Brake question:

I have a brake on one of my unicycles (the KH24). It uses the KH
saddle. The seatpost has a brake mounting bracket on which the brake is
mounted.

With my hand on the front handle of the saddle I've positioned the brake
lever such that I can easily reach the lever with my middle finger.
Usually this is enough. I don't normally use a whole lot of braking
power -- just enough to take the edge of long downhill stuff.

When I need more braking that I can obtain with the single finger i
grasp the handle more from the side and then I can get several fingers
around the brake lever. Unfortunately this compromises my grip on the
handle.

I've seen other riders use a brake lever extender. This allows two or
three finger control of the lever without requiring an unusual hand
position on the handle.

-mg

--
mgrant - Ever hoping for the best!

The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older, shorter of
breath, and one day closer to death.
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Hey,

I've only been at this a little less than 6 months, so consider these
comments in this light.

The rail adapter/extension on a KH 24 (and oher models) lets you place
the brake handle just below and slightly back of the front seat guard.
With your hand pulling up on the guard with index and middle fingers,
your ring finger and pinky can easily feather the brake handle just
below, especially if you've attached a brake handle extension (10 bucks
from Unichycle.com) that gives you a "T" configuration handle, which is
much easier to grab and feather.

On steep, technical stuff involving rocks and hops, the brake is often a
liability--if you change pressure in mid-air, the moment you land you'll
either face plant (too much prssure) or the MUni will run away with you
(too little pressure).

In short, applying even pressure on rugged terrain is hard, though not
impossible. It takes time to figure out how to fluidly work the brake
over big bumps, drops and hops, and it's often easier just to brake with
your legs (by back presuring the upstroke). I rarely use the brake wen
the terrain gets jagged.

With experience, hoping from and onto flat planes is fairly easy, but
once you're hoping from and onto slanting planes, everything gets much
harder. Sometimes when I practice on the rock jetty near my house, I
can use the brake to lock the wheel on certain hops that are grim to
stick owing to the step plane. This might be a valuable technique, but
I'm too new to it to know for sure. It seems to hold some promise when
really steep, oblique angles are encountered.

For my money, the brake is indispensibe in three areas. One, on long,
super steep dirt single tracks; two, on relatively smooth steep rock
slabs; and three, on long stretches of steep but easy terrain that
otherwise blow your legs out. Doing these sections without the brake is
also crucial -- just to know how to do them. But on long, hard MUni
rides, you can blow yourself out on the first few miles (without a
brake), and you're too tired to really cut loose on the technical bits
below. I've found his to be the case on some of the long Santa Barbara
rides. By the end, I'm just trying to survive, as opposed to taking
harder lines and trying challenging variations. But then again, I'm
old.

Lastly, keep your rim true, or else the brake will grab when the rim
wobbles. Not good.

JL

--
vivalargo
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I have kh24. in the seat post you have standard place for putting the
brake. to put the lever closer to the hand I use brake lever extension.
and it works great for me. I saw some people riding without brake lever
extension but for me it didn't work because it was too difficult to grab
the brake lever. and I cannot imagine riding without brake.

1. very very steep heels. when you are braking using the legs you can
brake only in two positions when the pedals are in horizontal position
or very close. so you have a very little time to brake and you are
putting a lot of pressure at one moment on the pedals and the tire can
slip and you fall. when I use brake I can do more steep heels that
without.

2. on very long heels. after couple minutes riding down when is very
steep I don't feel legs 🙂 so when I use the brake I don't have to pedal
so hard.

3. sometimes when I am very tied and I am riding fast I have to stop
immediately (somebody on the pavement) I cannot stop doing it with my
legs so I use brake for a moment and I know that I can stop in all
circumstances.

--
jorkee - Unicycling is great
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brakes are simple. you dont squeeze the brake while hopping, or else you
will die. and when going down the hill you just lean back a little bit.
the problem with the levers is that there are not enough products to
make squeezing the lever more comfortable. so people always have to
fabricate their own devices all the time. its just like air seats, we
have to put a bike tube in a sock or what ever (so redneck, but works we
will have products in the future that will already be built and ment for
its purpose (like a sock goes on your foot, and a bike tube goes in a
tire) i cant wait for the future of unicycling

--
dubmuni2004 - hardcore DH Muni

"i was hoping i hade good medical insurance" - my mom to tv iterveiwer

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