Last week, I finally bought a Magura after more than a year of owning a unicycle that was completely set up to mount a brake. With no time to give it a test ride, I packed up my unicycle and headed to MUni weekend.
After three intense days of riding, I don’t know how I ever got along without a brake. It took hardly any time to adjust to using it. On the first ride on Friday it made a huge difference riding down a steep crumbling granite face (although they didn’t prevent a spectacular fall, which will hopefully be in the TV segment this Wednesday). I think as I ride with them more, I’ll get better at using them, but they are useful right away.
On the long downhills of the Saturday and Sunday rides, having a brake actually allowed me to spin the wheel a lot faster, because I could use my legs for control, rather than brute force slowing down. after 15 miles of mostly downhill on the Downieville ride, I had hardly any leg soreness, and I didn’t feel it the next day at all, like I have after previous long downhill rides.
Time will tell whether the brake is as useful on my home trails in the northeast. My guess is that it will be. Even though we don’t have the extended downhills you get out west, we still have a lot of up and down and steep technical rocks.
Anyway, my feeling is that I was way overdue for a brake, and it made a huge difference in my riding.
Yes, I do have a Delta extender. I’ve used brakes without the extender, and I don’t think it works very well. For the brake to be effective, you have to be able to switch quickly from braking to pulling on the seat.
My arm definitely got tired (but not two tired {oh god I can’t beleive I said that}) from squeezing the brake for such a long time. On the first ride, the muscle in my forarm thats used for pulling the brake lever cramped up, and my fingers were stuck to my palm for a little bit. But generally it was ok. I think once I use the brake more that problem with go away.
Thanks for the report, Ben. I was really curious about how useful brakes were at Downieville, especially for those that just installed them for that ride. I really thought it would take too long to adapt to them to be worth it, but apparently not. Of course as it turns out it would have been good for me to have them as it would have taken a lot of stress off of my injured knee.
Anyone else have feedback?
I’ve been riding with a brake for about 6 months. I am very glad I had it
for the Downieville ride. My legs (quads) were sore Monday and Tuesday, but
they weren’t overly tired at the end of the ride. The brake definitely
provides more control on descents since you don’t have to put so much
effort into resisting gravity. But, for me the biggest benefit is that it
relieves pressure on my aging, basketball abused knees. Most of my regular
riding is up and down moderately long hills. Before the brake my knees
gradually became more of a problem. I had to premedicate with Motrin and
carefully warm up before starting up hill, and my knees still ached after
the ride. Now the knees aren’t an issue.
Most of my lingering leg soreness might have been avoided by a better
recovery plan - a light ride Sunday evening to loosen up the lactic acid,
and some stretching and another light ride Monday morning. I think if I had
made time for this the recovery would have been quicker. My legs were much
more stressed doing the Mt. Diablo Challenge two weeks earlier, and my
regular recovery plan worked very well. My legs were much more recovered
after stretching and a light ride Monday morning.
If you don’t regularly ride on hills the brake might not be much of a
benefit, but for something like Downieville it is a huge asset.
John Hooten
S_Wallis wrote:
> Thanks for the report, Ben. I was really curious about how useful
> brakes were at Downieville, especially for those that just installed
> them for that ride. I really thought it would take too long to adapt to
> them to be worth it, but apparently not. Of course as it turns out it
> would have been good for me to have them as it would have taken a lot of
> stress off of my injured knee.
> Anyone else have feedback?
>
> Scott
>
> –
> S_Wallis - MUni motivated
>
> “I am always doing that which I can not do,
> in order that I may learn how to do it.”
> Pablo Picasso
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I haven’t used mine yet for extended downhills, and it’s taken a while for me to get it adjusted right. That said, I have definitely been able to ride down some steep pitches where there was no way I could ride it without the brake. On the steepest one, I tried and crashed three times w/ no brake, then made it with very little issue on my first attempt with the brake.
One tip people gave me that has helped: when you’re approaching a steep pitch where you plan on braking, start the braking before you get to the start of the pitch, so you are already dialed into pedaling against the resistance. This will make the transition onto the steep easier.
The local trails I ride are like this. Lots of short ups with some short but very steep, technical “downhills” and rocky, dangerous drops. During the course of a few hours riding I might use the brake a dozen or so times. I can ride without them, but why? It really makes things much easier on the knees (mine are 45 yrs. old). Some of the climbs are so steep that I’ll expend so much short burst energy on the way up and be wasted but already on the descent without much gas or control. Brakes can save your ass in situations like this.
I’d rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them.
my 29er was the first uni i had with brakes and i dont think i could ever go without again,especialy here in the North West.im useing a V-brake now but hope to try a Magura on the next uni i build,a 24"
Well, it sounds like brakes have their place. I have wanted to avoid the weight and added complexity of having brakes, but I may have to consider them, especially if my knee is going to be a long term troublemaker. I go to the orthopedic surgeon on Monday for a diagnosis.
I also didn’t think running brakes on a Sun Doublewide would would be workable, but it seems a few people were running them with the powdercoat ground off and doing okay. I would think having a polished rim surface to give better modulation and require more lever pressure before lockup would be important, but some of the rims were pretty rough. I know that it is important not to have any high spots like welds which cause a lockup.
i have the sun dw’s with the maguras. at first i tried just roughing up the surface with sand paper. that was a little work, and the squeels came back fairly quickly. i then attached the wire sanding contraption to my drill and took all of the paint off. been squeekless since. that’s what you need to do.