return of the rim brake

Am I missing something? They look just like normal discs brakes, but rather than the rotor bolting to the hub they're attached to the outside of the wheel.

Modulation will not be any better, as this can be factored into the desoign of any brake. Braking 'power' would be more for a given input though due to increased rotor size.

I can't see it happening as current brakes are plenty powerful enough, and putting more steel away from the axle is not a good idea.

arent mgura hs33 essentially disc brakes which use the rim of the wheel as a rotor?

if so, theyve been round since forever.

sheepsteeth wrote:

arent mgura hs33 essentially disc brakes which use the rim of the wheel as a rotor?

if so, theyve been round since forever.

Could say the same about canti brakes too!

I have Magura HS33s on my rigid HT, they work exceptionally well, plus there's dozens of pad compounds to choose from too..

I was just going to say that, damn it.

I thought this comment on the Suzuki was very apt.


Fantastic, but Vinnie of the bikermice from mars already had that bike in the early 90s?

It's an ancient idea that didn't take off on MTBs for a number of reasons:

1. The rotors would weigh a ton since they would have a circumference of over two metres on a 26 inch wheel! This is almost four times the circumference of eight inch DH rotors therefore would weigh approx four times as much. And it would be rotating weight as well!

2. The power on normal hydro brakes is more than powerful enough. There is no need to triple the max braking power by increasing the leverage. All this would do is compress the modulation curve, leading to really grabby brakes.

3. The rotors would get absolutely ruined very quickly. Remember how often you pick that wheel width gap in the rocks and then imagine how often you would smash the rotors.

4. The caliper would be mounted high up the fork meaning that the rotational force on the fork leg between axle and fork mount would be massive. This would mean a requirement for stiffer fork legs and large forwards bending forces would occur on the fork near the area where the stanchions overlap with the lowers.

5. The rotors would get a lot more wet and muddy being much closer to the ground, one of the main reasons they are better than rim brakes!

On a motorbike these aren't such large problems because:

1. The forks are only short travel on road bikes and can be much heavier and wider.

2. Weight isn't such a massive penalty on a super powerful motorbike.

3. You don't get many rocks and tree stumps on the road.

4. It takes many times more power to stop a massive bike at 160 mph compared to an MTB travelling at 40 mph, so there is no need for such an overkill solution to move over to an area where there is already an excellent solution.

That is all.

To be fair though, it's not as if their off-roader is a bona-fide trail machine. It's more at the occaisional dirt track / gravel / fire-road / muddy field at a big biking event direction.

Still, they are brilliant brakes (and very good bikes too!)

RTW-Chaz wrote:

To be fair though, it's not as if their off-roader is a bona-fide trail machine. It's more at the occaisional dirt track / gravel / fire-road / muddy field at a big biking event direction.)

Or to put it another way, nothing a Lightning can't do anyway