Wireless Hydraulic Braking Systems

[Jmdesignz2]

Wireless Hydraulic Braking Systems - how far away are we from this?

Reservoir mounted on caliper, no hydraulic cables - bolt on and ride, programmable braking characteristics and self adjusting?

Benefits would be possibly lighter weight, no tangle of cables, virtually maintenance free due to lack of brake line. Greater power with elimination of hose compression power loss.
Any other benefits?

Would you want it?

[WannabeWeenie]

One of the big things it MUST have is haptic feedback so the rider can effectively modulate the brakes. Also, the fingers provide the power to the calipers for braking force. Where would such a system get that power from?

Not trying to be a killjoy. It's just the engineer in me trying anticipate and resolve design issues.

[ergott]

Not going to happen. There would have to be redundancy in case of failure. No company will assume liability in the case of a potentially lethal failure.

If redundancy requires a cable or similar backup then what's the point?

Looking past that, the whole point of hydraulic braking is there is virtually no power loss due to compression in the housing. That's the property of a fuild. If the system were wireless you wouldn't even need hydraulic, but a servo motor. Why bother having that motor actuate the brake with hydraulic fluid in the first place?

[jamesbass]

The brakes could be designed without a spring mechanism. As the battery reaches dangerous levels, the brakes are forced ON so that failures disable the bike.

[tmr5555]

NO NO NO.

This is a good example of an over engineered solution to a non-existent problem.
Certain bike tech has evolved to perfection, we'd need a paradigm shift to improve on them. (like how the triangular frame is a perfect balance between rigidity and lightweight)

[mattr]

Can't even make it work in automotive. With all the power and weight allowances turned up to 11.

In a bike it'll be heavier than hand actuated, you'll need more batteries (and fairly sizeable ones too, need a fair bit of force, hands give "free" force) plus all the sensors, circuit boards, redundancy......... it'll be a decade off, probably two.

[sungod]

alpine descent
battery dies
rider follows

[stockae92]

I am not ready for brake by wire when there is no backup system for electronic system failure ... :p

[wpccrunner]

Could see it from a mile away...

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... ted-45519/

[Krackor]

"SRAM’s commitment to hydraulic brakes for road is absolute and we plan to offer a full breadth of road hydraulic options. More information to follow," SRAM PR spokesman Daniel Slusser told BikeRadar.

Here's hoping this includes a direct mount hydraulic rim brake. I'd love to put this system on my Felt AR.

[Jmdesignz2]

Marty McFly would approve!

[ergott]

What is the supposed improvement and at what cost? Hydro put at least a few nails in the cable brake coffin for me.

[superdx]

Electronic wired maybe, but not wireless.

The amount of hardware needed to allow for modulation, brake feel and tuning would be non-trivial. There'd have to be motors in the brake handles to simulate feedback in addition to motors in the brakes themselves.

Plus it be even more batteries if it were wireless. That's kind of crazy how many batteries you'd have to eventually take care of.

Finally, what would the benefit be aside from no cables or tubes? I'm still struggling to find the wireless benefits with eTap except for simpler setup, but that only happens once in the lifetime of most bikes!

[eliflap-scalpel]

just saw the etap disc prototype : i want one

[eliflap-scalpel]

want one