Elegant piece of engineering
The rise & fall of U-Brakes (?)
- Thread starter JCS
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Aren't they again just earlier road bike tech (could even be earlier as I don't know the history). e.g. Shimano Parapul / Para Pull brakes ? a bit before Charlie and his MTB version ? I forget.
Anyways, It's always great looking at the of the 70/turn of the 80's Shimano catalogues. Where you have an OCTA spline, to reappear 15/20 years later.
M teeth to reappear 10 years later again as M900's new SG-X pickup teeth. The centre-pull brakes, to become U-Brakes on MTB's
Discs of course, One key release crank bolts, to become all the fad in the 90's
And you know it wasn't just them.
Just waiting for a Positron Console to be the thing for e-bikes.
Mickeyspinn
rBotM Winner
I was just looking at the big cheeses rather handsome steed thinking hhmm one brake system I don't own.... Then I remembered a late 50s le Mercier in the shed!
There's a saying "there's nothing new in the world of bicycles" is actually kinda true....
Refinement thankfully yes!
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There's shimanos hydraulic rim brake out there too, a sort of ubrake in itself
Mickeyspinn
rBotM Winner
Now that's a new one to me!
pw_pw_la
Senior Retro Guru
Well, if we're going to talk roller cams, we have to then talk about toggle cams, and lever links, and all of Charlie's many variants/innovations...
I've never pulled a lever of any other brake that worked the way the toggle does. The feel, power, modulation and performance is unreal.
But yeah, it is dry and dusty out here!
I've never pulled a lever of any other brake that worked the way the toggle does. The feel, power, modulation and performance is unreal.
But yeah, it is dry and dusty out here!
I've owned a few U-Brake/Rollercam equipped bikes, I can see the reasoning for placing the brake on the thicker (less flex) chainstays, but in the UK it just collects crud and means more brake maintenance, whereas cantilevers on the seatstays worked as well and required virtually no maintenance by comparison. I found U/rollercams to have more of an on/off modulation too, which I like, but was no doubt not helped by the convoluted cable routing sometimes needed.
In the end the bike industry moved forwards and cantilever brakes took over for a while.
There is something pretty cool about the clean lines of a chainstay mounted U-Brake frame though
In the end the bike industry moved forwards and cantilever brakes took over for a while.
There is something pretty cool about the clean lines of a chainstay mounted U-Brake frame though
dirttorpedo
Senior Retro Guru
I bought a Rocky Mountain Fusion back in the 80's - I think it was an 88 model - and it came with the chain stay mounted U-brake. My recollection was that they were really hard to insert a wheel with a knobby tire - particularly the ones with big side knobs that evolved over time to provide better traction. I also found that they didn't stop as well as cantilevers. I rode the hell out of that bike and decided that rather than upgrade it I would sell it and get something that had canti's front and rear.
I now have a Ritchey Ultra in my stable that has an XT U brake on the chain stays. Interestingly I find that this one stops just fine - maybe the advancement of pad compound technology? Its still a pain in the ass to get wheels/knobby tires into though.
I've heard lots of BMX guys talk positively about them and I think you can still get them for BMX.
I now have a Ritchey Ultra in my stable that has an XT U brake on the chain stays. Interestingly I find that this one stops just fine - maybe the advancement of pad compound technology? Its still a pain in the ass to get wheels/knobby tires into though.
I've heard lots of BMX guys talk positively about them and I think you can still get them for BMX.
MattiThundrrr
Kona Fan
I've just picked up a non vintage BMX for the Lil Thundrrr which came equipped with u brakes of some sort. It amazes me how little braking force they generate. I need to learn how to optimize the setup before I let the kid take it to the track.
