It really depends on the type of trails in your area and the style of
riding that you do.
I have a Magura brake on my Coker and I love it and use it lots. It is
so nice to be able to put a little drag on the wheel when doing downhill
on a Coker. It helps maintain control and it can save your legs if
you've got lots of downhill to do. I don't *need* the brake on my
Coker, but it sure is nice to have.
I don't have a brake on my muni and I hardly ever miss it. Well
actually I do have a brake for it, but the brake is sitting in the parts
closet. I prefer not to have it installed.
On a muni there are two situations where a brake is handy or necessary:
downhill assist to save your legs and technical areas on the trail where
a brake makes a section of trail possible. I have run in to very very
few places where a brake was necessary for a section of trail due to the
technical features of the trail. But that depends on where you ride.
Around my area there are very few places where a brake is necessary to
ride a section of trail. If I was riding the Vancouver North Shore
regularly I would certainly install a brake. But I don't ride those
types of steep technical trails often (hardly at all) so I've rarely
found a need for the brake.
At the California Muni Weekend two years ago we rode the Downieville
trail. It's a long downhill trail. The people with a brake were
walking normally the next day. The people without a brake were
generally sore and walking funny the next day. A brake would have been
nice there, but it wasn't necessary to be able to do the ride.
I went riding with Jagur in Falls City. There are two areas on the
trail there where a brake is a very good thing. One place is a steep
downhill with a two or three foot drop at the top. You can ride the
downhill without a brake if you don't take the drop. If you take the
drop you need the brake because the momentum from the drop will get you
going too fast on the downhill to be able to control. If you do the
drop you have to apply the brake immediately when you land and then
still pedal madly to keep up with the uni. But those situations don't
come up very often for me. Not often enough for me to bother with a
brake.
A brake comes with it's set of problems.
- A little bit of extra weight
- More maintenance to keep the brake working
- Needing to keep the wheel perfectly trued so it doesn't rub the brake
pads
- The risk of breaking the brake lever
The brake lever is somewhat exposed and if the uni falls just right it
can break the brake lever off. You can adjust things so that the front
of the seat hits the ground first and protects the brake lever. But
that only works on smooth ground. Often you don't drop the muni on the
smooth parts of the trail If the trail is rocky or rooty or otherwise
uneven it is possible for the brake lever to hit a rock or a root and
break off. If you use the brake regularly then it's worth the risk. If
you rarely use the brake then I don't find it worth the risk of breaking
the brake lever.
You can actually ride quite steep stuff without a brake. You just have
to take it slow. It's when the steep downhill bits get technical that
the brake becomes needed. And when it gets really really steep a brake
is needed.
At the muni weekends some of the people with a brake are looking for
places to ride that require a brake. Often those opportunities are
off-trail. For example they'll find a steep rock face and try to ride
down. If that's your game then you're going to need a brake. The
off-trail opportunities like that are usually more extreme than the
on-trail opportunities.
So it really depends on where you ride. You can always add the brake
later. No need to get it right off the bat. Try riding without the
brake and see how it goes. If you're riding stuff where you can't
maintain control on the downhill bits then get the brake.
--
john_childs - Guinness Mojo
john_childs (att) hotmail (dott) com
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\"otherwise we'd just sit around a table and try to agree on what the
fastest time for a 1 hour time trial should be.\" -- john_childs
demonstrating a deep understanding of time
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