01-20-2014, 10:22 PM
hello, some of you may remember me, i posted a while back about my gears on the forum relevant to that. ive had some problems with my brakes, though, and finally decided to do something about it.
for those who dont remember, ive got an old fuji road bike refitted with hybrid tires.
for a long time, ive felt that my brakes are not all that effective. i mentioned this once when having a repair done, and he told me that theyre not really 'brakes' theyre just to slow you down. (as opposed to stopping you.)
so the first question is, what exactly did he mean by that? i didnt think about it much at the time, but ive since realized that there could be a few ways to look at that. did he mean just my particular brakes arent meant for full stopping? (although its hard for you to know that without seeing em...) did he mean that the brakes on road bikes in general are not meant for full stopping? or what i think is most likely based on experience, though i havent seen anything to confirm this, did he mean that the 'upper' brakes are for slowing not stopping while the 'lower' brakes are for stopping?
which leads into the most recent problem. in the past, while they didnt work great, even the uppers, they did work. now, especially after an incident where some idiot locked his bike up next to mine on a pole and i wrenched the brakes getting my bike out from under his. (luckily he didnt lock up to or through my bike, just on top of it. amazingly enough, he did it twice! wow, just wow...) since then, (or so) the upper breaks do almost nothing at all and the lower ones slow me, but i often have to 'wobble' the front wheel to bleed speed so that i stop. not very safe as i have no way to stop short if need be. its also a real hassle to have to drop down to the lower breaks whenever i need to stop, as i dont ride like that.
btw, ive tried replacing the brake pads, but i wasnt able to because of the wider tires, they wouldnt fit. i tried to loosen the brakes to make space, but it didnt seem to be working and i didnt want to totally mess up my brakes.
so the second question is, espcially if road bike brakes are not meant for full stopping, or at least not the upper ones, is it possible to completely revamp the brake system and install mountain bike style brakes on the 'upper' part of the handlebars? theoretically, i cant see why not, as long as theyll fit there, but i figured i would come ask the experts. is that correct, can that be done?
for those who dont remember, ive got an old fuji road bike refitted with hybrid tires.
for a long time, ive felt that my brakes are not all that effective. i mentioned this once when having a repair done, and he told me that theyre not really 'brakes' theyre just to slow you down. (as opposed to stopping you.)
so the first question is, what exactly did he mean by that? i didnt think about it much at the time, but ive since realized that there could be a few ways to look at that. did he mean just my particular brakes arent meant for full stopping? (although its hard for you to know that without seeing em...) did he mean that the brakes on road bikes in general are not meant for full stopping? or what i think is most likely based on experience, though i havent seen anything to confirm this, did he mean that the 'upper' brakes are for slowing not stopping while the 'lower' brakes are for stopping?
which leads into the most recent problem. in the past, while they didnt work great, even the uppers, they did work. now, especially after an incident where some idiot locked his bike up next to mine on a pole and i wrenched the brakes getting my bike out from under his. (luckily he didnt lock up to or through my bike, just on top of it. amazingly enough, he did it twice! wow, just wow...) since then, (or so) the upper breaks do almost nothing at all and the lower ones slow me, but i often have to 'wobble' the front wheel to bleed speed so that i stop. not very safe as i have no way to stop short if need be. its also a real hassle to have to drop down to the lower breaks whenever i need to stop, as i dont ride like that.
btw, ive tried replacing the brake pads, but i wasnt able to because of the wider tires, they wouldnt fit. i tried to loosen the brakes to make space, but it didnt seem to be working and i didnt want to totally mess up my brakes.
so the second question is, espcially if road bike brakes are not meant for full stopping, or at least not the upper ones, is it possible to completely revamp the brake system and install mountain bike style brakes on the 'upper' part of the handlebars? theoretically, i cant see why not, as long as theyll fit there, but i figured i would come ask the experts. is that correct, can that be done?