-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From owner-a2a@rboc.net Sun Oct 11 16:44:33 1998 Return-Path: <owner-a2a@rboc.net> Received: from inferno.serversystems.net (inferno.serversystems.net [207.15.209.253]) by mail5.netcom.com (8.8.5-r-beta/8.8.5/(NETCOM v1.02)) with ESMTP id QAA11047; Sun, 11 Oct 1998 16:44:30 -0700 (PDT) Received: (from majordomo@localhost) by inferno.serversystems.net (8.8.7/8.8.7) id TAA30018 for a2a-list; Sun, 11 Oct 1998 19:44:09 -0400 Received: from netcom9.netcom.com (uwe@netcom9.netcom.com [192.100.81.119]) by inferno.serversystems.net (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id TAA30015 for <a2a@rboc.net> Sun, 11 Oct 1998 19:44:08 -0400 Received: (from uwe@localhost) by netcom9.netcom.com (8.8.5-r-beta/8.8.5/(NETCOM v1.02)) id QAA19816; Sun, 11 Oct 1998 16:43:48 -0700 (PDT) Date: Sun, 11 Oct 1998 19:43:21 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199810112343.QAA19816@netcom9.netcom.com> To: a2a@rboc.net Subject: [A2A] Re: Lust skates question Cc: uwe@netcom.com From: Uwe Brockmann <uwe@netcom.com> Sender: owner-a2a@rboc.net Precedence: bulk Reply-To: a2a@rboc.net Status: R On Sun, 11 Oct 1998 at 18:23:17 -0400 Brett Foland (bfoland@woodengems.com) wrote: > I am one of those people that does not like to skate without a brake. I can > also build anything. If it is not too much trouble, I would like to know how > you built your brakes. Even a close up picture of the mechanism would be > enough for me to duplicate it. There is a finish-line photo of the 1994 Athens-to-Atlanta event at http://www.skatecity.com/a2a/jpeg/uwedom.jpg that shows the brake leverage devices. The picture probably does not show enough detail to allow you to easily copy the devices. However, with the instructions that I enclose below the brake leverage devices should be easy to copy. The materials that you will need should only cost a few dollars. Another person already asked me how to build the brake leverage devices by e-mail. Here is a copy of the detailed instructions that I sent to that person: The "Puerto Rican emergency brake"-style brake leverage device requires a standard rear brake. It helps you apply more leverage to the rear brake. The effectiveness of a rear brake is strongly affected by its placement. The further it sticks out to the rear the less effective it is. On longer wheelbase frames (13.7") braking power is severely reduced. Braking power increases substantially when two rear brakes are used simultaneously. It is easier to simultaneously use two rear brakes when the frames are shorter. This is a reason to use short (12.8" to 13.0") frames if possible. However, even on long (13.7") frames a reasonable amount of stopping power can be achieved if two rear brakes and two brake leverage devices are used. The basic idea of the brake leverage device is to attach a cord to the front of your skate that you can pull up on with your hand while engaging the rear brake, thus giving you extra leverage. Instead of having to rely solely on the relatively weak muscles that pull up the front of your foot towards your leg to put pressure on the brake, you can now provide assistance with your upper body and even lean back like a water skier to use part of your body weight for leverage on the rear brake. For a practical brake leverage device it seems to be best to use a loop of cord rather than a single cord. On Mogema frames I drill horizontal holes into the frames from both sides as high as possible on the frames between the first and second wheel from the front. Then I run the cord into the frame on one side and out on the other side. The cord should not touch the wheels. I tie knots into the cord on both sides so that it cannot shift left or right where it runs through the frames. I position the upper end of the loop in the calf area on the front of the leg well below the knee. Now the loop runs up on one side of the leg to the calf, crosses over to the other side of the leg, runs down to the front of the frame on that other side, enters the frame between the first and second wheel on that side, exits the frame on the first side again betwen the first and second wheel and meets itself. I do not want to have to hold anything in my hands while skating. Thus I need to find some way to attach the cord to the legs. I use Velcro brand hook and loop fastener to attach everything to my legs. I prefer 1 1/4" wide elastic Velcro. However, narrower or non-elastic Velcro works fine too. I use one strip each of hook fastener and loop fastener per leg. I cut each strip to the same length, just a tad bit shorter than the circumference of my leg between the knee and the calf. I stick the hook fastener and the loop fastener together so that about 3" of hook fastener stick out on one end and about 3" of loop fastener stick out on the other end. Then I put the whole thing around my leg above the calf but below the knee. I stick the 3" of free hook fastener to the 3" of free loop fastener. Now I have one layer each of hook fastener and loop fastener going all around my leg below the knee above the calf. This Velcro loop cannot slide down because my calf circumference is larger than the circumference of the Velcro loop. To make it easier on my hands to pull up on the loop cord that comes up from the frames, I run the cord through a horizontally positioned tube of plastic tubing. The plastic tubing is about as long as my hand is wide. It can be purchased for a few cents at hardware or home improvement warehouse stores. I want to suspend the plastic handle in a horizontal position from the Velcro loop below my knee. I use two thin elastic cords. I attach one end of each to the pull cord that comes up from the frames on either side of the plastic handle. Then I run each of the two elastic cords straight up to the Velcro loop located above the handle. I form a loop at the upper end of each of the elastic cords and thread the outer layer of Velcro through both loops. The only remaining problem is that the pull cord that runs down at both sides of each leg flops around and gets in the way. To get it out of the way I attach a piece of elastic cord to the pull cord on one side of the leg below the ankle, run it behind and under the boot and attach its other end to the other side of the pull cord. The trick here is to attach the end of the elastic tie-down cord that comes out from behind on the left side of your foot to the