Kevinti

For those of you who use this drum, how do you control it? I am thinking of a friction shift lever so the captain can engage it as a drag if needed on faster decents. Where do you guys put it on a drop bar setup? I was thinking about mounting it on the inner side of the left bar flat so I could still rest my palm on the flat and actuate it with my thumb but I haven't seen any pictures of this kind of a setup. Is it better to have it on top of the bar so I can reach it with either hand? Also I really like the appearance of some of the vintage shifters for this purpose but I'm not sure if that is a good choice. Is there an era or type of friction shifter that works best? 6-7-8-9 speed or do they all have about the same amount of travel and utility for this?

JulesCW 

We control it with a friction thumb shifter operated by the stoker (mounted on her handlebars). When needed I (the captain) will shout out something like "drag one quarter" or "drag full" or "drag off" and the stoker will apply or release the brake as directed. This allows me to focus on steering and applying the regular brakes in pulses if needed. We've done it this way for 17 years -- we do not always have the drag brake installed (at our home unloaded there are not hills long or steep enough to need it), but we do use it loaded touring -- self-contained, toeing a small trailer with our gear, and this system has worked well in the Appalachians in the US, up and down the Fjords of Norway, the mountains of Hokkaido in Japan, and the hills of Quebec, among others.

We've used an older Suntour ratchet friction thumb shifter -- she likes the way it feels and its is fairly easy to push to make the brake harder -- the original freewheel size the shifter is designed for does not matter -- all will have plenty of throw. .

Kevinti

Oh thanks for the reply. I like the idea of a index shifter for counting "clicks".

RCMoeur 

On our Santana, my dear wife insisted on having the control for the Arai, so that on descents she would have some "suggestive influence" if she thought the nut holding down the wiggly handlebars up front was failing to address what she thought might be excessive speed.

We set it up with a standard MTB lever on her rear bars (cruiser-type, not road bars). And on steep descents when I would be in full "go go gravity!" mode in a tuck up front (giving her an even more expansive view of the scenery zooming by), I'd watch with dismay as the numbers on the Avocet started dropping, and look back to see her grabbing that lever with a big smile on her face.

We are still happily married, though, although the current condition of her knees precludes any cycling for the foreseeable future. And the tandem quietly sits, waiting patiently for its next adventure...

Does anyone need an Arai? I have one that was salvaged from a tandem wheel we got in at Rusty Spoke. Any net proceeds would go back to the nonprofit. Hypothetically speaking, of course, in case this forum is inappropriate for such a message.

RCMoeur 

Now if you really want captain control of the drum using a friction shifter (which has historically been a popular option), the most common drop bar mounting points I recall are either a friction Bar-Con in the handlebar end or a Command Shifter in friction mode inboard of the brake lever, but not interfering with any brifter throw.

Obtaining a Bar-Con or Command Shifter, if one does not have such in the parts bins already, typically involves bike swaps or eBay. And when pondering the asking prices, remember that it's still a small percentage of the price of a new tandem.

Kevinti

How about this? lol

Paul J

We use a bar end thumb shifter on the captain's right Side drop bar end. with you using flat bars you could look for an old mountain bike shifter when they were separate from the brake lever and put it near the stem. Our touring tandem has the optional brass-ons so we could run the lever at the stoked position but I've chosen to keep control as I have the responsibility for the team and the better view of what's ahead.

Kevinti

I ordered a bar mount thumb shifter to try on my dropbar. I like the less busy cockpit look of the bar end one so I may change to that in the future. In my mind having a bunch of hand locations to control the bike seems daunting but I'm looking forward to trying it out!

Alcanbrad

We use a bar end friction shifter. We originally had a bar mounted thumb friction shifter however, I could never get it to hold with enough force on the drum. Mel at tandems East recommended the bar end shifter and it has worked very well for us.

I can’t say all thumb shifters are bad for this, only that the one we had was not up to the task.

Carbonfiberboy 

Bar-end friction shifter, the non-indexed kind. IMO the captain should be the only one in control of braking. If the stoker isn't happy about the captain's use of the brakes that's a whole different discussion, nothing to do with the levers mounting location.

