SHIMANO V Brake

[John Lindfield]

I am new to the site so please excuse me if I ask questions that have already been answered.

Having just got back from holidays my wife and I have been forced to admit that our knees are spoiling our cycle rides, so whilst on holiday I started looking for a conversion kit and am impressed with what I have read here about the Cyclotricity kits.

My bike is fitted with Shimano V Brake shifters, can these be modified to take the motor cut off switch, it would be a shame to have to loose them as they are very neat and efficient.

 

[D C]

I am new to the site so please excuse me if I ask questions that have already been answered.

Having just got back from holidays my wife and I have been forced to admit that our knees are spoiling our cycle rides, so whilst on holiday I started looking for a conversion kit and am impressed with what I have read here about the Cyclotricity kits.

My bike is fitted with Shimano V Brake shifters, can these be modified to take the motor cut off switch, it would be a shame to have to loose them as they are very neat and efficient.

I have been using a Cyclotricity kit, front hub motor and rear rack battery for around 12 months and been more than happy with it, however I couldn't modify the existing brake levers and I wasn't prepared to lose them in exchange for the much inferior levers included in the kit.
Though the kit is now on a different bike, I originally fitted the kit to my V braked bike and found that a hidden wire switch didn't work with my kit (though I did fit it correctly before anyone suggests it was upside down).
This hasn't been a problem to me though I fitted a "push to make" kill switch (Maplins £1.99) to the handlebars near the brake in case of throttle sticking open, which it never has.
A few folk have made mods to the levers in various ways and hopefully they may respond.
I have a thumb throttle only system and just use the throttle for a bit of help on the very steep bits which is perfect for me as my riding is pretty much all off road and I like to pedal all the time under my own steam, I could always add the Pedal Assistance System in future if I become more decrepit and feel the need for extra help.
Dave.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

It's very easy to make a brake switch. You only need one on the back brake. If you have bare cable running down your cross-bar or antwhere else, you can cut the sensor off a £2 cycle computer and use that with the wheel-magnet fixed to the cable. Alternatively, you can use cable brake sensors that are available from China, but if you're going to order them, you might as well order your whole kit from there:

http://www.bmsbattery.com/accessory/459-hwbs-hidden-wire-brake-sensor.html

 

[D C]

you can use cable brake sensors that are available from China

Didn't work with my kit for some reason!
Dave.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

Didn't work with my kit for some reason!
Dave.

You didn't install them correctly then.

They're directional, so must point in the correction direction of the cable.

The red goes to red 5v
Yellow is ground (very unusual - easy to make a mistake), goes to black brake wire
Blue is signal, goes to yellow brake wire.

Did you connect yellow to yellow, which is wrong?

 

[D C]

You didn't install them correctly then.

They're directional, so must point in the correction direction of the cable.

The red goes to red 5v
Yellow is ground (very unusual - easy to make a mistake), goes to black brake wire
Blue is signal, goes to yellow brake wire.

Did you connect yellow to yellow, which is wrong?

Sounds like I was a connection short, I didn't realise there should be an extra wire.
There are only two brake wires from the controller to the brake levers, yellow and black and I tried every combination of connections but using only just these two wires, though I did install the right way up and the red led lit up.
I'm now using hydraulics so passed on the sensor to Mike Higgins and it worked fine for him.
Glad I posted as your explanation may help someone else.
Dave.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

You live and learn, though the learning often comes too late.