Chris S
Legendary Member
- Location
- Birmingham
I've just watched an episode of The Sweeny from 1974 and there was a policeman on a bike with rod brakes. The bike looked fairly new.
When did bikes stop being manufactured with rod brakes?
- Thread starter Chris S
- Start date
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slowmotion
Quite dreadful
- Location
- lost somewhere
My very first proper bike, bought third hand when I was about seven, had rod brakes. I'd completely forgotten about them. It seems they are still being used by fashionistas. Good stuff.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadster_(bicycle)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadster_(bicycle)
peelywally
Active Member
at a guess id say mid 70s ,
i remember my grandad had an old raleigh bike to go to work on, that had a front rod brake not sure about the rear brake actually ,
he bought it new from halfords when they used to have bike only shops in high streets , that shop closed down in 76 so he must have bought it around 74/5 .
i remember my grandad had an old raleigh bike to go to work on, that had a front rod brake not sure about the rear brake actually ,
he bought it new from halfords when they used to have bike only shops in high streets , that shop closed down in 76 so he must have bought it around 74/5 .
XmisterIS
Purveyor of fine nonsense
I think they stopped producing them when they realised they were sh1t!
mickle
innit
- Location
- 53.933606, -1.076131
They didn't stop making them:
Sorry, picture doesn't show them very well/at all. But they do have rod brakes honest!
Sorry, picture doesn't show them very well/at all. But they do have rod brakes honest!
They didn't stop making them:
Sorry, picture doesn't show them very well/at all. But they do have rod brakes honest!
Oh my!
More of these photos please!
numbnuts
Squire
- Location
- Gone over the hill and far away
my first two wheeler had rod brakes that was in the 60s
mickle
innit
- Location
- 53.933606, -1.076131
My first bike had rod brakes! But that was in the 1950's by the time I had my second bike in the early 1960's almost all bikes were fitted with cable brakes! You could still buy bikes with rod brakes, but they were not as prevelant as the modern bikes of the day, that had cable brakes.
byegad
Legendary Member
- Location
- NE England
My Dad bought a new Phillips to ride to work on in the late 1950s. Fully equipped, even down to a saddle bag, with cable brakes, steel rims, SA 3 speed hub and SA dyno hub up front powering the lights. IIRC it cost him £21 19s 6d. Which was about a weeks wage for him at that time.
In the shop there were cheaper kids bikes with rod brakes and a few years later when I got a new bike to pedal to Grammar School on they were still there. I ended up with a Dawes, similarly equipped to my Dad's Phillips at around the same price.
In the shop there were cheaper kids bikes with rod brakes and a few years later when I got a new bike to pedal to Grammar School on they were still there. I ended up with a Dawes, similarly equipped to my Dad's Phillips at around the same price.
GrumpyGregry
Here for rides.
Most bikes currently manufactured for the south asian and sub-saharan african markets still have rod brakes, so to answer the OP's question; never.
growingvegetables
Guru
- Location
- Leeds
Still being made - Flying Pigeons; and being imported as "iconic". 
And still with rod brakes!
I rode one for a couple of years in Egypt in the late 70's. Comfortable - YES; elegant/stylish - well, there weren't any others; fast - wtf; reliable - well, I did learn a lot about being a reliable cycle mechanic; tough - that bike took me to places in the Nile Valley and out into the desert that would have been hard to reach without a full-scale expedition.
Wonderful, indestructible machines - and a real tribute to the sturdy technology of 1940's Raleighs; how they came to become an icon of Maoist China ......... well, there has to be a story there somewhere!
And by-the-by, good as a tool for learning communication in Arabic. One of my colleagues did go into a cycle repair shop and explain very carefully, in words of one Arabic syllable, that he had "a hospital in his strawberries"; not a great help to anybody. What he really meant? He had a "problem with his brakes". Over two years, said guy did learn the Arabic numerals from 1-10 - just not necessarily in the correct order.
And still with rod brakes!
I rode one for a couple of years in Egypt in the late 70's. Comfortable - YES; elegant/stylish - well, there weren't any others; fast - wtf; reliable - well, I did learn a lot about being a reliable cycle mechanic; tough - that bike took me to places in the Nile Valley and out into the desert that would have been hard to reach without a full-scale expedition.
Wonderful, indestructible machines - and a real tribute to the sturdy technology of 1940's Raleighs; how they came to become an icon of Maoist China ......... well, there has to be a story there somewhere!
And by-the-by, good as a tool for learning communication in Arabic. One of my colleagues did go into a cycle repair shop and explain very carefully, in words of one Arabic syllable, that he had "a hospital in his strawberries"; not a great help to anybody. What he really meant? He had a "problem with his brakes". Over two years, said guy did learn the Arabic numerals from 1-10 - just not necessarily in the correct order.
