Upgrading the brakes part three....

Stopped into CycleSurgery today for a quick adjustment to the right hand side brake. The new disc brakes are now well bedded in, the parking brake engages and releases very well and the stopping power is very impressive! The low quality video below from my phone will give you some idea. It shows me traveling down hill with my six year old in the box (he is doing the filming). All up weight is about 155kg (341 pounds for the non-metric amongst you). My speed is about 25km/h (15.5mph) before I apply a full emergency stop just past the green wheelie bin you can see on the left side of the road.

And it because of stops like this the kids always wear the lap seat belt to stop them flying forward during sudden braking!

From three wheels to two!

Just back from holidays on the Sunshine Coast and the place we stayed now has 'Segway Safaris'! These are all-terrain Segways that go through the bush tracks and around the resort's lagoon beaches. Unfortunately they are not allowed on the surf beach as yet due to issues with Council regulations. You start off in 'turtle' mode where they are speed limited to about 9km an hour for use around the shared paths of the resort. At the end of the tour once you have mastered them they are taken off turtle mode in a large park and you can really fly - video below! An awesome way to get around but a bit hard on the lower calf muscles if you are not used to standing (and leaning!) for long periods.

Upgrading the brakes - part two

Well the upgrade is complete! First the new brake handle. Common on recumbent trikes apparently, this new handle is metal alloy with a push button park brake that is automatically released when you squeeze the handle hard. The park brake button is a bit hard for the weak little fingers on my left hand to push in but might loosen with a bit of use. If not it can be adjusted to make it a bit easier to engage. The following two photos show the handle with the park brake button disengaged and engaged -

The other good feature of this handle is that it directly controls both brake cables so no need for a splitter box anymore -

The new Avid BB7s can be adjusted very easily by the red knobs seen below or you can use special allen keys (supplied) if you are unable to fit your fingers through the spokes in the wheel or require a bit more leverage -

The fitting of the Avid's required some drilling into the frame to reverse one of the existing brake mounts. A quick check with Andrew, who recently put Avids on his Christiania, confirmed that the drilling was necessary on his also - thanks for the quick advice there Andrew!

The stopping power is very good! With a bit of riding around Simon's shop to test them, plus the ride home and for school pickup (about 10km all up in pouring rain at times!) I found they bedded in quite quickly. The right wheel may have bedded in before the left at it now locks up quite dramatically when stopping at speed. I'll ride for a bit more to see if the left one follows suit before undertaking any adjustments.

All up a very worthwhile upgrade to the trike! Thanks to Simon for doing the hard yards installing them.