Shimano brakes question...

[dermot]

I have a Trek 6045 with a Heinzmann front hub.

The front hub is fine, but I've been getting strange intermittent graunching noises from the rear - this is fitted (standard item by Trek from 2003) with a Shimano 7 speed hub and a Shimano roller brake.

It looks like the noise - and now a little vibration too - is coming from the brake - which looks as if it can be removed.

I can buy another of these to replace it, but it has never been particularly effective and I now see that Shimano do a cable-operated rear disk brake.

Anyone know if these will co-exist with the hub gears? Tried emailing Shimano, but no response...

 

[Ypedal]

http://www.velorution.biz/?cat=22


Roller brakes are basically modified coaster brakes. They are operated by metal rollers pushing against a metal brace. They differs from coaster brakes in that roller brakes are outside the hub while the coaster brakes are internal.
The advantages with this are:

they can be installed on the front wheel as well as the back wheel
they dissipate heat better (a more common problem with coaster brakes)
greater efficiency due to larger brake shoe (the rollers)
Roller brakes are particularly suited to urban cycling because:

They are low maintenance - They need to be greased once a year and the rollers have a long life.
They have excellent power modulation, so the wheels are unlikely to lock in dangerous situations.
The wheel doesn’t have to be perfectly true since the brakes don’t work on the rim; this allows the user to choose a short lever action, if required.
Cable quality is not critical as for rim brakes, and no setup is required even as time goes by; this is a great advantage for everyday, troublefree use.
Braking action is fairly independent from the weather.

To summarise, Roller brake pros:

good braking modulation
pratically no maintenance required medium term
braking power is not affected by weather
no setup required
clean look of the bike
Cons:

not as powerful as Drum or Rim brakes; this is because metal-to-metal action is not as efficient as pads-to-metal.
The image shows the Shimano Nexave Roller brake; note the large disc whose role is to dissipate heat.

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are those what you have ?

 

[dermot]

Yes, these are the ones. I'd just rather try the disk brakes if possible, as they have better performance.

 

[dermot]

I'll have to be careful - talking to myself like this!

The problem, I'm pleased to say is solved! There was some crud in there - now cleaned, regreased and tightened up and all is as good as new.

 

[Ypedal]

Hard to talk about a components that are very rare lol.... i've never heard of those before .. :wink: