FairfaxPat
Senior Retro Guru
Yeah Biily, maybe even gloves and a helmet!
35th Anniversary of the sport
- Thread starter Repack Rider
- Start date
klunkerbill
Dirt Disciple
I had no intention of going fast down the hill, but halfway down there wasn't much left in the way of brakes. You know how that goes. 
highlandsflyer
Retro Wizard
- Feedback
- View
So it was Billy Connolly, as I thought!
klunkerbill":3pb366no said:There were many legends there last Friday, quite a few fans, and a couple of posers like me. No one ever said being a poser was easy...
[/img][/url]
There are some posers who've got it, and some who haven't. I reckon you have.
+1 for riding shirtless, +2 for crashing shirtless, +several million for still looking cool mid high-speed-crash.
FairfaxPat
Senior Retro Guru
sandmangts
Senior Retro Guru
I blame Scooterdude for my clunker illness. He let me ride his at Keyesville and now I have 3. I wish I could have brought my Excelsior up there.
- Feedback
- View
It's great to see the old bikes and the spirit of the event being relived 35 years on. I especially like the old school clothing and headgear.
As someone who has never ridden in the US, I really enjoyed the videos as they bring the Repack to life in a way that still photos can't.
I found one topic that was raised earlier in the tread, hub-brake overheating and the resultant brake fade, perplexing. This is because after riding Geoff Apps' Cleland bikes for the last 27 years I have never known their hub brakes to fade because of overheating, not even on long very steep descents where the brakes are applied hard all the way down. These brakes differ from most in that the activating cam self centers so that leading and trailing shoes wear evenly and so always fully contact the inside of the drum. They were originally designed for use on French mopeds and are well engineered though cheaply made and the heat dissipates through the entire hub and not just one flange.
I saw an article by Geoff Apps with pictures of these brakes in an old Fat Tire Flyer. Did anyone try them out? Were they any good on the Repack? or was the sharp decelerations needed for the hairpins too much for any available hub-brake.
It's likely that they were imported into the US as you can buy spares for them on US ebay.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200459684642? ... 1423.l2649
You can still buy these brakes in France...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/S81-SOLEX-VEL ... 48426eb089
P.S. We used to fit a rear hub-brake on the front wheel because their flanges were wider.
As someone who has never ridden in the US, I really enjoyed the videos as they bring the Repack to life in a way that still photos can't.
I found one topic that was raised earlier in the tread, hub-brake overheating and the resultant brake fade, perplexing. This is because after riding Geoff Apps' Cleland bikes for the last 27 years I have never known their hub brakes to fade because of overheating, not even on long very steep descents where the brakes are applied hard all the way down. These brakes differ from most in that the activating cam self centers so that leading and trailing shoes wear evenly and so always fully contact the inside of the drum. They were originally designed for use on French mopeds and are well engineered though cheaply made and the heat dissipates through the entire hub and not just one flange.
I saw an article by Geoff Apps with pictures of these brakes in an old Fat Tire Flyer. Did anyone try them out? Were they any good on the Repack? or was the sharp decelerations needed for the hairpins too much for any available hub-brake.
It's likely that they were imported into the US as you can buy spares for them on US ebay.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200459684642? ... 1423.l2649
You can still buy these brakes in France...
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/S81-SOLEX-VEL ... 48426eb089
P.S. We used to fit a rear hub-brake on the front wheel because their flanges were wider.
When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
FairfaxPat
Senior Retro Guru
None of the drum brakes ever tried by the guys here could make it down Repack without fading badly. The reason airplanes, then cars, now MTB's have disc brakes is they are a superior design in every way. The rotor is exposed to a constant stream of cooling air and is really hard to get too hot, as opposed to an enclosed drum-no matter how well designed-that holds it's heat in. Maybe you don't realize exactly how steep and long Repack is from viewing the videos.It is almost 2 miles long and descends 1500 feet, with much heavy braking in many of the turns-a true test for any brake! The Apps bikes were designed 30 years ago, and should probably be updated with modern brakes if you wanted to ride Repack with them.
Similar threads
