Drum brakes

[mattsccm]

New topic for me. Drum brakes on a tourer/roughstuff bike. Compare and contrast for me, especially weight and stopping power compared with rim and disc brakes.
Dynamos not a concern.

[thirdcrank]

I've two bikes with Sachs AKA SRAM front drum brakes. One has a Sachs 7 speed hubgear combined with a drum brake and the other has a Shimano Nexus coaster brake.

The only benefit of the drum brakes is protection from the weather and muck. Indifferent stopping power when compared with dual pivot calipers or V brakes. I've no experience of disc brakes.

[byegad]

I use them on one of my recumbent trikes. Excellent power, modulation and weather proof. Wear rate so close to zero as to be effectively fit and forget.

[thirdcrank]

I use them on one of my recumbent trikes. Excellent power, modulation and weather proof. Wear rate so close to zero as to be effectively fit and forget.

Which make do you use?

[byegad]

Sturmey Archer. They came with the QNT and I've never regretted having them. My other trikes are running Avid BB7 discs and they are nice, but not as good as the SA drums in my opinion, for a start they squeal in the wet and take a revolution or two to bite in the wet! One started with BB5s which were naff to say the least, Changing to BB7s was a revelation! The other was 'upgraded to BB7s at point of purchase as I wouldn't touch BB5s again for a gold watch and pension. Given the choice all three would be using SA Drums if I could easily fit them.

[Brucey]

SA drums with alloy shells.

Weight; approx +300g vs a iight rim brake, i.e. about the same as a cable disc. In both drum and disc cases you might decide you can run a lighter rim.

Braking is perfectly adequate for most applications and maintenance is minimal. Power isn't as good as a well set-up disc brake, I would say. If the 70mm drum isn't enough, they do a 90mm version. Wet braking is brilliant, of course.

I am experimenting with improvements to the SA brake at present.

more in other drum brake thread...

cheers

[hubgearfreak]

The only benefit of the drum brakes is protection from the weather and muck.

i've not yet needed to replace a worn rim on a drum braked bike. nor do they get anywhere near as dirty

[thirdcrank]

Sturmey Archer. ...

That's interesting: a couple of people I know with Sturmey hub brakes also seem pleased. I can't remember all the details from when I bought mine but suppliers weren't thick on the ground. IIRC part of the problem was that Sturmey have a good reputation everywhere else but here.

When I bought mine. I got the Shimano coaster brake first on a complete bike. I found that to be excellent. I then built up a bike with the Sachs/SRAM drums F+R and didn't think they were brilliant. When I decided to put a hub brake on the front of the bike with the coaster brake, I tried to get something different but the SRAM was all I could source.

... i've not yet needed to replace a worn rim on a drum braked bike. nor do they get anywhere near as dirty

You are right and I should have mentioned that as well but it's all part of my protection from weather and muck comment.

Incidentally, reasonably priced disc brakes only became available after I had bought the drum brakes. had I been buying a couple of years later, I might have got them intead.

[byegad]

My QNT and Trail are tadpole recumbent trikes. The QNT is slightly longer in that the back wheel sticks out more behind my seat than the Trail's does.

QNT has SA drums, it has a rear disc parking brake and 2" Big Apple tyres. Trail has Avid BB7 mechanically pulled disc brakes, no rear brake and 1.5" Marathon plus tyres. The QNT is slightly heavier than the Trail, maybe 5lbs extra??

Both will lift the rear wheel under hard braking, to do this the QNT has to lift slightly more weight set slightly further back than the Trail. The seat height and seat back angle are the same for both trikes. Both pull up in distances comparable to that used by my car from a similar speed. Both sets of brakes offer more than enough feel and operate at similar hand pressure for similar deceleration.

IF I could choose the brakes for a future trike I'd go for the SA every time. They are weather proof, whereas the discs do get wet and so on wet days take a revolution or two to dry out before full braking kicks in. The drums on my QNT have covered nearly 8000 miles and the shoes look brand new, I'm hoping, at 61 to live long enough and ride far enough to actually wear them out. I wore out a pair of Avid BB5 pads in 1000 miles!!

[robc02]

As stated above, a few hundred grams weight penalty compared to lightweight rim brakes. Braking is good - maybe not as powerful as some disc sytems, but how many times over do you want to lock your wheels? Extremely reliable and consistent.

I have toured with camping gear on a bike with 70mm SA drums - it involved long descents in the Welsh mountains - and braking was fine (though I am quite light and my camping kit was fairly minimal). There's always the option of 90mm drums if you want more power.

They are also a good way to get further use out of nearly worn out rims from rim braked bikes!

Edit: Wheel removal involves disconnecting (front wheel) the reaction arm, or removing its clamp screw (rear wheel). If this is an issue, as it could be if you are commuting long distances on unlit roads, I am sure an improved method could be devised.

[[XAP]Bob]

I switched from drums to discs.

The only reason was that I knew I wanted to go to a dynamo hubs, and only Schmidt make a stub axle dynamo, and they only do a disc brake version.

[Russcoles]

I love my drum brakes. I use an old SA Elite VT front hub and an XRD5(w) rear. They are very low maintenance and are extremely powerful and reliable brakes. They are on 20" wheels so larger wheels may not have the same braking. What I love most about them is that no matter what the conditions they always work exactly the same.

[Brucey]

FYI the SA Elite VT is pretty much equivalent to the current model SA X-FD. The innards are virtually identical, just the hubshell casting is a slightly different shape. The Elite is (IIRC) a fraction lighter as a result.

Re. wheel removal; it is all finger-work apart from the track nuts and the reaction arm at the rear. Everything else just unhooks. It takes about 5s to unhook both parts of the brake cable from the hub; bearing this in mind, I routinely check my brakes are still connected (by simply pulling on the levers before I set off) if I have left my town bike parked up; you never know if someone has been fiddling with it or not....

cheers