ADS brake
BIKE WORLD Magazine
(no longer published)
was the alternative to Bicycling magazine in the 1970s. Contributed to by noteable cycling enthusiasts such as Joe Kossack, Greg & Charles Siple, Dan Burden, Ray Blum, Roger St.Pierre, John Forrester. BIKE WORLD remains a valuable resource for students of that era.
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ADS Minimal Friction brake block
by Joe Kossack.
“The ADS Minimal Friction Brake Block represents an interesting introduc-tion of auto racing technology into bicycle component design. The philosophy behind the design is that reflected in the famous but perhaps apocryphal retort made by a great race car builder of the 1920s to a remark that his cars had bad brakes. “I don’t build them to stop,” he is supposed to have said, “I build them to go!”
“There will never be any problems of brakes locking or causing skids with the ADS block, nor will there ever be any excessive heating of the rims while trying to brake on long downhill runs. Of course brake roller wear won’t be noticeable until after the first 10, 000 miles. The designer, Arthur D. Stump, tells me that he expects to introduce a modified and improved version of the block next season. He thinks replacing the steel plain-bearing rollers with teflon rollers in ball races will increase the brakes’ stopping distance at 25 MPH from the present respectable 200 feet to a re-markable 500 feet. Another triumph of American engineering in the making!”
