This is true, I do have younger knees. I still think I’ll be a purest as my knees get older but I also will be living somewhere less hilly. I don’t tend to fight hills much going down them(probably why I’ve hit 28mph on a downhill more than once) so that saves my knees a little bit. Maybe I just don’t like brakes because I never learned to use one(spent the first few weeks of my 36’er ownership trying to learn it and never got it so I sold it.)
My sitbones and groin area give in before my legs do on all my rides. It takes about 30 miles before my legs feel heavy and that’s on one of my moderately hilly routes. Once again I’m probably just anti-brakes because I don’t want to bother learning to use them or maintain them.
Ill tell you, it sure would be nice after the huge hill up. I There is a big huge hill to get into town no matter which way I go. I havent made it to the top as of yet. I would love the break going back down on the other side… I think…
I used to hate brakes too…that is until I actually got one. Now I wouldn’t ride MUni or a Coker without one. The biggest thing is that it helps you conserve energy so you can do longer rides and not be worn out as much. It also makes it possible to ride more technical MUni trails, especially with shorter, faster cranks. In my opinion they are well worth the extra money…
I used to have 19 year old knees. Now my 53 yr old knees are barely hanging in their riding flat. I’m spending more time excercising/stretching my legs than I am ridingm these days.
Brakes will be going on my 29" soon. It’s hard to find someone who has the adapters for the V-brakes, and I don’t want to go the center bolt route but I will find them on the net somewhere.
I’ve been trying out a brake on my 36er and I can’t say it was love at first squeeze. Started with a V-brake and found it too grippy, making modulation very difficult, and braking in general rather scary. Left me wondering why there weren’t more posts about people finding brakes difficult and dangerous.
However, my experiences with handlebars taught me not to judge a new thing with out giving it time and trying tweaks, so remembering that I had a standard cantilever brake with cheap pads that always seemed underpowered on a bike, I installed that, and left the crossover wire long so that there was very little leverage. Significantly better modulation and not quite as scary. Still it is a lot to concentrate on and hard to control finger pressure. I continue to feel much more at risk since UPD’s seem to be towards the front (downhill) compared to off the back with foot braking.
Part of my lack of control may also be due to lever positioning. I prefer to hold the seat handle when descending, but with the KH T-Bar there is no way to mount the lever under the front of the seat. I tried mounting it closer to the seat but it ended up being more awkward and causing a crash.
Do those of you with brakeless knee pain find descending more painful than ascending? My subjective experience is that the amount of stress on my knees is the same if not slightly less while slowing or stopping a descent as compared climbing and having to accelerate upwards if I start to stall out.
I’m not sure why, but climbing is knee-painless for me, while descending quickly becomes uncomfortable. Again, my knees have seen a lot of hard-cutting sport - 27 yrs of competitive ultimate for one thing.
I agree, and I think that those stupid b*ke riders need to get rid of their brakes, too. Brakes turn a slight decline into a manageable ride. What’s the fun of having control over your ride when you could be flying down the road going 50mph, praying that an uphill stretch of road is on its way to save your sorry butt for deciding that brakes were cheating?
. . . a uni is not a bicycle . . . and fixed gear riders ride without brakes all the time. My theory is that most people want to run short cranks so that they can go faster, and then argue that downhill isn’t an enjoyable ride because they loose control and it’s difficult to maintain speed, whereas the rest of us just run the right crank size for the job and take the loss in speed. A brake can fix that little bug for riders that want to go faster, as for us that just want to enjoy the ride, longer cranks with no brake makes things more simple. I’m not a huge fan of brakes, but when I get my muni, it’ll sure have them on there. Probably never on my 36er
I just read an article that said you can “estimate that every 250g lightened is like going up a virtual gear” (eg 110mm cranks will feel similar to 125mm cranks previously).
[QUOTE=DavidHood;1364052]
I just read an article that said you can “estimate that every 250g lightened is like going up a virtual gear” (eg 110mm cranks will feel similar to 125mm cranks previously).
Cranks rotate relatively close to the hub so the weight difference would not be noticable and the Q factor is more of a personal taste kind of thing. Lowering the weight at the outside of the wheel is where you will see big advantages a light rim tube and tire are where it is at.
Yeah, my brake is still working fine, not that I’m great at using it yet.
I really like the idea of a disk brake, though, so it’s not as critical to keep the wheel very true. Including the disk on a production uni is a great option, and I’m seriously thinking about how to come up with an excuse to get me one of them new-fangled Nimbus 36ers. . . .
I’m commuting on my 29" and I like it but I’m starting to think about 36ers too… Is it correct to assume that I would only go faster by a factor of 36/29? If so, I think I should still be able to run out of UPDs at cruising speed… Is that your experience?
My experience is that although I managed to free mount my 36 the first day I rode it, I’m still not successful in doing so enough of the time to have tried commuting on it yet - although I have ridden across town several times. I do believe that ultimately the 36 will become my commuting uni of choice. Speed for UPD’s is not a problem for me yet, but I know I’m not riding it at full potential speed.
My comfortable cruising speed on my 29 was 8-9 mph, as compared to 11+ on my 36. It doesn’t seem like a big difference, but I never had a UPD on the road that I couldn’t land on my feet before I got the 36. The combo of going a tad faster, and being a touch higher makes for a new UPD experience. The upside is that even though my last UPD was painful, it seemed like slow motion. It seems like the smaller the wheel the faster it all goes south.
