SURESTOP SLIDEPAD UPGRADE

SURESTOP SLIDEPAD UPGRADE

Their marketing/product material touts the line that they're a pure, unequivocal upgrade over conventional systems, which is not correct because they reduce the overall amount of braking power available.Īnother safety drawback, especially for novice or fearful users that might be most drawn to the system, is that not adjusting the rear brake's barrel adjuster as the rear pads wear will create a situation where the entire bike has inadequate or no brakes much faster than in a conventional two-lever setup. They are adequately powerful for most purposes when set up correctly. Maximum braking power is decreased compared to a normal system owing to the aforementioned one-size-fits-all design assumptions, which have to be conservative for the system to do its thing, which in the scheme of things probably makes them less safe for most people, not more.

Movement between the two generates the cable movement, same as a brake lever.) Some assumptions are built-in about weight distribution and total weight on the bike, and the manufacturer chose a distance for the slidey bit that will keep the front brake from ever being able to lock if those assumptions are correct. (The head of the cable is in the moving pad, and the stop for its housing is a stationary part of the pad. One of the rear pads has a spring-loaded sliding mechanism where forward momentum captured from the back wheel when braking causes it to slide forward and actuate a cable going to the front brake, which is controlled only in this manner. You've got a brake lever and a rear brake both with typical mechanical advantage characteristics.

Because the front and rear brakes are linked in SureStop, it's unclear to me how they are 'separate.' How do they do this? It appears to be more complex than a dual-cable brake lever - i.e., there seems to be some fore-aft balancing magic that's going on.īonus question: If the rear pad loses traction against the wheel (for example: it wears down to its nubbins, slips off the rim, or the rear brake cable breaks), does the user lose all braking - front and rear? Does this then violate the redundant brake regulation in bicycle consumer sales laws?įor example, Japan's JIS 9301:2010 regulations requires 'separate braking systems operating on the front and rear wheels respectively' and SureStop says that they are compliant with this standard. They say their technology can prevent end-overs as well as skid-outs. They seem to be mainly appealing to the safety / children / new bike owner's market. There's a new braking system put out by a company named SureStop that controls both front and rear cantilever (side-pull) brake systems with a single brake lever.

Surestop slidepad