Speed matters

[LeighPing]

Here's a little video showing the braking distance difference between 15 and 20 mph. I hit the brakes when I reach the sign post on the left, then I dismount and turn the camera and bike around to show the stopping distance achieved. This one is on a dry pathway. I'll retest when it's wet.

My brakes are a V-Brake setup, with new brake blocks, and what I consider to be a very good performance.

 

[D C]

Your dogs braking distance is pretty impressive, new pads?
Dave.

 

[flecc]

I've said this in here many times. If our commuting cyclists would only relax a bit and ride at below 15 mph instead of putting in so much effort to ride at 20 mph plus, the incidence and ill effects of their accidents would be greatly reduced.

Dutch cyclists in The Netherlands sit upright and mostly amble around at anything between 8 and 12 mph so have hardly any risk of hurting themselves or anyone else. It also means they can take to the pavement areas when shopping etc and mix with pedestrians without any protests. Further financial bonuses are that their bikes wear very slowly at such moderate speeds and they don't bother with buying cycle helmets.
.

 

[LeighPing]

Your dogs braking distance is pretty impressive, new pads?
Dave.

@12 seconds into the video, you'll see that it's more of a handbrake turn, reverse thrust job.

 

[LeighPing]

I've said this in here many times. If our commuting cyclists would only relax a bit and ride at below 15 mph instead of putting in so much effort to ride at 20 mph plus, the incidence and ill effects of their accidents would be greatly reduced.

You're spot on there Flecc. Most of my jaunts are at sauntering speed now.

 

[D C]

If our commuting cyclists would only relax a bit and ride at below 15 mph instead of putting in so much effort to ride at 20 mph plus, the incidence and ill effects of their accidents would be greatly reduced.

That makes a lot of sense.
I wonder if I'm the only one to set my top speed down to 12 mph.
It's just enough to outrun flies which appear from nowhere when I stop for a few minutes and fast enough for safety on the off road tracks which I share with walkers and dogs. As a bonus my battery gives a much better range.
I get to 12 mph just as easily and If I want to go faster I either use gravity or leg power.
Gravity is my favorite though.
Dave.

 

[D C]

I should have said my last post isn't a criticism of those who wish to go faster, it's just what suits me.
Dave.

 

[KirstinS]

For recreation I totally understand

But for commuting 12
Mph vs 20mph is a lot of time saved, everyday if you have a moderate or long commute.

My bike will do nearly 17 on battery power and leg power to hit 20.

By doing between 17 and 20 I save nearly an hour a day.

With four kids that's massive time saving . I don't have an hour to fritter !

 

[Crockers]

If I had 4 kids I'd be cycling at 5mph.......

 

[KeithMac]

I'm normally around 17mph but drop to 13mph (or less) around heavy stationary traffic.

 

[flecc]

For recreation I totally understand

But for commuting 12
Mph vs 20mph is a lot of time saved, everyday if you have a moderate or long commute.

My bike will do nearly 17 on battery power and leg power to hit 20.

By doing between 17 and 20 I save nearly an hour a day.

With four kids that's massive time saving . I don't have an hour to fritter !

True, but the late Kirstin has two possible meanings.
.

 

[anotherkiwi]

I ride a lot on the open road. My average speed is 26.7 km/h with cutoff set to 25 km/h. The motor helps climb at between 16 and 19 km/h with a bit of effort from me. Then it is all downhill at between 35 and 55 km/h and no assistance.

One day soon I will try out this "flat land" of which you all often speak. My guess is that I will average about 25 km/h.

For the mean time I am still unrestricted so out there around town in the middle lane with the cars at 45 km/h. bmsbattery packaged my stuff on the 4th and shipped on the 10th, wtf!?... When are we going to start making stuff in the EU again?

 

[Deleted member 4366]

V-brakes.... good performance.

Hmmm! Sounds like a bit of a contradiction to me.

 

[LeighPing]

V-brakes.... good performance.

Hmmm! Sounds like a bit of a contradiction to me.

A week ago, I'd have agreed with that statement. Then, based on user reviews, I fitted these. Click, click.



So far, so good. They've performed well in both wet and dry conditions. They're 72mm, as opposed to the standard 70mm. They stop the bike effectively without squealing, even when having to stop, static on steep downhill, cross country gradients.

They'll never be disc brakes. But, if you have to change your v-brake blocks, I'd consider these as a worthy mini-upgrade.

You can skimp on a lot of things with any vehicle. Skimping on brakes is not the best idea, and I'd happily use these on one of Eddie's alpine downhill routes. Because they do a good job in stopping the bike at every speed I've managed to throw at them so far. 28mph being the highest. No complaints here.

 

[anotherkiwi]

Hydraulic V-brakes are very good. Good enough to do fully controlled stoppies. I have seen cheap mechanical disks fail that badly.

I think 60+ year old men doing stoppies scare drivers a lot more than spotty faced teens doing the same do "Ooops sorry sir I just pulled into this roundabout in front of you causing you to do a stoppy, are you OK it looked scary..."

 

[Crockers]

V-brakes.... good performance.

Hmmm! Sounds like a bit of a contradiction to me.

Good performance is all relative......or so my wife tells me.

 

[VictoryV]

Good performance is all relative......or so my wife tells me.

Which relative? I'd be asking

 

[RobF]

Reasonable and higher quality V brakes, properly set up, work a treat.

I prefer hydraulic discs, but only because they require almost no maintenance.

 

[danielrlee]

^+1

Even cable actuated V-brakes can give fantastic stopping performance.... until the wheel rim gets wet.

I too favour hydraulic discs for reasons pointed out above. Add to this some strong DD regen and it doesn't get much better.

 

[Deleted member 4366]

I love these discussions.

Rim brakes are great under some circumstances - mainly light riders/bikes at low speed. I have Shimano Ultegra rim brakes on my road bike. They're probably the best rim brakes I've ever used. Go for a ride around the block on that bike and anybody would agree that they're fantastic; however, going down a hill at 40 mph and a pedestrian steps out on you, and it's a completely different matter - as I found out the other day.

I went straight over the handlebars on one brand new bike when I applied the rim brakes. Does that mean that they have good performance? In case you're wondering, it was because the back brake was on the right, which I didn't know.

All I say is that you should fit hydraulic disc brakes to your bike, try them for 1000 miles or so, and then see if you want to change back to anything else. I've never met anybody that did want to change back.

On my electric bike, the Shimano hydraulics work perfectly after 4000 miles. I've never even looked at them in that time - no adjustment, no pads, no cables, no cleaning. Nothing! Just like your car.

The main thing with hydraulic discs is the modulation (control) you get with them that I've never experienced with any other type of brake.