I was trying to do a free body diagram in my head to work out how different a drum would be to a caliper, but I keep getting distracted (aka I'm retired and lazy now) so figured I'd just post a question instead. ;-)
Thanks for all the comments. I keep going back and forth between wanting to make this a coaster brake, no cables bike or an IGH with front and rear brakes. Obviously the frame isnt' set up for a rear caliper but that's easily adressed with a coaster or drum brake. The front isn't set up for a caliper either... though there is a red Breeze for sale locally and I'm kinda wondering if that fork would work on the Typhoon - it's got a caliper brake already...
Too many options at this point, I keep changing from one plan to another!
I have been fussing around in my head with the advantages and disadvantages of various bicycle brakes, because a lot of them were invented well after the time I lost all interest in bicycles about 1972.
The caliper brake has a crappy load path from the pad to the mounting screw. But it has terrific mechanical advantage against the rotating wheel. The drum is exactly the opposite. Great load path from the shoes/drum to the mounts. But Minuscule leverage vs 26” wheel.
I now have my first disc brake bicycle, and I feel that this is the best of all possible worlds, except that the disc is a measly 160 mm for a 26 inch fat bike wheel. I think a 200 mm disc would give me twice the stopping power. I don’t think I’d have any problem making it even larger.
The look of that large disc might be untenable to many people, but as a customizer I’m more interested in what works.
Yet there is another style of brake I am very interested in and I haven’t seen any discussion of it since the 1960s. Just one article and then nothing. This thought will have to foster a new thread.
