Parking Brake

[floridabike]

Now that I have a two legged kickstand I want to make sure that the front wheel doesn't swing around so I added a parking brake. The bracket just swings down and locks the front wheel in place. All aluminum with double stick tape and tie wraps to hold in place. Also brazed a couple more nipples on the front fork for the brakes. Makes it easier to switch from 26" to the 700C wheels.

 

[kenhardwick]

Phil,
Great concept on the parking brake. Keep us updated on how it holds up, any issues you encounter and any modifications you make.

 

[Charles.Plager]

They used to sell these

They used to sell these things called flickstands, but I haven't seen one for sale in years: Looks very similar to what you have (and I really liked my flicstand - I even tried to buy my old one off my dad, but he wouldn't sell it to me. ).

Very clever as far as brazing on additional brake mounts. (I know nothing about brazing How secure are they?

Nice pictures, too.

Cheers,
Charles

 

[Jerrye]

Brazing

Brazing is like soldering, using brass rod instead of lead or tin. It is done at higher temps, normally with an oxy/acetylene torch, as brass has a higher melt point. Very strong method of joining metals. Not as strong as welding, but still good. In a former life I used to braze hydraulic fittings that would stand up to 6000PSI dynamic pressures in hose assemblies. The secret is to get your work as hot as possible before touching the rod to it. When done properly, the rod will flow smoothly into the joint, completely filling it.

I too like your brake idea. How stable is it with mounting it using tape & tie wraps?

BTW floridabike, I see you're just across the Bay from me. Need to meet for coffee sometime...

 

[floridabike]

Brazing

I probably over-built the parking brake, especially after seeing the Flickstand. After seeing that one I can remember seeing them many years ago. I have mine setup so that it actually applies pressure to the tire, kind of locks it into place but not sure that is necessary. I also put larger pads on the two legged kick-stand as we have lots of sand here in Florida.

I'm no expert on brazing but I do like it for these thin wall materials. It flows nice and spreads the contact over a larger area that I believe can be stonger than welding. I have a Meg welder but I like brazing better for this application. I bought this light weight steel fork to duplicate the fork on the Softrider. I also brazed the hangers and brackets on the fork for the conversion kit. I have been on some pretty rough trails and it's held up so far. No front suspension but removed a lot of weight and the fat tires helps some.

Jerrye, you must be somewhere near St. Pete. I want to ride the sidewalk or trail that goes up toward the Skyway bridge. Just need a day without so much wind.

Phil

 

[Jerrye]

Location

Phil,

Not near St Pete. In Clearwater, just across the Bay from Tampa International Airport. There is a trail (Pinellas Trail) that runs the entire length of Pinellas County N-S. It starts in south St Pete and runs through Seminole and points north. There is also the Progress Energy Trail, which runs through my neighborhood and connects with Pinellas Trail further north. There are many biking opportunities in Pinellas, but also many accidents. Part of living in the most densely populated county in Florida, I guess.

If you get over this way, drop me a line first so that we can see about meeting up!

Jerry

 

[kenhardwick]

Alternative Parking Brake

Tried using a 24 in "Gear Tie" as parking brake on my Silvio...works pretty good..These Reusable Rubber Twist Ties come in multi length and are great for many uses. Just do a search on "Gear Tie" to find them on the internet.

 

[Charles.Plager]

Hi Ken,
That's actually quite

Hi Ken,

That's actually quite cute. Just make sure it doesn't go in the wheel when you're riding...

Cheers,
Charles

 

[kenhardwick]

Parking Braked-tied up

Charles...fully agreed...I can tie and untie with one hand while holding bike with other hand...used the green one to show up in pictures but have some black ones I can use that wouldn't be soooooo visible...

 

[floridabike]

Color is good

Color is good, people will ask, 'what's that for'? Mine was more effort to create but easy to just flip down and after a couple of days it's working well. Maybe I should paint it white and it will look like part of the frame.

Phil

 

[baov]

Hi Phil,
Wanna go a bit off

Hi Phil,
Wanna go a bit off topic here but what did you braze on to make the tab where the chainstays attach to the fork? Did you cut the part off the steel brackets that they include in the kit? Or did you just fashion it from some piece of steel? Can i have the blueprint?

 

[Kanlan]

I have been riding some sort of CruzBike for many years now. The most cost efficient and easy to operate front parking brake is a 3/4" slice of inner tube, like a heavy duty wide rubber band applying the front brake lever. I keep 3 or 4 bands on the handle bars incase one fails or a fellow rider needs one.

 

[floridabike]

Cro-Moly Fork

I don't have any blue-prints but here are a couple of pictures. I purchased a cro-moly steel fork and spread the legs and brazed the tabs and then bolted on the hanger. The hanger could also be brazed on but I was just experimenting so this is what I ended up with and it works very well and very light. I just used flat steel, about 3.5 mm thick. If you need more pictures or measurements, please let me know.

Phil

 

[baov]

Thanks for the pics. I'll go

Thanks for the pics. I'll go ask my bikeshop if they do brazing.
For the fork, going with a fatbike fork with 135mm dropout spacing would avoid the whole spreading step that makes me nervous.

 

[Charles.Plager]

Thanks for the pics. I'll go

Thanks for the pics. I'll go ask my bikeshop if they do brazing.
For the fork, going with a fatbike fork with 135mm dropout spacing would avoid the whole spreading step that makes me nervous.

It also means you could get a fork with disc brake braze-ons and have disc brakes.

FloridaBike and Baov, I'd love more info and pictures on what you have done (or will do)!

 

[baov]

Indeed it would allow me to

Indeed it would allow me to use disc brakes.
Unfortunatly for me, i had other plans initially and had a sturmey-archer 8 speed IGH with drum brake laced up. So that's 400$ down the drain.
Now i'm gonna have to get another IGH and lace another rim.

EDIT: While we're at it, could anyone with a sofrider show me what the original sofrider dropout looks like (with wheel removed), that would be really helpful.