Too many BMX racers nowadays appear to share the sentiments of famous race car designer Ettore Bugatti, who is reported to have said, "I build my cars to go, not to stop!" when questioned about the near-deadly lack of braking ability in his Grand Prix racers. Old Ettore didn't realize that sometimes braking wins races too. You're not making that mistake, though, are you? You've got a well-adjusted rear caliper set that stops you in under twenty feet, plus a front set ready to pop on for fast downhill tracks, right? Bet you've won a lot of races cutting under somebody in the last turn... haven't you? Nah, I didn't think so. Let's fix that.
Many racers believe that you need a particular brand or style of brake to stop fast, the more expensive and rare the better. They probably never saw my old Schwinn scooter, which used Chang Star sidepull calipers working on mag wheels yet still could pop near-vertical endos from high speeds through a Potts Mod. The cheesiest of brake sets will do very well if properly set up and maintained.
Let's assume you don't have some whacked old Chinese brake. Let's say you've got a good sidepull. It doesn't matter what brand. Will it lock the rear tire at all speeds on dry pavement? If not, take it apart right now. Throw away the cable set you've got. It's no good. Go to a good bike store and buy thick Weinmann cable or the equivalent. Then pay that bike store to reassemble your brake and let you watch. A good shop will grease, not oil, the pivot points and make sure everything is really tight. Then they'll use a cone wrench to align the brake. Buy that cone wrench. Just by using it to make sure your brake pads are always the same distance from the wheel, you'll improve a hundred percent. Use the Y-box wrench you also bought (It's only four bucks!) to take your brake pads off every fifth day you ride the bike. Sandpaper the oil and dirt off the pads. If you don't have sandpaper, rub the pads against the sidewalk. Then clean your rims. I know your rear wheel is true, so adjust your pads to 1/8" distance from the rims. You've fixed your brakes.
But what if you've got a Pitbull? Are you experiencing the major improvement in braking power you expected? If not, here are a few tips. Pitbulls need to be centered precisely. Luckily, they stay centered once you do it right. Loosen the main bolt a little and move the brake from left to right until it's as close to perfect as you can get it. Then hold it there and tighten the main bolt down hard. Don't forget to regularly grease the cam guide, which is the shiny thing in the middle. In addition, the mechanical-advantage design of the Pitbull demands the strongest cable possible in order to maximize its power. Your local bike shop will probably have extra-strength standard-size cable for tandem and other harsh applications. Use that cable in lieu of the standard one.
Pitbulls are as close to the perfect no-adjust, high-power brake as we've yet come in this sport, but there are two definite opportunities for improvement in the way you use yours. Steve Veltman did the world a great service when he introduced the Pozi-Stop, and it's impossible to get the most out of a 'Bull without one. The variety of Pozi-Stop imitations has increased to the point where it's hard not to find one that suits your frame perfectly. I know you don't want to replace "Lucky," the bashed Tuf-Neck clamp that took you to the Grands in '82. But you should. Okay?
Standard racetrack wisdom says that Pitbulls don't give much return force to the brake lever. "Ride one of them Pitbulls," the old locals say, "and your lever is all mushy." This is by deliberate design. Your braking energy doesn't go to overcome a spring---it works to stop you. We old-timers like brake feel, though, and here's how to get it. Run out to your hardware store and buy a long, spiral spring. Place the spring between your Pozi-Stop and Pitbull and run the cable through it. That will provide artificial spring resistance when you brake and will more closely duplicate the feel of a sidepull. Plus, it looks def, or fresh, or hype, or whatever. Using a spring-loaded lever will help as well.
Pitbull owners still have to scrub their brake pads like the rest of us, or their braking power will fade away. Follow the above recommendations, however, and you'll be Supercrossing into the turns, back wheel in full lock.
Okay, that's it for the rear brake. Let's move forward. "But I don't have a front brake," you say. "Nobody I know has a front brake." As Monie Love says, "it's a shame." Nothing, repeat, nothing adds more options to your personal race plan than using a front brake. It permits you to modulate your braking entering a turn and effectively block anyone behind you. Front brakes can be used to shift your balance onto your front wheel when you truly could use the extra traction. Plus, a front brake is a backup. In 1987 I had the cable in my MX-901 snap on the starting gate for the state championship quarter. What followed was a real wild ride, and some BMX action the wrecked rider I had to bunnyhop will never forget. A front brake would have let me win, instead of merely placing, simply by being a reserve source of stopping power.
As BMX moves away from the lightning-fast downhill tracks that once dominated the West Coast scene and towards more and more "U-in-a-U" layouts, front brakes diminish in usefulness. It's hard to make a rider understand the need to stop quickly when all he remembers from his last race is struggling to keep up with the pack and make it over the hills. However, more Pro riders are learning the art of the front brake from their dalliances with mountain biking, and perhaps someday soon their influence will lead a triumphant return of left brake levers to the bars of America's youth. And it will not be a moment too soon when it does.
A certain number of riders are slowing down with something entirely different from what's been covered above. Drum brakes and band brakes appeared on the scene twenty years ago and have yet to truly bow out. The disadvantages of in-hub drum or band brakes include complexity, cost, the necessity of frequent maintenance, and an absolute "dead stick" feel to the lever; the advantage is braking so powerful it'll rip the spokes outta rims.
Drum brakes are dying out in the sport even as cantilevers become more popular daily. There appears to be no truly compelling reason to use cantilevers save for a significant reduction in weight. I also have doubts about how fun it would be to have a cantilever arm poke you in the eye. I'm willing to be convinced, however.
The brake that almost killed cantilevers in mountain biking, the U-brake, can still be found in some BMX bikes. Examples include the Dia-Compe AD"990 and Shimano Deore XT. If you are willing to learn to maintain them, they are without peer. Raw power, adjustability, larger brake pads, and reasonable lever feel make U-brakes perhaps the best of specialized braking systems. If you don't have the braze-ons, though... too bad.
The advantages to having good brakes are immediately apparent, and yet I feel that some riders think it's wimpy to worry too much about one's brakes. Was "Turbo" Harry Leary a wimp? Braking well helped him win races, which is a good reason for doing nearly anything. In future columns we'll check out ways to make your competition look dumb by strong use of well-adjusted brakes.
In closing for this month, let's pick a "Connoisseur's Choice" for top-notch braking. It takes about five seconds for most back-in-the-day BMXers to tell you that Dia-Compe's MX900, which hasn't been made since 1986, probably still rules the roost as the ultimate race brake. It's easy to confuse the MX900 with the MX1000, but the 900 has shorter brake arms and therefore resists twisting better. The best-braking bike I've ever ridden uses gold anodized MX900s front and rear. You want an endo NOW? No prob. You want to slide sideways into that turn? Done. Planning on purposely washing out the front wheel to derail the rider next to you? Anytime. MX900s are hard to find, and you can't have any from my stash, but the good news is that Dia-Compe developed that legendary brake into a line of modern brakes you can buy any time you want. Cool.http://www.bmxbasics.org/
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