From: jbrandt@hpl.hp.com (Jobst Brandt)
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Subject: Re: brake it down
Date: 30 May 1998 01:34:37 GMT

Ben Davies writes:

> There has been some discussion about brake design in th last couple
> of days. Does anyone know what mechanism the Campy delta brake
> employed? Is the zipp delta brake identical in operation?  I am
> guessing that both use variations of the cam and roller design.
> Anyone have a schematic they could scan and send? Thanks, Ben.

It had a non linear characteristic that increased the mechanical
advantage as the pads wore down and when wet, the required additional
pressure advanced the brake into the lock-up region of leverage.  It
used a parallelogram linkage like putting thumb to thumb and index
finger to index finger.  If you work that diamond shape to its
extremes you can see it was a lousy brake.  There are no automotive
brakes that have such an effect.  In fact the main reason for the disk
brake is to prevent any change in response.

The Delta is a dead dodo for good reasons.

Jobst Brandt      <jbrandt@hpl.hp.com>