Lets see your dual brake setups

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Quanah

Quanah

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I've been thinking about doing a double caliper brake setup on the front wheel for awhile now. One caliper on the front of the fork in it's normal position, and one behind the fork on the same stud. I remember seeing a picture here on RRB's of someone who had put 2 caliper brakes on the rear, but can't seem to locate it now, wish I could find it! I want to run one brake lever to actuate both brakes. Has anyone made a dual cable puller like Problem Solvers? They are rather pricey. I suppose 2 V-brakes or 2 cantilevers also wouldn't be out of the question. Would really like to see some pics!
 
Found this pic, for a Sears Screamer. One of the calipers would have been for a parking brake. I would like to run 2 caliper, (side pull), brakes on the front wheel. Has anyone had good luck with a lever that pulls 2 cables?

 
Thanks Blown240. I have been looking at that one...it looks better than some I have seen. Budgetwise, that is the way to go. I would really like to use this Problem Solvers gizmo, but it is expensive.

 
Interesting. Since a caliper front brake sometimes is not strong enough for a motorized bicycle, I was considering using the Sears dual caliper idea for my from front brake. Great minds think alike.
 
Well wheelbender6, this is the setup I plan to use on the front of a motorized boardtrack bike build. My project is in it's infancy now, still working out all the details in my head. These brakes are awfully weak, especially if you are used to V-brakes...but if you use 2 of them they should be adequate I am thinking. Somewhere on this site is a pic of dual rear calipers on a build, but my searching has not come up with it yet. :(
 
That Sunlite lever is ghastly looking. Paul makes a much nicer one: http://www.paulcomp.com/duplexlever.html
Adapters for one into two cables were common on motorcycles with double sided drum brakes. These also worked as a cable tension balancer.
The problem solvers piece is a copy of a standard one cable into two made for motorcycle throttles.
 
That one that Pauls has is beautiful c.p.odom, but would look out of place on a boardtracker...way too high tech.
 
If you take a look at the parking brake cables on cars (especially hot rods) you will find a lot of one into two cable systems with adjusters and compensators. Something similar can be created.
 
Thanks c.p.odom, I can fabricate something like that on the BSA. Never saw anything like that before...don't really remember seeing any drum brakes with brake arms on each side... 2 on one side , pretty common. Thanks again for the article.
 
If you are using two caliper brakes, you could maybe use a cable yoke that connects the two sides of a cantilever brake, like the early mountain bikes. If the cable attaches to each caliper brake on opposite sides of the front wheel, the yoke (cross over cable between the two brakes) allows you to activate both both front brakes with only one lever. Worth a try.
 
One time, I installed 2 disc brakes on the front of a bike. I used two brake levers. The lever on the left side of the handle bars was connected to the disc caliper on the left. The lever on the right side of the handlebars was connected to the right side caliper. The rear brake was a coaster brake so it didn't need a lever.

I used a rear disk brake hub on that front wheel. You don't need the lock ring on the left side of the bike for the brake disc so that worked out. I had to use the lock ring on the right side as the disc would have spun off the threads.

Two discs and the coaster gave me beaucoup stopping power!

rick
 
Quanah;

Double sided drums were a standard performance item on fast road bikes (motorcycle) before the advent of disc brakes. The came a two leading shoe, four leading shoe, and in rare cases eight leading shoe. With all that they had the lever and cables all worked out.
 
wheelbender6 The caliper that mounts behind the fork will be backwards, so the cables would be on opposite sides. I'm likin' the looks of that BSA setup. Boardtrackers had no brakes, but I can't hardly get by with that, nor would I want to. They didn't have a throttle either, only a kill switch to slow down. Those guys were TOUGH!
 
Here is the brake lever double cable-compensator and double sided drum brake on my own Triumph Cafe Racer:

 
Terry cable used to make a cable splitter, a 1 into 2 affair I have used in the way way back history of trying to lose weight on a bmx.

Also tried a gyro to 2 caliper brakes once, it worked but always flip flopped when the bars were turned. Maybe more fine tuning could have been done.
 
I remember when the 2 stroke Kawasaki triples had the dual front drum brakes like that. I bet it was fun to do a brake job on one.
 
My bike (now sold) started life as a 1972 Triumph 500 Daytona that belonged to a good friend. The bike had already been restored as a 1967 which was better looking. The friend had a hot engine in it that blew, he bought a fortune in parts for it and asked to use my shop to put it together. He quickly gave up and said I could have the bike. The next day I had it together and running, then I had to learn how to ride it.
Later I rebuilt it as a Cafe Racer with loads of custom parts and work. The four leading shoe front drum brake is from a 1972 Suzuki GT750 (heavily modified). The forks are heavily modified Moto Guzzi.
 

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