Behind the fork V-brake fittings

pedalpower

Looking at the Thorn expedition bikes they put the front V-brake behind the fork to reduce flexing. This seems to make some sense to me. Is there a reason why it's normally the other way around? Is this potentially dangerous? - could the brakes somehow slip and jam in the forks and lock the front wheel up? I don't really see how...

Brian NZ

We have a Thorn tandem and have done 1000s km on her fully loaded.(Camping cooking gear etc)We have never had an issue with the brakes at all, front or rear.

Take care Brian

andymiller

pedalpower wrote:

Is there a reason why it's normally the other way around?

I think it's called fixing something that isn't broken. Six of one and half a dozen of the otehr. The bike businesss would be pretty dull if it wasn't for small maverick companies.

gert_lush

My mates just a thorn tandem with aforementioned brake set up, I think its meant to reduce the small vibrations that make the brakes sqeal as well. However his brakes sqeal louder than eny bike I have heard in my life, it actually makes you jump when he puts the brakes on!

amaferanga

gert_lush wrote:

My mates just a thorn tandem with aforementioned brake set up, I think its meant to reduce the small vibrations that make the brakes sqeal as well. However his brakes sqeal louder than eny bike I have heard in my life, it actually makes you jump when he puts the brakes on!

Probably due to all the spacers Thorn insist on using

ralex

amaferanga wrote:

gert_lush wrote:

!

Probably due to all the spacers Thorn insist on using

The reason Thorn bikes often seem to have a lot of spacers is because they supply the bikes with the steerer tubes uncut so that the owner can take some time to get the best and most comfortable bar height set up. Once happy, the steerer tube can be cut to whatever length is required and the number of spacers reduced to suit.
Possibly many owners never get round to cutting the tube down to size. Or maybe they want to retain the option of raising the bars upwards at some point in the future, something that can't be done with most bikes from other manufacturers.

Special K

I have a Thorn Nomad with this kind of brake arrangement.

It's absolutely fine, and can't say it makes much difference, but then I don't really notice it anymore. It does look slightly more suitable for the bike, I like the design and it's proved very durable. The initial brake squealing died down after a few weeks and it's been faultless since. I can definitely recommend Thorn as a brand and business - they look after you and build excellent bikes that are more than fit for purpose.

amaferanga

ralex wrote:

amaferanga wrote:

gert_lush wrote:

!

Probably due to all the spacers Thorn insist on using

The reason Thorn bikes often seem to have a lot of spacers is because they supply the bikes with the steerer tubes uncut so that the owner can take some time to get the best and most comfortable bar height set up. Once happy, the steerer tube can be cut to whatever length is required and the number of spacers reduced to suit.
Possibly many owners never get round to cutting the tube down to size. Or maybe they want to retain the option of raising the bars upwards at some point in the future, something that can't be done with most bikes from other manufacturers.

Most bikes come with a few spacers and a bit of extra steerer tube. That's a good thing. But the reason for all the spacers on Thorns is that the headtubes are too short. You rarely see comparable bikes with anything like the number of spacers you see on a Thorn.

redvee

I had a pair of bosses brazed onto the back of a normal pair of canti forks so that I had 2 v-brakes on the forks. It did work to a certain extent, one brake would apply then the other would as the cable was pulled through the outer, they didn't apply together.