Five

Yesterday at lunch I cut the grass for the first time. When I got home from work I put down a very light application of fertilizer.

It's about time to get serious about working out again.

From a message I just sent to Sacha White:

Hi Sacha,

Here are my latest thoughts about brakes.

A few days ago the idea occurred to me to put an Arai drum brake on the rear hub to control my speed on long, steep descents. I ran the idea past the folks at fixed-gear@lists.davintech.ca and got some good feedback. Some people thought it would be a waste of weight and money. Others agreed with me that it might be the perfect solution. Assuming it's feasible, here's what I have in mind:

Hopefully the brake will thread onto the left side (free side) of a Phil Wood fix/free flip-flop hub. I'll need a tab for the lever arm and some kind of cable stop setup.
At first, I thought I might need an eccentric bottom bracket, but Ted Shwartz wrote:

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You will not need an eccentric for the drum brake. The arm that connects the drum brake to the fitting connects to a slot, and the arm rides free in the slot. See http://www.precisiontandems.com/arai.htm (look for typical pac man mount).

The way the Arai works is that when you apply tension to the brake cable, the cable applies tension on the reaction arm, which gives leverage to the mechanical parts in the drum. The brazed on fitting (pac man for example) simply keeps the reaction arm in a particular space so leverage can be applied from the cable, via the reaction arm, to the drum.

...the use of the Arai does not need an eccentric [bottom bracket]. It just needs a fitting to keep the reaction arm located properly with regard to frame, wheel and brake. As long as fitting is attached to the proper point on your chain stay (with regard to current chain length, gearing and reaction arm) then you should be OK.

Any tandem builder should be able to help you on out on where it should be located. You might try Bilenky, Co-Motion, Davinci, or Burley. Alternatively give a call to Mel at Tandems East, Mark at Precision Tandems, Larry at Mt Airy Cycle.

Ted Shwartz
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To avoid cluttering up my bars with a shifter and more cable, I'm thinking a single braze on down tube shift lever could be used to control the drag brake.

For the other brakes, I'll have a rear rim brake - maybe a "strange brake" (http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/strangebrakes.asp) - controlled by a single brake lever on the left, and a front disc brake - some people have recommended an Avid mechanical disc - with two brake levers on the right (i.e. a "love brake" lever on the top).

What do you think?

John

P.S. You might like this note I received today:

From: "Doug Van Cleve"

John,

I have some fixee experience (not mega miles though) and no tandemexperience. I have gone down a few hills that would be nothing for somebody hardcore where my single front Shimano dual pivot with stock pads was none too confidence inspiring. From what I thought and what I have rear, the Arai drum with an old Suntour barcon as a drag brake sounds perfect if the (temporary) weight and extra braze-ons (or clamping stuff to that sweet Acme paint) doesn't bother you. A good friend of mine has a Vanilla fixee that he loves. Should be cool :^)

Doug