Hey Michael, curious what brand tandem you own. I have a 2007 Commotion Speedster with Avid 7 V brake on front and disk on rear. I changed the read disk from BB7 to SPYRE. I also changed out the STI levers (terrible braking) with bar end shifters and TRP brake levers. That certainly improved the braking but still far from what I would call really good. I use the tandem for loaded touring and coming down mountains can be problematic. I've been researching better braking options but haven't come across any yet. Thanks Bill
On Friday, August 26, 2016 at 3:36:30 PM UTC-4, Michael Hechmer wrote: > > I have the neo retros on two singles and the tandem and have always had > good performance from them. If you look at Paul's setup instructions they > do not say to put the yoke as hi as possible. From memory they say > something like 5". I am not a physicist but I believe the optimal force on > the lever comes at 90 degrees. Obviously the angle changes as the arm > moves upward so it is not possible to do this consistently (except with the > Rodriguez Big Squeeze Brakes). Therefore lower profile brakes generally > require lower hangers than hi profile ones. > > My, admittedly limited, personal experience has been that poor braking > performance is more likely to come from a mismatch between the lever and > the brake as it is the cable angle and the brake. Years ago I had SIS > levers and Shimano low profile (550BR??) and the braking was scary. I > switched to Tectro levers and the braking improvement was big. Then I > switched to Paul's and the braking was terrific. > > What levers are you using? > > I would also strongly suggest you contact Paul's directly. I have always > found them to be very helpful. > > Michael > > On Wednesday, August 24, 2016 at 8:31:51 PM UTC-4, Bill Lindsay wrote: >> >> "Per my education, the Neo-Retro needs the cable yoke to be as high as >> possible" >> >> You were educated incorrectly, or made the wrong conclusion from your >> education. The Mechanical Advantage (MA) of wide profile cantilever brakes >> like the Paul Neo-Retro is mathematically pretty FLAT as a function of yoke >> height. It doesn't matter much how high you make the yoke with wide >> profile cantilevers. Your description of not having enough power, and not >> being able to stop the bike with the front brake means you have TOO LITTLE >> Mechanical Advantage. Even though the MA of your front brake is >> comparatively flat, the higher the yoke is, the less MA you have. If you >> want to see how much more Mechanical Advantage is available to you, lower >> the yoke height as low as you feel comfortable lowering it. >> Mathematically, it won't make a huge of difference, but it will be more >> Mechanical Advantage, and that might feel great to you. If you try it with >> the yoke low, and still don't feel like you have enough power, then a >> narrower profile brake like the Touring Cantilever, has far more range of >> MA vs yoke height. >> >> Bill Lindsay >> El Cerrito, CA >> >> >> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