right pull cord and the end of the elastic tie-down cord that comes out from behind on the right side of the foot to the left pull cord. Then the elastic tie-down cord will pull hard enough on both sides of the pull cord so that the pull cord from one side of the leg will get pulled over the pull cord from the other side of the leg. Each side of the pull cord will then cross the other side of the pull cord directly above the boot twice. When you pull hard enough on the handle to engage the brake leverage device both sides of the pull cord will sort themselves out, i.e. they will not cross each other any more until you release the brake leverage device. I bought all of my cords at an outdoor/camping supply store in Germany, however I have seen similar cords at REI in the U.S. Thus it should not be difficult to find all the parts you need. It can take many hours to adjust all cords to the correct length, however, the cost of the required materials is almost zero. When I put on my skates, I first put them on normally, then I bring the pull cord into its proper position and fasten the Velcro by sticking the two 3" loose ends together. To take my skates off, I first unstick the 3" loose ends of the Velcro leg band and then take my skates off normally. Occasionally, I slide the loops of elastic cords that hold up the pull cord handle off the outer layer of Velcro and wash the Velcro in the washing machine with other laundry. To maintain stability while applying my brake equipment, I engage one rear brake first, then I engage the other brake and finally I engage the brake leverage devices, usually simultaneously. When I expect trouble on a downhill, I sometimes put my hands on the handles to prepare myself for more rapid deployment of the brake leverage devices. Do not attempt to engage both rear brakes simultaneously, since this will frequently result in loss of balance and a fall. On long frames it can be hard to use one brake and much harder to use both simultaneously. With the help of the brake leverage devices it is much easier to keep the brakes engaged than without them. It seems to me that especially on long frames, the simultaneous use of brakes and brake leverage devices requires less skill than the use of the brakes alone. For me it is easy to reach the handles of the pull cords because I am already in a low bent-forward speed skating stance most of the time. This may not be true for you if you skate in a more upright stance. As far as I know Don Ruiz first came up with the idea for brake leverage devices almost ten years ago. I did not think that they would work and told him so, but he built them anyway. I was still skating on quads (roller skates with two wheels in the front in a side-by-side arrangement and two wheels in the rear, also in a side-by-side arrangement) then and I had excellent brakes on them but I did not know about the simultaneous use of two rear brakes yet. Don Ruiz and I skated down a hill repeatedly and engaged our brakes (single rear brake on quads for me, single rear brake on 5-wheel in-line skates with single brake leverage device for him) simultaneously. Don was able to stop in almost exactly the same distance as I from speeds of about 30 miles/h. I was very impressed. The rear brake that I used on my conventional skates was a lot more effective than the rear brakes on recreational 4-wheel in-line skates. The reason is simply that the rearmost axle on my quads was mounted in approximately the same position as the second wheel from the rear on most recreational in-line skates. Thus the rear brake was also mounted much further forward than on recreational in-line skates. There are some differences between Don Ruiz' original design and the version that I use. Ruiz attached the pull cords to the front of the boots rather than to the frames. Ruiz suspended the pull cord handle from the bottom of his shorts with safety pins rather than from a Velcro loop below the knee. As a result his handle was positioned above the knee rather than below the knee as in my design. Also, I seem to remember that he used a different arrangement of elastic cords to prevent the pull cords from flopping around. I am not interested in making or selling brake leverage devices because I do not think that it is possible to make a reasonable profit off them. Don Ruiz never applied for a patent for his invention. Now it is too late to apply for a patent since the invention is no longer "new". I have never tried to use a brake leverage device on 4-wheel in-line skates. Due to a shorter wheel base standard rear brakes are already more effective on 4-wheel skates than on 5-wheel skates. In addition it would seem difficult to find a place to attach the pull cords as far forward on 4-wheel skates as the position I currently use on 5-wheel skates. If the pull cords were attached further backwards on the skates, their effectiveness would decrease. I also find that I can get nearly the same stopping power on 4-wheel skates without brake leverage devices as on 5-wheel skates with short (12.8" to 13.0") frames and brake leverage devices. Thus I think that brake leverage devices provide too little benefit for use on 4-wheel skates. (I do not know off-hand how the stopping power of 4-wheel skates without brake leverage devices compares to the stopping power of long-wheelbase (13.7") 5-wheel skates with brake leverage devices since I have not skated on long-wheelbase frames in a long time.) As far as I know Don Ruiz and I are the only persons who have ever used a brake leverage device. Considering how many people have difficulty stopping on 5-wheel in-line skates, I think that it is a shame that not more people use such a simple and effective device that almost anybody can build himself for just a few dollars. Perhaps that will change now? Please feel free to ask further questions, especially if you should find the instructions for building brake leverage devices to not be clear enough. Uwe Brockmann, uwe@netcom.com * Web Site: http://www.skatecity.com/A2A/ Email: a2a@mindspring.com * Mailing List Archive: http://www.rboc.net/a2adigest/ *===================================================================* * To remove yourself from this list, send a message to * majordomo@rboc.net with no subject and * unsubscribe a2a * in the message body. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Uwe Brockmann, uwe@pobox.com, http://www.panix.com/~uwe/brakelev/