TCB

[raz]

I just stumbled upon this: http://www.lifesavertcb.com/home.html. It sounds too good to be true. So what do you think, snake oil or great innovation? Anyone tried it?

 

A REVOLUTIONARY NEW SAFETY DEVICE FOR POWER SPORT VEHICLES The Lifesaver TCB

[Guest ratchethack]

Interesting, Raz. A diaphragm-type "line snubber". Might be something worthwhile to check out. At $100 USD per copy, it might be a viable alternative to (or even improvement over?) ABS, which most (myself included) don't go for on moto's.

 

One o' those things I'd tend to be interested in, but cautious about until well proven & well documented in the field, but that's just me. . .

[raz]

Interesting, Raz. A diaphrahm-type "line snubber". Might be something worthwhile to check out. At $100 USD per copy, it might be a viable alternative to (or even improvement over?) ABS, which most (myself included) don't go for on moto's.

 

One o' those things I'd tend to be interested in, but cautious about until well proven & well documented in the field, but that's just me. . .

Personally I will gladly adopt ABS whenever I buy a new enough bike to have that option. Uh, that's a whole different thread, let's not talk about that. But I can't see in what way this thing would be different from having a little air in the system - something everybody is struggling to avoid.

 

Nah, I don't believe in this. Besides, I'm out of BPM (Bike Part Money) for the rest of this year

[guzzijack]

With hard and fast 'technical' information like this it gets my vote:

 

"When Hydraulic brakes are applied it creates a pressure spike that locks on the high and low spots on the rotor which can cause your wheel to lock."

 

NOT!

 

And what's this meant to mean?

 

"Your brakes can still lock up with a TCB Valve installed, it just happens a different level where the added control will work to your advantage."

 

I wonder if their product liability insurance is good enough to withstand a hit from someone who slams into another vehicle or item of street furniture because the valve gave them, "more range in your brake levers

 

G."?

[Dan M]

It's gotta ruin the excellent feel & feedback of the Brembos.

[Guest ratchethack]

Reading between the lines of the salesy lingo at the Web site, conceptually it seems at least plausible that there could be a welcome benefit -- for someone. . .

 

By providing a "snubbing" effect on the onset of sudden brake pressure (pressure spike) in the line, it seems reasonable that the benefit of "easing" into a given brake pressure could make the brakes less prone to immediately go into full lock, and potentially improve feedback and "feel". I'm thinking of the snubbing effect much the same as shock damping, and many many instances come to mind where (conceptually) this could be welcome. (??) In any case, it'd likely be one o' those things that'd take some getting used to. Frankly, I'd love to try a set F&R on the big trailie in the dirt. This'd be apt to flush out the effects PDQ.

 

I don't see this being the same as air in the lines as far as feel. There's no air-spring effect being introduced here.

 

But let somebody else do the field trials and the write-ups first, thank you very much.

 

Now how about a set o' these little gems with adjustable damping settings?!

 

Dare I ask? (Would it make any difference? O' course not.) -- ahem -- Where's Dave with his speculation scatter-gun on this one?

 

M is certainly apt to V all over the map. . .

[Skeeve]

I just stumbled upon this: http://www.lifesavertcb.com/home.html. It sounds too good to be true. So what do you think, snake oil or great innovation? Anyone tried it?

 

Snake oil. Some of the Chinese scooters come w/ this or something similar as stock; the scooterists posting to the web about these bikes all say "scrap it & have functional brakes." IIRC, MCN [American version, reputable; not the less-than-trustworthy Brit rag MCN] tested one of these style units many moons ago. Result was "save yourself the money & just don't bleed your brakes completely for the same f/x."

 

Run, do not walk, run away from this bit of ridiculous snake oil.

[dlaing]

Dare I ask? (Would it make any difference? O' course not.) -- ahem -- Where's Dave with his speculation scatter-gun on this one?

I think for it to work you would need extensive R&D per bike model, and then you would need it set for various tire and weather conditions. It is almost completely un-feasable, but I SUPPOSE if you set the pre-load on the spring high enough, you would get the minimal benefit, of lower risk of locking it you really over do it, but it would be a very narrow range of protection.

You would have to set the spring preload so that there would be no difference from a normal set up under the most aggressive braking situation under ideal conditions, but it you exceeded the most aggressive situation the spring would kick in and very slightly reduce the chance of lock up. For real world riders, the threshold could be lowered a little, but if set too low, it would be like what Skeeve said and you would get the same benefit as spongy brakes. Obviously the negatives of spongy brakes outweigh the positives...So, I say it MIGHT work if you get lucky, but for most buyers it will make it work worse.

I am right, so what? Get over it.