Ben's Blog

Sunday Stuff

I spent a good part of the day mounting the rear wheel from the tandem onto the Linear. This allows me to use the tandem’s hub brake as the Linear’s rear brake, so I was able to get rid of the side-pull cantilever brakes. Back in ’96 I modified the Linear by cutting about 18″ off the beam, to make the bike shorter. This brought the bottom of the seat very close to the rear brakes. Unfortunately, when I would sit on the seat, my weight pressed against the brake cable sheath, causing the rear brake to pivot and press against the rim. So now I won’t have that problem anymore.

Another advantage of the new wheel is it comes with a Shimano Deore XTR 8 speed cassette – a major upgrade from the decades-old 6 speed freewheel on the other wheel.

I also put a new Primo 1 1/8″ tire on the wheel – it has a nifty reflective strip!

The Aerospoke with hub brake

Close-up of the hub brake – the brake cable is pulled through the blue sheath,
causing the arm at the bottom to pull upwards, engaging the brake pads in the drum.
(The rectangular aluminum component mounted next to the quick release is my custom Burley trailer hitch.)

Close-up of the hub brake from the inside of the “rear triangle”

It did, however, add about 2 pounds to the bike.