Stopping a Trike!
There are several ways of stopping a trike...
One of the most common seems to be to ride it into the nearest ditch, after some rather brave, but optimistic fast cornering. However there are alternatives. Because of the complexity of fitting brakes to the rear wheels of a tricycle it is permissible, at least under British law, to fit two independently operated brakes to the front wheel.
You can do this by:
- Fitting an additional caliper brake onto a brazed on extension, that locates the extra brake forward of the normal caliper. This is a relatively easy solution, though far from elegant.
- Fitting a pair of cantilevers to the back of the front fork. Care must be taken to ensure that the head tube is long enough to permit the straddle cable to run from the front of the head tube to the back without fouling any of the frame.
- Using a hub brake as an extra front brake. The has a weight penalty but does at least obviate the need for additional brazing, and is well suited to the bicyclist who wants to try out a rear axle trike conversion without permanent frame modification.
- For that extra braking required by a tandem trike I have found that cantilevers both in front and behind the front fork are excellent, but do make sure that your tandem forks are substantial enough to resist the powerful forces involved. You can accommodate the need for two cable hangers by using a carefully drilled handlebar stem for one of the hangers.
Having both brakes on the front wheel is not the disadvantage it might seem. The front wheel is the most effective wheel to use for braking, as it will tolerate much heavier braking before the tyre adhesion on the road gives way. The dangers for bicyclists of being thrown off by a front wheel skid don't exist (there are other problems for tricyclists!) and even in icy conditions I have found front wheel braking satisfactory.
If you plan to to do some heavy duty tandem trike touring, or would just prefer a back brake then you could adopt one of the following methods:
- Fitting a hub brake to each rear wheel, operated by a single handlebar lever. However if the brakes fitted have twin leading shoes one of them will end up inefficient, as in being turned round in mirror image to the other it will have become a twin trailing shoe brake.
- Fitting a hub or disc brake between the half axles. My 1966 Higgins was originally equipped with a hub brake screwed onto the 'fixed thread' side of the differential. It had very poor performance, useful only as a parking brake with a bar-end ratchet lever. I now use a front hub brake.
- Some utility trikes use a separate caliper brake for each wheel mounted on a crosswise metal bar above the rear wheels, also used for mudguard mounting. It is not the neatest solution to rear braking, but probably the easiest to fit.
One final consideration is how to arrange braking on a 'Kendrick' style tricycle with two wheels at the front. The ideal solution is to fit hub brakes to the front wheels, although this adds complexity to the already tricky construction of Ackerman steering. The 'K' type has two brakes on the back wheel, one caliper and one cantilever. It is fine for steady braking, but it does lock up the back wheel rather too readily.
So, there are several approaches to stopping that trike, depending on the type of riding you do. If you are racing, lightness will be a priority and if you are doing heavy touring, you had better think about those hub brakes.
Have a look at other people's solutions, especially those of the HPV riders, who tend to be at the cutting edge of cycle development.
More pictures in the Gallery
