Wish I had the reference but I remember an article in the CTC magazine about drum brake design that showed that the way the pads are oriented inside the drum has everything to do with how powerful drum brakes are, and how soon they fade.
--Mitch
On 6/26/07, Gilbert Anderson <cyclestore@aol.com> wrote:
>
> Hello Mark and all,
>
> While it worked I found the Aria Drum brake lost it's effectiveness
> quickly with use for me. I preferred the canti's with good pads on
> mine. While not designed for a tandem I have never had any problem with
> the newer (last 7-8 years) Sturmey Archer drum brakes. They have
> primarily had alloy 90 mm hub shells but as I recall the steel ones
> worked fine.
>
> Set up is a non issue really but brake levers supplied were and are now
> junk.
>
> Adjust the bearing, clamp the brake reaction arm down, use a decent
> brake lever and cable, take slack out of cable. apply pressure to
> handle, stop. I feel like they are as simple as you can get.
>
> Good, well placed cable stops help any brake. Santana Tandems going
> back over 25 years have some of the best and had big cables in the old
> days.
>
> Yours in Cycling,
>
> Gilbert Anderson
>
> North Road Bicycle Company
> PO Box 840
> 166 Court Square
> Yanceyville, NC 27379
> USA
>
> Our newest direct local Yanceyville Area phone is 336-421-4054
> Toll Free Research Triangle Area, NC area 919-828-8999
> Toll free Nationwide 800-321-5511
>
> email: cyclestore@aol.com
>
> http://www.northroadbicycle.com ----> New Website Improved Daily
>
>
> <<On Jun 26, 2007, at 11:37 PM, Mark Stonich wrote:
>
> I have no trouble believing that you found yours to be effective. The
> effectiveness of a drum brake has a lot to do with setting them up
> correctly. Most people don't mess with them so I assume that
> variations of fit and assembly can make the difference between a good
> and bad one. The best and worst drum brakes I ever used were the Arai
> tandem drum. One provided almost imperceptible retardation. Another,
> on Bill McReady's original Santana triple prototype, hauled 500+ pounds
> to a stop quite nicely. Bill claimed he rarely used the front brake.
>
> I assumed Pete Eagan of VeloVision knows how to optimize them, but
> maybe not. I'll send him instructions. Back when I was riding
> motorcycle Observed Trials in the '70s, brakes were snuff tin sized
> drums and were often submerged in one section and then sorely tested on
> a tricky downhill in the next. Those of us who knew how to get the
> most out of them got a lot fewer bruises.
>
> Are/Were your drums 90 or 70mm? Steel shell/drum or alloy shell
> w/cast iron drum? Old or modern?
>
> At 6/26/2007 05:59 PM -0400, Gilbert Anderson wrote:
> > Hello folks,
> >
> > On Sturmey drum brakes; I I have little personal experience with the
> > Dynohub version but the standard Drum Brake will toss you over the
> > bars easily. I was so impressed I bought a pair (drum brake hubs)
> > front and rear for an old Raleigh Gran Sport. No maintenance, clean
> > rims, weather proof., strong large flanges, cool.
> >
> > The standard supplied brake levers for the hubs suck however, they are
> > nylon, are flexible and have limited travel and as far as I'm
> > concerned, unsafe and non functional. We have sold hundred of the old
> > Pashley Roadsters with these brakes front and rear coupled with
> > Mountain Bike levers with zero complaints. My personal bike had
> > Campagnolo record road levers and again you can easily lock up both
> > wheels but they have better modularity than linear pull brakes.
> > Linear pull a and disk brakes take less hand pressure to lock up the
> > wheel than an SA drum brake but you have to wonder if being able to
> > easily lock up a wheel is a good thing.
> >
> > I would be surprised if the Dynohub brake performs any different from
> > the non Dynohub version.
>
> Shouldn't, assuming same shoe size and leverage. I'd love to have the
> generator drum in the front and the XRD5
> http://www.sturmey-archer.com/
> rear.>>