Another place to look for maguras is craigslist and the for sale section of the observedtrials.net fora.
there is a company that makes a V-brake without a noodle
(jaguar I think)that should fit.
I think a pair of Shimano XT or XTR or Avid arch rival breaks with the parralelagram would work well, because the pad would hit simalar to maguras
V-Brake Pictures and Info.
Hi Everyone!
I took the time to take osme pictures of my V-Brake settup with the Mission 4Bolt Magura adaptors. the picture are however to large to upload. I will email thm to anyone who sends me thier email in a private mesage.
Some extra info. I now have the V-Brakes mounted on my KH29 with a 2.1" kenda Klaw tire. I previously had Shimano V-brakes mounted on my Onza 24" with a 3" Duro tire. I dismounted the brake from my Onza because I just never used it. On the KH29 I use it only when going down huge hills.
Unicorn
On eBay right now, there’s a guy selling NOS (new old-stock) magura master cylinders (the brake handle part) for $15, and slave cylinders (the parts that hold the brake pads) for $5 each. That’s $25 for a whole wheel; you need to add only hose and oil and pads, and maybe a couple little parts like olives. Cheap and easy.