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Bicycle brakes explainedBicycle brakes are so much better today than in my childhood.
Major types of bicycle brakes.What could be more important than stopping on a bike. You can have all of the flashy gear, super fancy shoes, best pedals but without brakes, you are just a hood ornament waiting to be mounted. This is doubly true when riding a tandem. There are two defining types of bicycle brakes on modern bikes:
Rim BrakesThese are the brakes most people think of when they think bicycle brakes. You will find three types of rim brakes on most bikes:
 Side pull brakes evolved into the very sophisticated systems available from Shimano, Campagnolo, Zero Gravity and many others. When properly installed and adjusted, these brakes are very, very good. Santana, a premium tandem manufacturer, uses side pull brakes on the front of their road tandems. Direct pull cantilever brakes, also universally known as the "V-Brake" 
because Shimano brought out a brake under this name and it stuck, are
used on most mountain and hybrid bikes today. Here is a
picture
of the V-Brakes on my wife's mountain bike. They are a little
dirty because she was out riding and the trails are covered with leaves
that stick to everything. These brakes offer very good
stopping
power and little maintenance. You can easily change the tire
on a
bike with this type of brake because when you release the cable a great
deal of room is created facilitating the easy removal of the wheel.
Hub BrakesWhen you think of hub brakes, you probably think of the old coaster
brake you found on the Schwinn single speed bike from your childhood.
To slow down you would simply apply pressure backwards
against
the chain and the force would be applied to the shoes inside the hub,
slowing you to a stop. More advanced hub brake systems have
come
along.Ideal for commuters and beach cruisers, drum brakes are one type of hub brake that you can find on both single bikes and tandems. These brakes offer long service intervals and decent stopping power. While an ideal primary braking system on a city commuter's bike or beach cruiser, this type of brake is a good choice as a secondary braking system on a tandem because you will find this on the rear wheel. You would not want to use this as your primary brake because it cannot generate enough force to stop a tandem without skidding the rear tire. It is a really good choice as a secondary brake because it will allow you to control your speed on long downhill runs without overheating the rim and possibly blowing a tire as could happen with rim brakes. If you think about the amount of weight on a tandem, 300 or more pounds, you want to ensure you have a way to control your speed that will be able to dissipate the heat that all of this weight can generate. One other type of hub brake that is becoming more and more popular is the disc brake. I have a page dedicated to that type of brake here.
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