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Better brakes make mountain biking safer
In the high-speed world of downhill mountain biking where even thousandths of a second count, you don't want your brakes to fail. But often they can, leaving nasty injuries in the process. Having witnessed many such accidents, prize-winning mountain biker Jonathan Knight decided to do something about it. The result is an improved braking system, the Alpine Kit, which Jonathan designed without any formal qualifications in science or engineering. To do so, he immersed himself in thermodynamics, aerodynamics and structural engineering. "For about six to eight months I just sat constantly, 24-7, on the computer, with my eyes popping out of my head researching every aspect of what I thought I'd need to improve the rotors," he says. Brake failure Most high-performance mountain bikes use a disc brake system that is quite different to the traditional bicycle brake using rubber brake blocks at the rim of the wheel. In a bicycle disc brake, a rotor disc is mounted at the centre of the wheel. To stop the wheel, the brake pads (mounted in a device called a brake calliper) are squeezed hydraulically against both sides of the disc. However, the large amounts of heat generated by braking can cause this system to fail in two ways:
Reduce heat Jonathan decided that an attachment that cooled the braking system would reduce these problems. The Alpine Kit (which fits over the existing disc brake system using a special adaptor) does this in several ways:
When his design was completed, Jonathan took it to the Engineering Department of Queens University in Belfast. "They tested every aspect of the product against current market leaders and proved scientifically that our rotor was 70% more efficient than any other product on the market today," he says. Jonathan's hard work paid off and he won the Northern Ireland Shell Livewire 2005 Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He now runs RedRaven Industries. Based in Belfast, RedRaven Industries designs and produces performance enhancing equipment for mountain bikes. But what is his motivation? Does he just want to get rich? "Well, that would be nice," Jonathan says, "But no, that wasn't the main reason why I started this. The reason I wanted to start RedRaven Industries was to produce products that I knew would provide more safety, to allow riders the confidence to push themselves further without risking it all." Learn more Check out the RedRaven Industries website Find out about mountain biking in Ireland Explore the science of cycling |
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