Originally Posted by
Vintage Schwinn
Disc Brakes were available on several models of otherwise ordinary bicycles in the early Seventies.
Some of the Schwinn kids bikes in the stingray like style had them.
Heck, even JC Penney's marketed a line of 10 speeds with disc brakes!
Yes, absolutely, the disc brakes provided much better stopping power than what any other bicycle without them no matter the cost/prestige marque!!
Yes, that is true!
They added a heck of lot of weight, relatively speaking to lightweight bicycles that were striving to become lightweight for the consumers that wanted to reduce weight in grams in any way possible.
The other issue with respect to disc brakes at that time was that the replacement parts channel was limited to maybe the Schwinn store for their bikes with them, or somebody in timbuk2. Many folks already knew how to service and adjust the ordinary caliper brakes, and pads and cables, etc were easily sourced and widely available. It was very simple.
Folks ridiculed those 10 speeds in the 1970's that were disc brake equipped. Added weight was the main factor but also added complexity and unfamiliarity with issues when said disc brakes were not properly adjusted.
Disc brakes aren't a new concept. They improved braking significantly in the 1970's but were not widely adopted as everybody wanted lightweight everything. Today, relative to the 1970's, bicycles are much lighter across the road-bike spectrum so there isn't much an issue with weight today.
I’ll agree that disc brakes aren’t a new concept. The vast majority of bicycles made since the introduction of the caliper rim brake has come equipped with them. From side pull to center pull to cantilever to linear brakes, they are all a brake that use the same principle and even similar equipment to slow and stop the bike. And every one of those brakes...even disc brakes...have be said to be “more powerful” than what preceded it. Most of the problems that people have with brakes can be distilled down to not knowing how to use them effectively.
...You brake too fast and too hard, and the human rider (YOU) will possibly become a soaring projectile, much like a football that has been kicked on a field goal try...
This is the essence of brake arguments and brake problems. People seriously misunderstand bicycle brakes, bicycle braking dynamics, and how to use them. Becoming a “soaring projectile” isn’t due to “going too fast” or “braking to hard”. It’s because the rider is in the wrong position on a vehicle that has a high center of gravity. I brake hard and fast all the time. I just don’t do it from the “normal” seated position. Pushing back and squatting down while braking almost doubles the effective deceleration and significantly reduces the chances of becoming “a soaring projectile”.
Any merchant such as Wallyworld or the world's better bike manufacturers would consider anything if it were both cost effective and could hype and booster unit sales. This isn't limited to just the low cost box store econo bikes, as you see oddball gimmicks from time to time at nearly every level. Yes, the better more prestigeous makers are definitely a bit more careful with crazy oddball gimmicks because if the public opinion turns more negative, they have more to lose because they have a prestigeous established reputation of quality that can be seriously tarnished while the low priced, box store bicycles won't lose such respectability across the board. (because they don't have any that they could lose!) People view the box store offerings on a singular case by case, individual bicycle model basis. They largely assume that said Wally bikes are at best, decent for the money and on average a crapshoot where some are awful and some are borderline decent if properly assembled which rarely happens at your Target/Dicks/Wallyworld etc.
There have been significant advances in bicycle technology over the years that the curmudgeons all complain about as being “just marketing”. Some of it is, of course, but some of the new technology is actually game changing. Suspension, free hubs, 3 piece cranks, sealed bottom brackets....sealed bearing in general..., threadless headsets, derailers, etc have all been significant advances. (I don’t personally think disc brakes are all that significant, however.) The parts that trickle down to HelMart bikes...mostly suspension and now disc brakes...usually are “just marketing” because they don’t add functionality. They are simply cheap copies of a relatively good idea. They don’t work they way they are supposed to and mostly just add weight.
If any Wallyworld bike gets decent reviews and amasses large sales over a period of months and years, that bike becomes sort of famous among the inexpensive bicycle offerings of the world. Walmart does have a few of these, which help to bring back bicycle shoppers year after year despite that a few other models that they also carry aren't so great. Not everyone needs an expensive bicycle. Some of Walmart's offerings are perfect basic bicycles at the perfect pricepoint for just how the buyer plans to ride them. Who cares if they weigh 30 pounds or if they are available in only two sizes, one for men and one for women..........or if in some models that they come in just one size, IF THE RIDER CAN COMFORTABLY & SAFELY RIDE SUCH BICYCLE after making seat height adjustment...............
There hasn’t been a HelMart bike that is “sort of famous” in the last 30+ years. Thirty years ago, HelMart sold bad bicycles for $100 and thirty years later they are selling bad bicycles with more “features” for that same $100. You can’t add features to a product and sell it for the same price much less the same price three decades later. HelMart bikes have become essentially magic tricks. They are exercises in misdirection. That shiny exterior that
looks like a bicycle hides an interior of bearings that are made of metal...I’m not going to call it “steel”... that isn’t hard to last more than a few hundred miles. They have “steel” cranks that are so soft they round out even if the bolt is tight. They have crank spindles that are a hazard to their owners. This is but one example of what I’ve seen in bottom bracket spindles, and it’s not the worst I’ve seen
Untitled by
Stuart Black, on Flickr
Walmart fills the needs of a great many folks who want to ride a bicycle. Serious "cyclists" and local bike shop owners might dislike that fact. Just listen to the topic of this thread........"CONSUMER GRADE", as in that those that ride bicycles do it differently than the "cyclists"......(Sure some "cyclists" really ride getting to use all the benefits of weight/technology that their bike provides, while others are riding like a 94 year old grandma driving a Ferrari to church one mile away once a week and occasionally to the liquor store, the grocery store, the beauty parlor, and to wednesday night Bingo, which are all within 2 miles from her home.)
One could even make a case that buying a consumer grade Walmart bicycle for approx $200 or less, and then disposing of said bicycle when it needs repair work other than tires/tubes, brake pads etc,, ....disposing of and buying a new approx $200 or less Wallyworld bike is a cost effective strategy for most people!! They don't need anything state of the art or fancy and the bottom of the line new offerings at the local bike shop won't be any better for them at three times the price!
The problem with the idea that HelMart “fills a need” is that it is a fool’s bargain. The price of a HelMart bike isn’t the issue. The
value of them is, along with HelMart’s full knowledge that they are selling a product that is unserviceable. HelMart bikes seldom get ridden far enough for all the issues they have to become major problems. The bikes don’t function all that well and tend to be overly heavy. People ride them a very short distance and then put them away because they don’t function well. If they do happen to ride them to the point where they start to break, they
might go get another one but they are just chasing sunk costs at that point. The most expensive tool is the one you buy twice.