OMG Carl, you're such a tease with the drip feeding of details. LOVE the early Scott Pederson brakes, especially the U brake. Proper utilitarian/functional design aesthetic that makes them beautiful in their own right and in black they are super yummy.
Interesting the drill holes on the arms have chamfered edges. Someone has done that pretty neatly.
OMG Carl, you're such a tease with the drip feeding of details. LOVE the early Scott Pederson brakes, especially the U brake. Proper utilitarian/functional design aesthetic that makes them beautiful in their own right and in black they are super yummy.
Interesting the drill holes on the arms have chamfered edges. Someone has done that pretty neatly.
Back in the day, Shimano was about to revolutionise the market, raising the game from 18 speed indexing to 21speed Hyperglyde.
So with this build being Suntour and Suntours 7speed mountain bike components not yet ready, this seemed like the direction too take.
I did buy Suntour Sprint 9000 mech in silver, as it didnt appear anywhere in Black, once I had bought it, I was told that Suntour did release a Graphite Black ltd Edition Rear mech specifically for one manufacturer to use on an Anniversary model they were bringing to market.
O/E equipment only. ( I think it was Trek But my memory is hazy ).
Anyway with some serious digging and time, I managed to find one, so I was able to use Suntour and indexed 7speed gearing by using the Suntour Winner freewheel and the accushift gear levers, and to my surprise it really works well. Im confident if it wasnt a straight through block it would be very clunky compared to the Overburys XT Hyperglyde, but because of the small increments in sprocket size, its surprisingly on par.
As always Carl, your attention to detail and doing right by the bike is always a worthy read and puts a smile on many a reader of your build threads. Well done Chap.
Stunning mate i wasnt a fan of them kind of back brakes until i seen this one beatifuly built is the front the actual matching one to the back if so is there a reason there not the same now you have just added another orange frame to my look out list haha
As always Carl, your attention to detail and doing right by the bike is always a worthy read and puts a smile on many a reader of your build threads. Well done Chap.
Stunning mate i wasnt a fan of them kind of back brakes until i seen this one beatifuly built is the front the actual matching one to the back if so is there a reason there not the same now you have just added another orange frame to my look out list haha
Bitd, mid 80s, brake performance for mountain bikes came into question, due to how poor it was.
Manufacturers found the solution by mounting either a roller cam or U brake under the chain stays.
Sadly this created as many problems as it solved, with the brake under the chain stays by the bottom bracket, mud became a huge issue especially in wetter climates.
To alleviate the issues created by mounting the brake on the chain stays, it was re-positioned to the seat stays.
Whilst this improved the situation, it also created another issue, the brake is so powerful it would flex the seat stays.
Some manufacturers resolved this by adding things like the X brace as you see here on the Orange, or by simply using a thicker gauge tube set for the seat stays or by using heavily butted tubes, adding extra strength to the area of brake flex.
Some manufacturers did use Roller Cams and U Brakes on Both front and back, ( Saracen for example springs to mind, to mention one). But generally the Roller Cam/U-Brake was reserved for the rear, they are very on or off, with very little modulation.
But as with all new sports and the evolution and experimentation that follows, the Roller Cam and U brake was short lived, simply because it really did create more problems than it solved.
The Scott Penderson Brake also has a cam in them that moves the brake arm toward the rim in an "in and forward " type motion so the pad rubbing the rim pulled it in tighter.
I think with the additional weight penalty was a consideration for most manufacturers, hence why being used on the rear only.
The brake choice was a good choice for this, as it did have the self energizing cantilever for the front using the Cam principle as a pair.
U-Brakes are strong but heavy, the cam makes them very powerful but a little heavy in its feel, i think.
The front I would say is as effective with the cam.
To give you an idea, if you look at Suntours Product line up, when they Licensed the cam principle from Scott Penderson, they refused to make a front brake using the Self energizing Cam as they felt it far too powerful for a front brake in any guise, Cantilever or U-Brake.
And you will also find that some brands wouldn't fit a self energizing brake even before Suntour bought the rights to the design, as they too deemed it too powerful. ( I think Keith Bontrager was one ).
Sorry for the lengthy reply I hope that makes sense.
By 1989 Suntour was well under way with the Cambrake/Self energizing Cantilever, and by 89 it was clear the U-Brake was becoming a thing of the past.
Good info mate yes i thought then suntour looked like scott with the big cylinder i just got a set of the suntour brakes so the break down pic is great now i know if anything missing cheers