Kevinti

So am I looking for the type that have a tool-less tension adjustment screw with the flip-up wire tensioner on the nut?

Carbonfiberboy 

https://biketestreviews.com/bar-end-...tion-shifters/
https://www.ebay.com/itm/40393093308...3ABFBMlpan-Y1h
Suntour was another very common brand back then.

Kevinti

Thanks the Dia Comps look really good and match my incomong Gevenalle Shifters too! Cheers

jccaclimber

This is exactly how our bike is set up, same shifter ever. I have found that the shifter can't hold as much tension in the brake cable as the stoker can put in to it though, so for maximum braking they have to hold the lever in position which isn't ideal. I do like that it lets me change (via the stoker) drum brake assist levels without taking my hands off of the brakes otherwise.
While "Only when I say" is a non-issue with my wife, it's been a problem when I bring along other stokers. Explaining to technically minded people that them grabbing the brakes at the same time I do in a high speed turn is likely to make us wash out hasn't changed their behavior. I've thought about just disconnecting the drum for rides with them, but it's really quite useful as my local rides have some long steep hills that are too windy to really fly down.

We have a 3 strike warning system, using the input of different senses in case one has failed. The first is knowing better. The second is audible. Rumor is the third is finger nail based.

IPassGas

Our stoker initially controlled the Arai with a thumb shifter, but this requires too much thumb force and simply "setting" does not work well. After a year, we switch to a mtb lever. The stoker had much better control and was able to use the Arai up to its full potential. The Arai drum can heat sink massively, but a thumb shifter or "setting" cannot take advantage of this. But, as always, this depends on usage and total weight. We are both tall (heavy) and often going down >10% gradients with camping gear.

Freerojo

This


Go to a bike co op, they are bound to have a few of these around. $25 so.

Kevinti

That looks good! I went with the diacomp one already it made the most sense since it matches my shifters. I am hopeful that I can increase the tension enough to have it hold if I need it to hold. We are a long way away from probably even needing the brake but I wanted to build the bike right so we can go for some fun decents when we're ready.

Kevinti

I am not sure my stoker is ready for "jobs" to do other than learning how to pedal for a while. I can see her being able to handle it in the future but I bet if I asked her she would say keep the brakes up front hun! lol

Freerojo

The barcon is a ratchet type and has, I think, a counter spring so you don’t have to really clamp down the friction to “hold” the brake tension.

Carbonfiberboy 

My un-indexed bar-end shifters held the brake just fine. It's a drum. Doesn't take much pressure on the shoes to generate braking force with a drum. The main thing to remember is to take the brake off after the descent. You'll notice it.

We never had any problem with adding a little constant drag with the drum and doing the rest with our rim brakes. That's why the captain needs to control the drum. They'll want to adjust it to get just the right amount of rim braking to be able to do a normal descent, just like you were without the drum and on a shallower descent, letting the bike run with only the drum on between the corners or sharp curves. If it's a fairly even descent, I'd put on the drum at the top and leave it alone all the way down. I might have to adjust it a little here and there, but mostly I left it alone.

Leisesturm

SunRace makes those. OTOH if you want, there are thingamabobs that let you use quality bar-end shifters on the bars to make your own thumbies. Don't know what they are called or who makes them.

SJX426 

Burley Cockpit on Flickr

Groasters

Here's a different take.....

Like most tandems with an Arai drag brake, ours originally used a bar end lever.

However, for my young daughters (two of my three available stokers) the leverage required was difficult for their small hands, producing insufficient braking on descents, so for a solution I had to think out of the box.

This is the modification I made. It's a short-reach flat bar brake lever. The cable pull is perfect and it provides better modulation and greater pulling pressure than before, especially with an adult hand (when my wife is stoking). With a child's strength the braking is as good as an adult pulling on the previous bar-end lever.

Artmo 

Haha. Yes, you will notice it on the next climb or earlier, as we found on our first use of the Arai a few years ago!